A few months ago I was heading back to the office to receive a very important call from a prospect about a huge business opportunity. Unfortunately a serious family situation caused me to head across town instead. Thankfully, the family situation came to a happy conclusion, but the business situation didn't.
Like most everybody else, a great deal of my time is spent on the road. I'm meeting clients and prospects, running seminars and workshops, and doing a few speaking engagements. Even though I'm on the go, I operate out of my home office and work lots of hours there. My business partner and I collaborate on a number of opportunities and projects as we build the business. When he's not on the go for the business, he also operates out of an office in his home, about fifty miles away. In order for us to keep in close contact with customers, prospects, and each other, we both have office numbers, cell phones, multiple corporate e-mail accounts, BlackBerry devices, etc. On top of that, I'm on the board of the Customer Relationship Management Association and have an e-mail account for organization activities. While trying to remain in close contact with customers, it's just as important that family and friends are able to reach me, and so I have a few personal e-mail accounts, a personal instant message account, and even a second cell phone with a number I only give out to family.
Even though we have these technologies that help us stay connected, it's not as efficient and effective as we'd like, and things still fall through the cracks. I get terrible cell phone coverage in my house, so when people try to reach me on my cell phone while I'm at home, they don't get through and are forced to leave a voice mail or try my office. In some cases when I'm just not available, people will leave voice mails on both my mobile and office lines. If they are really trying to reach me they will also lob an e-mail to me, knowing I have a BlackBerry device. So at some point I will have to check three different systems to get the same message, except that there may be more emotion attached with each extra message. This is not good for me, in two important, interrelated ways. With each communication channel I open up, a new "database" is created that I will have to monitor, and more importantly, how will all this impact my relationships with customers and prospects?
Like most everybody else, a great deal of my time is spent on the road. I'm meeting clients and prospects, running seminars and workshops, and doing a few speaking engagements. Even though I'm on the go, I operate out of my home office and work lots of hours there. My business partner and I collaborate on a number of opportunities and projects as we build the business. When he's not on the go for the business, he also operates out of an office in his home, about fifty miles away. In order for us to keep in close contact with customers, prospects, and each other, we both have office numbers, cell phones, multiple corporate e-mail accounts, BlackBerry devices, etc. On top of that, I'm on the board of the Customer Relationship Management Association and have an e-mail account for organization activities. While trying to remain in close contact with customers, it's just as important that family and friends are able to reach me, and so I have a few personal e-mail accounts, a personal instant message account, and even a second cell phone with a number I only give out to family.
Even though we have these technologies that help us stay connected, it's not as efficient and effective as we'd like, and things still fall through the cracks. I get terrible cell phone coverage in my house, so when people try to reach me on my cell phone while I'm at home, they don't get through and are forced to leave a voice mail or try my office. In some cases when I'm just not available, people will leave voice mails on both my mobile and office lines. If they are really trying to reach me they will also lob an e-mail to me, knowing I have a BlackBerry device. So at some point I will have to check three different systems to get the same message, except that there may be more emotion attached with each extra message. This is not good for me, in two important, interrelated ways. With each communication channel I open up, a new "database" is created that I will have to monitor, and more importantly, how will all this impact my relationships with customers and prospects?
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