In a recent post at Baseline Magazine, Hiding Behind Technology, author Samuel Greengard laments the sorry state of connecting with people in the age of instant communications. Of course it's always "those people" who are so rude. You and I would never let a call go to voice mail just to screen a caller. Of course not. It's more than an issue of virtual etiquette. It's a question of business survival. On a recent assignment with EZCarCreditFL.com, we conducted a thorough evaluation of their Earned, Paid and Owned media. We invested in expensive media campaigns, pored over web analytics, and evaluated linking strategies. The result? The bottleneck to lead acquisition was not anywhere near the web. It was the phones. After brainstorming with the staff, we performed an extreme makeover of the phone system, assigned a specific team member to answer the sales lines, and tracked each and every call. Sales increased immediately. If you're tempted to ask your customers, "Can you hear me now?" It might have nothing to do with their hearing, perhaps your organization is hard of listening.

Virtual Hearing Test

Is your organization getting the right message to the the right prospects at the right time? Here are some tips to help you clarify your message and improve your virtual communications.

• Check All Channels - How do your customers and prospects prefer to hear from you? Put on your customer hat. Do they call or text, send an email or submit a web form? Check all available communication channels to see if your message not only gets through, but if your organization is speaking with one voice.
• Check Your Culture- Does your communication process build bridges or walls? Are your people using Caller ID to screen callers or anticipate their questions?
• Check Your Results- I can tell you who called last Tuesday, not to mention, when, for how long, what they needed and how I responded. It's not magic, just a solid Customer Experience Management program called SugarCRM. It's web-based, so I access it on my computer, iPad and Smartphone. To create success you need to improve the quality of your communication, and quality starts when you measure results.

Suggestions? Some of the best ideas I've ever heard came from listening to prospects and customers. If you have a communication tip, please share it with me, either as a comment below or a voice message at 727-278-9382. Yes, I think I can hear you now.