How much business do you lose because of emails?

Some of us still remember the days when clients wrote to their lawyer and received a letter back after the matter had been given due consideration. A solicitor would receive a pile of post in the morning and possibly another smaller pile by second post in the afternoon. Our working day was organised according to a cycle of post arriving and post leaving. That cycle was interrupted by the telephone; major changes were caused by the fax machine, but what revolutionised client communications was email and other forms of digital communication.

We have always worked under pressure, but the constant stream of emails that we all receive today has added immeasurably to that pressure. Estimates suggest that a gobsmacking 144 billion emails are sent each day. But, what should make us all despair is that it is believed that 60 per cent of these emails are considered unimportant.

We all know that email has encouraged clients to ask for advice at short notice, which increases the risk that we do not always give proper consideration to that advice because we fear that we are not providing the client with the level of service that is expected.

But, for me, what is most worrying about emails from a business point of view is that they are soulless and have little character. It is very difficult to form a real relationship with a client using email and what concerns me is the way in which emails have replaced other forms of communication.

How often do we send an email now when in the past we may have picked up the phone and spoken to our clients? A phone call is a dialogue that should generate a great deal more information than a series of impersonal emails. I wonder how many phone calls have been replaced by emails.

If you get an email from a client that suggests that the client is unhappy, do you think you are going to sort out the problem more effectively if you speak to the client or if you hide behind an email?

I believe that a conversation on the telephone or, better still, face-to-face discussion, will lead to much more information being exchanged than would a string of emails. In a conversation, even one taking place between people on opposite sides of the world, those talking to each other will pick up a lot of information from the tone of voice used or from hearing that the speaker is hesitant, confidant, worried or relaxed.

Lawyers will argue that the written word creates greater certainty; that there is less opportunity for misunderstanding or simple mishearing. On the other hand, it has become a cliché that most people give far less consideration to the contents of an email that may be dashed off in a hurry than to the contents of a formal letter. Then there are texts and social media that have developed their own languages.

Even in today’s digital on-demand age, impatient people value human contact. Dealing with people through a technology as impersonal as email creates relationships that have shallow foundations. This weak link can be easily broken as clients drift away or find other advisers who make more effort to speak to them.

Resist the easy option of the email. Spend more of your time picking up the phone and talking to your clients. Build relationships with strong and deep foundations. Your clients will appreciate this more personal approach and value the extra effort that you make. You will get better instructions but, more importantly, you will get more instructions.

What do you think? Am I right or am I a Luddite?

Copyright & permissions