3
lovely1
8y

I would like to completely communicate via email to obtain clients. Not Skype; that is clients calling me through Skype and the phone. Has anyone done this? I've found that phone calls/Skype wastes so much time. Time that could be spent gaining a client and starting their project. However people love the phone calls and Skype way too much.

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  • 5
    Emails can be clear cut and keeps the facts.

    But you lose the real human element , when a client calls you they are more relaxed with who they are dealing with they know it's a real person and that you nice etc.

    On an email everything nowadays is like kind regards by default

    By talking to them on the phone you'll reassure them if it's only ever emails I feel like they get uneasy with you cause it's just someone out there dealing with it they have no real connection to you

    That's why physical meetings are even better
  • 2
    In my experience, emails are a monumental time waster, simply because time you could spend being productive is spent waiting on a reply to a question or some material or something. I find IM, face-to-face or phone much more productive for general discussions or catch ups. Yes, emails have their place as records of interaction, but they're far from the most efficient.
  • 1
    @FitzSuperUser Fair enough, I work remotely so...thanks. I may consider some phone/Skype by appointment.
  • 1
    @samk I think I might do IM more than phone though.
  • 3
    @lovely1 consider something like office hours instead to preserve your work time. "I'm available for meetings from 9 am to noon and reserve me afternoons for uninterrupted work on client projects."
  • 0
    @starless that's a good idea.
  • 1
    I like using screenhero or something. Most of the time I can knock out the routing and basic template while the clients describes the goals. Emails are silly and by far the biggest time sink besides done-done or all the other developer built tools, and you aren't going to have a career much longer if you don't learn to talk to people. The only reason I would ever want an email would be for short messages like, "hey, I updated the doc." - or - "I finished uploading the events. Let me know if it's correct." You're going to turn into a 4chan weirdo if you live a life of email only communication. If dev rant is any indication, we're already seeing a generation of boys who are all, "I wish I could just build a computer girlfriend so I don't have to learn how to be social."
  • 1
    Any changes, requests and feedback I ask all clients to email to my company email as it helps with logging. This allows us to have a clear record of information that may have not made it to the original specification.

    Informal chats and meetings are generally done on skype where anything said is non-binding unless the meeting in metred then minutes are taken and emailed to all parties.
  • 0
    @sheriffderek Wasn't thinking about using email for everything just initial contact and updates thereafter. And not all devs are men.
  • 1
    @lovely1 I am aware of that.
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