Rather than impose a preferred communication method on people, I like to keep as many communication channels open as I can.
Why? Because people choose to contact me in sometimes surprising ways, and those contacts can lead to new projects.
Incoming Message From Starfleet
I’ve been doing an end-of-year review, and business has come in through a variety of channels. This year, projects have started from these incoming communications:
- A conversation on Twitter with someone I’d met only once.
- A message on Facebook from someone who already knows my email and phone number, but chooses to use Facebook instead.
- LinkedIn messages, again from people who know how to contact me by other means.
- Emails commenting on my blog posts – even though every blog post can be commented on direct.
- A letter, from someone I know quite well and already correspond with via email.
In each of those cases, the way that people started the conversation may not have been the optimal one – picking up the phone and calling me would probably have been the best thing to do.
But why should I care what people choose to do? If I keep as many channels open as possible, I’m open to new opportunities.
And I’ve set things up so that messages coming in from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other sources all drop into my email Inbox, so it’s easy for me to see incoming messages and respond to them quickly.
Contrast this with other approaches you may have come across.
“I don’t read emails. I figure that if something is really urgent, the sender will eventually call me.”
“I don’t have time for social media, it’s a distraction from real business.”
I like that idea of ‘real business’, don’t you? Rather a purist view!
Live Long and Prosper
Frankly, I’ll engage in a conversation about new possibilities however it starts. So, like Lieutenant Uhuru, I’m keeping all subspace channels open. What about you?