Subscribe in a readerNo email 4u. John Cauldwell, the multi-millionaire owner of high street retailer Phones 4u, has banned staff from using email. [Ananova / Business]
John Cauldwell does an extraordinary thing, he bans the use of email as a tool for internal communications. Yes, virtually forcing his 2,500 employees to work directly with each other face-to-face. He says the biggest benefit of this ban would be increased customer loyalty as staff focus more on providing better service.
While this isn't necessarily right for your business, consider the value of improving the quality of email communications. Many employees and managers hide behind email, unproductively spending hours on things that could quickly be addressed by phone or in person.
E-mail disrupts business in other ways. It is difficult for most people to communicate in writing-- so many non-verbal elements of communications are lost. Receivers of written correspondence frame what they read in the context of their own experiences. This sometimes confuses the original message.
Another challenge is that most employees write based on what they want to say, not necessarily what the reader needs to hear. The wrong facts contribute to the wrong message.
E-mail isn't always the right medium for a particular message. A lot of effort is required for good written communications, this same effort could be applied to improving customer service if a better communications tool was used. Could you achieve the same results in less time if the messages was delivered in a phone call?
Many successful leaders recommend taking at least two days to respond to any written communication. This delay gives the writer time to consider the message and write from fact verse emotion. Unfortunately, most email messages are sent off quickly with little thought-- the instantaneous nature encourages jotting off a message this way.
I'd be interested in hearing about other peoples experiences with tuning communications channels to improve aspects of customer loyalty.
/ b2b-websites | clearly-communicate /
By Justin Hitt at September 18, 2003 12:14 PM
Subscribe in a reader
237
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Misdirected Communications Harms Business Relationships:
» Ways To Avoid Miscommunications Mistakes That Cause Customers To Leave from Building Business Relationships
What you say that sends your customer right to your nearest competitors and how not to say it. [Read More]
Tracked on August 18, 2006 6:19 PM
» re: Misdirected Communications Harms Business Relationships from Stuart Myles' Radio Weblog
John Cauldwell does an extraordinary thing, he bans the use of e-mail as a tool for internal communications. Yes, virtually forcing his 2,500 employees to work directly with each other face-to-face. [Read More]
Tracked on August 18, 2006 6:49 PM
