Every morning there are emails. For some staff an entire day can be spent replying and sorting emails. Even me, as the lowly work experience kid gets heaps for everything under the sun…‘coffee van is here’...ranger out the front’...Just thought you should be kept in the loop…
One of my tasks was to contact over 60 organisations requesting their co-operation in an advertorial, my initial idea was an email, mail merged of course so that everybody felt special, and I was told…’never do anything by email that can be done by a phonecall…’
I was overwhelmed by the speediness of the response of people who I called first before sending them the details in an email. I had built a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with them. They knew my voice, we had had a chuckle over the cricket/tennis/weather…and they felt compelled to follow up.
A faceless email however doesn’t inspire the same pull…
But there were exceptions to the rule…big organisations where I seemed to constantly be talking to the receptionists receptionist didn’t care for the phonecall.
They were busy.,
They had meeting to attend about meetings,
These people just want a quick email with dot points outlining exactly what you need from them and how they benefit from helping you and that is all.
I guess in public relations where a major part of it is building a relationship in these organisations you need to prove that you will always be punctual and professional with them and know when to stop asking, stop emailing and leave the idea for the time being.
I think the exercise highlighted to me the need to personalise a response depending on the target market and company, because even though they might all be stakeholders under the same umbrella, at the end of the day you are dealing with an individual human being, a real life person-not an organisation, and it is important to tailor the communication of the message to each individual.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Never do anything by email that can be done with a phone call.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I totally agree! It's so much more personable speaking with someone than through email.
Although, as you said, email is a good way to clarify things so the fine details are recorded.
Throughout my placement I have found it best to make the initial phonecall with someone, then follow it up with an email.
Yesterday, I needed information from Qantas' Fleet Managers, Product and Service Managers and Route Managers to compile a media release. I phoned all the appropriate people, which was good, as this makes the process a lot faster.
I have experienced this as well! Though I am pretty good when it comes to communication, I really struggle making phone calls and contacting people directly. This is something I had to get over VERY quickly in my organisation, my second day at my placement I had to make over 30 phone calls to different individuals.
I am working predominantly with seniors and older generations, so most of them are not tech savy enough to receive information over email. So for me, everything is now done via phone calls.
The good thing about that is it's helping me get over my insecurities when it comes to verbal communication!
I’m currently doing my PR Placement at a radio station and even here, we get so many phone calls from clients thinking they’re more important than every other client in our organisation. Each client wants to tailor their On-Air and web-based advertising differently and require individual time to organise this.
I agree that a phone call is the best way to establish a personal connection with the client and this connection helps you, as a creative public relations practitioner, to tailor these packages to best meet each client’s needs – as we all know, a happy, satisfied client leads to a successful and productive day!
However, once this initial relationship is formed, I then bring in one of our sales team to talk dollars and cents and to help them create a personal relationship also. It is then that rep’s responsibility to maintain that client-business relationship. Our clients find that by getting to know a few of the people in our rather small organisation and by forming more personal connections, business becomes much easier and loyalty to our organisation increases greatly.
Communication via email then steps in! It is important that the details of what the client needs and wants are communicated via email, internally and externally. It is essential that the sales rep for the client is kept informed of every aspect and that the client understands that our organisation recognizes and satisfies all their needs.
In saying that, communication via phone is much more personal and a combination of both is important to maintain that client-business relationship.
Post a Comment