Why isn't anyone listening to you?

With all of the new forms of communication out there it seems like the more ways we have to "reach out and touch someone", the farther apart we get.  I just read an article about the death of voice mail as a personal communication tool. Apparently, the advent of texting has made voice mail obsolete in our personal lives. Rather than force our friends to open voice mail, listen to prompts, and then listen to our message, and play it back if they miss something, we text. Some people don't even do that, they rely on your caller I.D. To let you know they called, and expect you to call back.

It is important to be intentional in our communications. We need to know who we are talking to and that they are listening. Nothing beats a face to face. When that's not practical, consider teleconferencing. As long as phones and internet access are available, meetings can happen. There are literally dozens of alternatives offering innumerable options in online meetings. You can choose web-cams, VOIP (voice over internet protocol), whiteboards, recorded video, live audio, recording, and even charge people to enter the meeting. There are too many options to list, chances are one of them will work for you.

The appropriateness and effectiveness of voice mail are, in my experience, directly proportional to the quality of the relationship I share with the individual I'm trying to reach. Why would anyone listen to a sales call from a stranger, when all they have to do is press a button to make the whole thing go away? Conversely, if my customer has a question regarding terms for an order, we are both highly interested in connecting, and are both extremely likely to listen to one another on a recording.

The same goes for email. I ignore thousands of emails a year (but never at work). I know businessmen who have their secretary “dump” their entire email box once a month to get rid of everything they haven't opened so that it doesn't get full. I even know people who periodically set up new email accounts to avoid the trouble of cleaning out old ones. Have fun keeping in touch with these guys if they aren't already looking to hear from you!

If you want your voice mails to be listened to, you have to be sharing something of value with the person you are calling. If you want your emails read, be sure the recipient knows it is coming, and knows that there is something important in that email. Whether you do that by calling your client first, or by consistently delivering such blisteringly good content that they cant wait to open their inbox to see if you have graced them with another message, there is no substitute for quality. If you want to be sought out, be worth seeking.