The amount of business communications and messages coming at us has increased exponentially thanks to many AI tools. We are all seeing more emails, texts, DMs, meeting requests and awkward pitches than we did just a year ago.
Everything is happening faster, as the cost of entry for mass communication gets cheaper every day. But perhaps we can stand out from the noise not by being louder, but by being more intentional. Here are a few things to improve your business communications by doing less of some things and more of others.
Do Less
LinkedIn cold DMs / InMail. They are awful and they don’t work. Don’t just do less; cut them out completely. As far as the incoming LinkedIn InMails, just delete them. Don’t give them any attention, and maybe someday mediocre salespeople will stop flooding this channel.
Hourlong meetings. You only have so many hours in a month. Use them wisely. Too many people are filling time to get to the top of the hour. I’ve changed my calendar default to 20-minute meetings. You can cover a lot of ground in 20 minutes.
Do More
New conferences and events. Conferences that you have not previously attended can be a refreshing change and a new source of information and connections. A list of recommended shows can be found at socialgeekradio.com/events.
In-person client meetings. I’m not talking about expos and franchise events where your clients and partners are going to be anyway; I mean getting in a car or on a plane and going to where they are, with the specific intent to spend time with them. I’ve been doing less of this than I did 10 years ago and it’s my biggest change planned for 2024.
Old-fashioned phone calls. I have a small circle of friends and colleagues with whom it’s OK to just pick up the phone and call like it’s the 1990s. Not Zoom. Not Google Meet or Team. No texting first to find to a time and, no, you don’t have to click through to my Calendly. If you’re my friend, colleague, or client, please pick up the phone. I want to enlarge that old-school phone circle in 2024!
Jack Monson
Jack Monson is the host of Social Geek, home of the No. 1 podcasts in franchising and the CEO of Brand J. He has been working with franchises brands and small businesses in marketing for 15 years. socialgeekradio.com