Episode Details

I had a bit of a shock recently. My wife tried to reach out to an Instagram vendor to pick up an order, but she found herself completely shut out. This business owner had somehow managed to disable every single live call function—regular calls, WhatsApp calls, even Instagram and Facebook audio calls. The only way to reach them was through messaging, which led to a generic automated reply.

I get it. Some of you want "peace of mind," calm, and control in your business. Maybe phone calls give you "palpitations" or make you nervous. But if you are a small or medium-scale enterprise (SME) or a brand-new CEO, being inaccessible is a serious mistake.

When you cut off phone calls, you lose qualitative data. Text messages can tell you what happened, but they can't give you the tone, inflection, and nuance that come with a voice. You can’t hear if a customer is truly happy, lukewarm, or secretly frustrated. 

Without those conversations, you can’t build rapport, establish credibility, or easily earn referrals.

As Peter Drucker said, the purpose of a business is to create a customer through marketing and innovation. You cannot market effectively if you don’t know who your customer is, and you cannot innovate your product if you aren't hearing their honest feedback. Unless you are a massive PLC, a monopoly like NEPA, or you have spoken to so many customers that you can finish their sentences, do not turn off your phones.

Talk to your customers. Let them hear you, and more importantly, make sure you hear them.