Over the past few months I have been meeting with a number of professionals who happen to work at professional service firms including Accountants and Attorneys. As the typical professional meeting protocol goes, we exchange cards, suggest connecting via LinkedIn and promise that we’ll someday co-operate on a project. Sometimes, these meetings do result in a continuing dialogue through additional networking meetings or email inquiries for leads or suggestions. More often, I find that I soon become another name on the firm’s Email list.
Emailing has become such a common staple that I feel that we’re losing the ability to speak directly with people. In fact, one LinkedIn group that I belong to asks, what Email service are you using? The response rate has seen an unbelievably high amount of participation. Often times these responders are restating the same thing over and over again. My conclusion to this activity is that Email is of high priority to many marketing departments.
What troubles me is that the email messages I receive are obviously meant for an audience that requires much higher level of accounting or legal help than, (hopefully) I’ll ever need in this life time. I began to wonder if all of the recipients of these email messages really do read them. Is automation is taking the place of good old, face-to-face conversations? At what point will business communications evolve to the point where the conversation is done solely through technology?
“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”
Before you send out that email, ask yourself, when was the last time I called my client directly?
The clients you know are worth far more than the ones you don’t know. Take the time to nurture those relationships. Doing so will result in more referrals which, in turn lead to new clients and the cycle continues.
