Personally, I hate them.
The caller doesn’t know what I’m doing. In a business that often requires intense thinking that means that the phone usually interrupts my train of thought. A better way is to email so that I can read it at my convenience. Like most introverts I prefer the written word over the spoken but perhaps extroverts might prefer a video embedded in the email?
Many ‘courtesy calls’ are thinly disguised upsells. A lot of our software comes with an allocated account manager. It’s fabulous while we’re getting set up and we can build quite a relationship but, once we’re up and running, I usually agree with our contact that I’ll call/email when I need them so they don’t need to call me.
Of course I always make an effort to catch up with people when I’m at a conference or trade show. That’s when I’m ready for lots of interaction. I’ll be at the Digital Accountancy Show this month and speaking at Accountex in May where Maria will be joining me to look at the latest accounting and business technology.
How can you make the most of personal contact in a way that suits your different clients? If you’re an introvert like me how can you build a connection with your more outgoing contacts without feeling overwhelmed?