Lessons Learned After a Decade of Practicing My Text-only Communication Philosophy
Technology and communication styles have advanced significantly over the past decade, and many lessons were learned, especially in 2020.
I originally wrote this article many years ago, and I still practice this philosophy today, while still successfully acquiring and keeping clients as well as working on various projects with remote teams. Since 2010, there have been even more advances with communication and project management with the advent of services like Slack and Basecamp.
While I was probably a little early with my decision to hang up the phone so to speak, I think most of the modern world has come around to my way of thinking, probably as a great detriment to those that just want to pick up an old-fashioned phone and hear a real human-being on the other end. That’s a perfectly natural desire, but you can’t stop progress.
Video and voice chat had already become much more popular over the years, but the usage of tools like Zoom absolutely exploded in 2020. Along with that huge increase in popularity, came a lot more scrutiny, and the general population became aware of issues that most of us that care about privacy and security were already aware of, mainly that Zoom is nothing more than spyware.
Despite these issues becoming big news by major news outlets, nearly every tech company, school, and even government organizations continue to use Zoom, who record your “private” meetings, appearance, voice, and then both use that data themselves and sell it to third-parties. Sadly, many people are forced to use Zoom or else…, which seems like a terrible violation of their rights.
Beyond those kinds of glaring flaws, the decision to keep communications text-only all these years, has proven to be one of the best, if not the best business decisions I’ve ever made, just in terms of mental health. Besides being hard of hearing sometimes, being forced to install spyware on my computer and then point a camera at my face to record me isn’t just uncomfortable, it’s unacceptable for anyone who cares about their own well-being; I refuse to do it.
Despite this refusal not interfering with my ability to provide quality communication and work with anyone in the world in any way, similar to lost opportunities resulting from my refusal to communicate over the phone, this dilemma with the likes of video meeting tools like Zoom has lost me opportunities too, which is unfortunate, because I’m not wrong; most people and society as a whole just simply hasn’t caught up yet. That said, we’re closer than ever before. Regular people are actually starting to take their privacy more seriously and end-to-end encryption is being incorporated into more tools, if not built with that security in mind from the get-go.
It’s unfortunate that it took a pandemic to push this issue along, but people are finally being forced to align more with a lifestyle that I’ve intentionally manufactured for many years, and instead of people being confused by or criticizing my philosophy, they’re actually starting to get it if not flat-out agreeing with me.
I no longer discuss business over the phone.
This may not be true for all industries of course, but as a web designer (or remote pro of any kind really), I’ve found that phone calls are unnecessary, inconvenient (usually requires scheduling), ineffective, counter-productive, and ultimately inefficient to the ultimate goal of a project.
In the 21st century, what’s so wrong with phone calls and right about new forms of communication?
Intrusiveness and Availability
Phone
You really can’t just call someone anytime, day or night.
If you miss the 9-5 gap you may be hesitant to call and wait until the next day or worse, until Monday or after holidays. When working with professional freelance individuals (not firms or companies), it’s very much the same as calling someone on their personal phone who doesn’t know your number.
Most people today screen their calls (with an “if it’s important, they’ll leave a message” mentality) because of all the possible unwanted calls. If it’s an unsolicited, unscheduled, or unknown call, you’re likely going to reach voicemail.
Phones are often loud and obnoxious; it’s difficult to know an appropriate time to make a call without prior scheduling. When scheduling a call, this is likely to mean a 1-2 day delay to get the right time for both parties (especially a concern for global industries where people can be in wildly different timezones). This also can create the stress of being held down to a certain spot waiting and sometimes people just end up forgetting and being late anyway.
Email and IM
You can email someone anytime, 24/7.
The response time might not be as immediate as you like, but a detailed email or two should get the ball rolling quite well. The only possible worry could be that your message somehow got sent to their spam folder.
But if you’re attempting to work with a professional that doesn’t thoroughly check their spam folder for important messages before emptying it, you dodged a bullet anyway because they’re not the tedious perfectionist you want in a profession that requires a high level of attention to detail. A professional that does not check their spam folder before deleting its contents is not worth their weight in salt, because especially in the web industry, we know full-well that legitimate emails get sent to the spam folder all the time (false positives).
You can also attempt to IM someone anytime, but they might not necessarily be available. With most modern day chat apps, it shows when they’re online and actively at their computer. You won’t be intruding, trust me. They’ll either just ignore you if they’re not on-duty or otherwise occupied, or they’ll let you know if they’re busy and get back to you; but, most likely will be happy to open up a discussion with you right away.
Quality of Communication
Phone
In my experience, phone conversations tend to be open-ended in a bad way and rarely stay concisely on track.
It’s often hard to keep up with one another. There may be pausing, stuttering, difficulty in finding the right words and explanation because you’re on the spot. Sometimes there are language and accent barriers; you quite literally cannot understand one another. Sometimes reception is bad or there is too much background noise or other distractions.
The biggest problem is in the keeping of actionable details. It’s much easier for a client to go on and on about details and “getting it all out” than it is for a freelancer to in return substantiate and turn those details into tangible actions to get the project done. This is because the mind is much faster than verbal communication. A client could begin detailing:
“I want my site to look very professional, like a huge corporation, but also down-to-earth and I kind of want it to look like Apple’s website, but maybe with more color or probably just plain, you know what I mean? What do you think?“
There is nothing explicitly wrong with this, it’s just counter-productive with no structure, sometimes obscure like:
“You know how you feel when you go to the grocery store and you’re hungry? I want my website to have that kind of feel…“
These details can go round and round in circles like this where the client may feel they’ve “gotten it all out” and explained it very well (assuming that if the pro is really a pro they should be able to take these details and run with them). It just doesn’t always work that way. We all have different perspectives and a phone conversation is not the right form of communication to get pertinent details out.
Email and IM
Far more strict, structured, and linear in communication, especially when using Gmail (why are you not using Gmail?), which keep all emails organized into one conversation thread.
When writing, one is more definitely going to express themselves better, collect details, be more specific in the right way, show examples (pictures, links), and proofread. It’s also a good exercise for the client to get their details out in a checklist outline for their own review, to verify that it’s all there and accounted for, and that they get an accurate quote for the work they need done and realistic expectations.
Probably the best example of email efficiency is when the client can sketch a storyboard of their project (doesn’t matter how good), scan it, and email it. This helps immeasurably. It couldn’t even be explained better in person. Email is also very important for the progress of the project, to share a link of what I’ve done so far and then receive a concise checklist of feedback, concerns, questions, requests, and revisions for which I can then directly respond to the email point-by-point.
Record and Reference
Phone
Many, many things get lost in transmission and translation.
Because what the client is saying is fresh in their mind, they may feel that once they’ve said everything that you now magically contain all the same knowledge. But, hearing, listening, acknowledging, understanding, and remembering are all very different things.
Most things will be lost in a phone conversation. Recording a phone conversation isn’t very practical either and re-listening to it to find the details would be even more difficult and time-consuming. Taking notes during the conversation really isn’t a solution either. You’ll end up with a lot of “Wait, what was that? Say that again.” moments and a lot of repeating and going back over things that just isn’t (and shouldn’t be) necessary.
Email and IM
Everything is conveniently recorded: every word, picture, file, and link.
Which can then be referenced and gone over time and time again. With Gmail (which I highly recommend anyone serious about working in any capacity for, or with others on the internet, use), you can very easily track emails in Gmail’s proprietary conversations, which are back-and-forth emails conveniently grouped together for easy reference. There are a number of other things you can do to improve organization with Gmail, utilizing filters, labels, and search as well.
Agreements and Legal
Phone
Verbal contracts have no legal bound in most places. Over the phone, things can be very easily misconstrued as agreements.
Here’s an example:
Client:
“Do you think you could design a rotating ad banner?“
Freelancer:
“Yes, I can do that.“
(then the conversation trails off quickly onto something else)
What the client assumes the freelancer meant:
“Yes, I agree to do that in addition to what we’ve already discussed and priced out.“
What the freelancer really meant:
“Yes, I’m able to do that.“
(merely acknowledging he has the skill set available in which to accomplish such a task)
You can argue all day about what was said and agreed upon based solely on retrospect or false assumptions or memory, but there is no respectable claim here, because you have nothing, but your recollection to back it up.
Email and IM
This is definitely a gray area.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, and Offer and Acceptance are all good reads, but don’t entirely solidify everything. There are different laws for every city, county, state, and onward. When working with people abroad, that can become even more confusing.
Legality isn’t really what’s important here anyway. It’s about personal agreement and expectations to stay on task for the sake of efficiency. With everything on record there can be little confusion, and if a problem does occur, hopefully it can be easily and amicably corrected very quickly by simply going over past communications.
Trust
I understand that for many, the phone call is a form of trust-building, putting a voice to the name or with an in-person meeting, putting a face to the voice.
To me, this is falsely comforting just like whenever you’re asked for two sets of IDs. The idea is the same; if I can forge one ID, I can forge two IDs (I’ve always thought that was pointless by the way — agencies or companies asking for two IDs). If I’m going to scam you by email, I’m going to sweet talk you by phone.
In fact, the no-phone-calls rule is only an indication that I am indeed a legitimate pro, as strange as that sounds. Trust me, if someone just wanted your money, they’ll do whatever it takes; they’ll break their backs to jump through hoops and appease you; they’ll do a lot of things like make guarantees, to the point of being a red flag in savvier people’s minds of having a “too good to be true” situation.
I have worked very hard for a long time now to build trust and reputation in this online business world outside of old-fashioned in-person and phone meetings. You can Google my name, Bryan Hadaway, check out my various projects, talk to people who’ve worked with me, but ultimately, you’re just going to have to trust me. It’s the leap everyone has to take whether it’s to hire a web guy or a plumber; it’s all the same.
I’ve had many clients burnt in the past by bad dealings; I’ve had my share as well; it’s a two-way street. I’ve had to spend countless hours with clients over the phone; I just don’t have time for it anymore. I also refuse to go back to the days of receiving calls at all hours, wherever I’m at. When I leave the house, I like to leave my work behind and go relax. I’m definitely a workaholic, but not to the point where I’m working on an iPhone, wherever I go, 24/7. Not going to happen.
Because I no longer do business over the phone, I have absolutely lost potential clients or even current clients. This is a good thing. The reason this is good is because I only wish to work with those that want to work with me, listen to me, and understand my guidance and methodologies as the professional to get their project done. I have been doing this for years, had hundreds of clients, consulted with or provided advice to thousands of others, and the most important thing that I’ve learned in this time is that phone calls are a big waste of time. Phone calls are a preference, a comfort zone for people, and no one has ever proven to me their usefulness in this line of work, ever.
When a client hires me and trusts my judgement and professional advice and takes my suggestions and recommendations seriously, the whole process goes amazingly smooth for both parties, every time. When I hire a professional myself (for something I don’t do), I always let them do their thing as they are the professional for the given task. Trying to hinder this in any way would only hurt the quality of work I receive. That’s the same respect I seek in return when someone hires me.
More Than Just The Points Above
While I think the points I’ve made above are valid and I stand behind them, you could throw them all out and narrow it down to one simple fact, I just don’t like talking on the phone. I like to compartmentalize my life in a way where I keep my work life and personal life completely separate. I only like to give my phone number out to friends and family. Of course, this is why many professionals have both a work phone and a personal phone, I just don’t want to do that.
What are your thoughts of today’s fast-paced world and the many avenues available to us for communication?