Voice calls are intrusive and can last longer than they need to, even though video calls are a better option than person to person meeting, they are still just awkward and normally not needed.
Obviously I can only talk for myself, but email is just so less intrusive, if managed well most of your day to day to communication can be done via an application like hey.com - email has always been my preferred method of contact, both for private and business. I've always preferred dealing with matters when I want to at a time that best suits me.
When I started up my own company, I started it in a way that worked for me and my family. I still wanted to go on holiday and still wanted a private life with the occasional unplanned day off when the sun finally showed it's face (I live in the UK so this isn't too often).
Using email allowed me to check in when I wanted, which I did. None of my customers ever complained about my response time, some even congratulated me on it, due to the fact I sometimes replied out of normal office hours. I had a few potential clients who wanted my mobile number, which I didn't like. For me it then felt like my clients had me on 24 hour call.
Even though my company consists of just me, it can still work for teams. Look at Basecamp it works on a similar principle, the users are in control of their time rather than than at the beck and call of phone calls, Skype, video calls and all the other mediums used these days.
Is there a moral to this world@hey.com email? I guess it's this - if you can, try and own the communication between you and clients, don't let clients own your time, it's your time and you need to hold its control. I don't have a phone number on my website, nor do I include one in the footer of my emails. I'll call a client for an initial chat but once a project in underway then why would they want to disturb me, slow down the project and interrupt me when I could be working on something tricky.
Obviously I can only talk for myself, but email is just so less intrusive, if managed well most of your day to day to communication can be done via an application like hey.com - email has always been my preferred method of contact, both for private and business. I've always preferred dealing with matters when I want to at a time that best suits me.
When I started up my own company, I started it in a way that worked for me and my family. I still wanted to go on holiday and still wanted a private life with the occasional unplanned day off when the sun finally showed it's face (I live in the UK so this isn't too often).
Using email allowed me to check in when I wanted, which I did. None of my customers ever complained about my response time, some even congratulated me on it, due to the fact I sometimes replied out of normal office hours. I had a few potential clients who wanted my mobile number, which I didn't like. For me it then felt like my clients had me on 24 hour call.
Even though my company consists of just me, it can still work for teams. Look at Basecamp it works on a similar principle, the users are in control of their time rather than than at the beck and call of phone calls, Skype, video calls and all the other mediums used these days.
Is there a moral to this world@hey.com email? I guess it's this - if you can, try and own the communication between you and clients, don't let clients own your time, it's your time and you need to hold its control. I don't have a phone number on my website, nor do I include one in the footer of my emails. I'll call a client for an initial chat but once a project in underway then why would they want to disturb me, slow down the project and interrupt me when I could be working on something tricky.