So the big news this morning is Google’s new “Priority Inbox” feature that will be rolling out to all of Gmail this week (Coverage here from TechCrunch amongst others).
If you’re in sales you may be thinking that this is a boon to you. Now you can be sure to never miss the important email from that one client you’re waiting to hear from!
If you had that thought, shame on you. If you need a tool like this to find your important emails then you’re treating your clients badly. Every client email is important. Every one of them deserves your attention. They are opportunities for you to be a salesman and to earn business.
Be proactive on email, not reactive. Reply to things as soon as you can after the come in. Clients aren’t going to wait forever for you to respond, they’ll shop around. Take action on actionable items in your email as quickly as is prudent. If you can’t do something on it right away, make a to-do item for it (in whatever format works for you). If you’ve read the email, and/or done whatever the email required, get it out of your inbox. Gmail already lets you do this by archiving it in a way that you can easily search for it later.
Beyond the fact that you shouldn’t be trusting Google to tell you which emails are important, if you are unable to answer the emails that come in from a client in a timely manner then you need to revamp your process.
Email isn’t going away or slowing down. Gone are the days of being able to check your email once a week to see who reached out to you by something other than your phone. Get your inbox habits in place and in order, don’t let Google do it for you.
I was talking about Social Media and the connectedness of our world last night at a business event with some folks who are new to “The Twitters” and such things. They were asking me the usual questions about how to get a bajillion followers and what not, then asked how was it possible to follow so many people. So being the showman that I am, I broke out my iPhone to many oohs and aaahs and opened my twitter app. Immediately they saw the screen fill up with tweets from the 300 or so folks I follow, but what caught their eye was a series of a tweets from Gary Vaynerchuck getting geared up for his new SiriusXM radio show. They both recognized Gary right away and talked about how they followed him religiously on Twitter.
Now I like Gary, I think he’s a pretty cool guy in person after playing Wii Tennis with him and Matt Mullenweg at Gangplank, and I agree with a good bit of what he says when he talks business. But at the same time, he’s a relentless self promoter. To the point where I feel as though I understand his message, and repeated exposure to it gains me less and less value.
There are plenty of folks like this out there on Twitter and other Social Media outlets – and I went through last night and unfollowed them all. You could say I was insprired by Carlos‘s post about doing the same with Seth Godin .There is plenty of great content from both of those guys, and others, but once it gets to the point where you start skipping it because you’ve heard a post just like this before, its ok – you can make your own ideas too.
Challenge yourself to unfollow the “idols” on Twitter (and the shameless ballwashers that follow behind them) and start finding new interesting content.
Some conversations at Integrum reminded me of the story of the Netscape Hockey game (story here at Rands in Repose):
This is chill hockey. We don’t keep score. There is bumping and nudging, but rarely a fight, and the rules few:
1. Offsides are enforced.
2. If the puck leaves the surface, whoever gets it, gets to play it.
3. Don’t be a jerk.
Hockey has a slew of other rules regarding tripping, high sticking, and cross-checking, but in the pick-up game, those rules fall under #3 — don’t be a jerk. When new individual players arrive and they deviate from these rules, they are quickly and efficiently educated. Yeah, we don’t play that way.
We often take for granted the power of what the author there calls “social momentum”. How often has something been explained as “it’s the way we’ve always done it”. When you bring new people into an organization, be they new employees or clients, they don’t know about the whole system of things that are “just the way you’ve always done it”. They are reflexive actions for you, they are an unknown world for them.
Take the time to explain why and how you do things, and maybe they’ll make themselves a part of your culture instead of fighting it.
Are your clients happy enough?
Happy enough to not call you when there is a minor annoyance?
Happy enough to not call you when you miss a delivery date?
Happy enough to not refer you to their colleagues?
Happy enough to not automatically think of you for new opportunities internally?
Happy enough to take 2-3 days to get back to you?
Or are they excited to be working with you and willing to tell everyone about it?
Many times we focus on getting the sale, getting it closed, and then getting it done. Anyone can do that. It takes a real salesman to nurture that relationship though. When I was selling cars one of the guys I learned from would say “I don’t want to sell you a car. I want to be your car guy so that whenever you or anyone you know needs a car, you call me even if its not “. Is that the attitude you are taking? Or are you settling for making them happy?
