Baby Boomers and email

[Mikey P]

I believe us Gen X'rs check our aware of our new emails as they arrive, smart phones buzz or sing and we reply right away.
Often at awkward hours that catch our elders off guard. Much like answering the phone at night or on Sundays..


The Boomers on the other hand, even those with Smart Phones don't see the urgency..
They wait days to reply to emails and will wait for call backs just as long..

Is this your experience?


It's a balance to not come off as an ADD goof to the Boomers...

 

[rjwood]

I've been noticing (and laughing at) more older people texting while driving.

 

[hogjowl]

Being a boomer, I am embarrassed by my peers.

And annoyed by you people who email 1000 times with 1000 stupid questions when one phone call is all it will take.

 

[rjwood]

Being a boomer, I am embarrassed by my peers.

That's too bad. Perhaps you could try harder?

And annoyed by you people who email 1000 times with 1000 stupid questions when one phone call is all it will take.

Agreed. On the one hand I like email communication for the obvious (and not so obvious) reasons, but it can become tedious when services such as ours is involved. Though, to be fair to the consumer, they are not aware of the technicalities or intricacies of our industry.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

When someone has a technical question and can put together a story with details and pictures of the problem, I like it.

I find many use email to get a message to me when they don't want to interupt me with a phone call, which is thoughtful.

I also found it useful for getting "more important things done" during time wasting IICRC board meetings and instructor symposiums

 

[rjwood]

When someone has a technical question and can put together a story with details and pictures of the problem, I like it.

I find many use email to get a message to me when they don't want to interupt me with a phone call, which is thoughtful.

I also found it useful for getting "more important things done" during time wasting IICRC board meetings and instructor symposiums

Excellent points.

I sometimes find myself a bit annoyed when after dutifully standing in line for a period of time and see phone call after phone call cutting in front of me. The telephone is and extraordinary invention, but challenging in some regards.

Then again, I'm guilty of using it too.

 

[steve_64]

I keep my phone on silent most of the time. I dont have any notifications coming to my phone. Its in the other room at night too.

 

[Papa John]

I've learned not to send unsolicited emails.
I respond to emails based on their priority to me.
If a phone call would have been better, ill ignore the email until they get the hint to call the office.

 

[hogjowl]

I need the work too much to ignore them.

 

[rjwood]

I usually respond with my phone number along with an explanation that I need additional information regarding detail. If the customer has included a phone number in the original message, I call.

I don't care for the online appointment scheduling apps. What I hate most is standing before people and having to try to up-sell, it's too conspicuous looking for my liking. Chances are, they've chosen to schedule anonymously to avoid dealing with up-selling in the first place.

 

[steve_64]

I need the work too much to ignore them.

Most of my customers know im a one man show and leave a message. I lose a couple a year ny not answering or calling nack fast enough.
Not enough to put up with being constantly botheted electronicly.

 

[Mike Draper]

I've had many of my senior clients email me to tell me they are sorry they haven't used me in awhile because the carpet is still clean. They think I'm personally sending out my service monster reminder cards.

 

[Art Kelley]

I don't consider e-mail a priority or even very relevant in my life, certainly not for communication. I will check it every so often, maybe once a week if I think about it. I have had a few customers send me an e-mail asking for a quote, over the years, because some of my business cards had an e-mail address on them, but by the time I noticed the message buried inside the spam messages it's too late to respond so I just ignore them. I have a distrust of the legitimacy of many of the messages sent, even from, or especially from, companies I do business with. There is a low level dread in the back of my mind of losing everything through a hack, which I really think will occur to many people in the years to come as online criminals become even more clever and sophisticated.

 

[hogjowl]

And you people think I'M a Neanderthal?

 

[Desk Jockey]

When someone has a technical question and can put together a story with details and pictures of the problem, I like it.

I find many use email to get a message to me when they don't want to interupt me with a phone call, which is thoughtful.

I also found it useful for getting "more important things done" during time wasting IICRC board meetings and instructor symposiums

I always email you. I figure you get enough calls and my emails are never urgent. You always respond and I get what I need quickly.

It's also all down clearly so not question as to what products. It seems to work very well.

Thanks!

 

[Papa John]

Oh- Brother!!-- A prospect with about 80,000 sq ft of carpet that needed to be cleaned b4 NYE Emailed me and wanted me to call him-- the problem is that I got so many junk emails that day that I didn't get his email until a day later!--- so he went with another company.. He figured I was too busy!!-- I wish he would have called me since he had my number.... oh well this will give me more time to plan the job the next time.. he says I'm in the running in the summer---
I think he call me sooner because I saw the results from the cleaner he hired and don't think he will be happy-- he wanted it fast-- and That's what he got..

 

[mirf]

It is a lot of work keeping up with all the calls, e-mails, and texts. Plus not everyone leaves a message anymore so you have to wonder should I call back that missed call or not.

 

[Mark Saiger]

I've got a commercial account right now the manager sent my wife a pm on Facebook.... so I have done a response back to her from my account since they need it done asap...

But they have not responded back to me ... So I am going in there today to talk to someone in person to get this scheduled.

We have a number of these large accounts just out of the blue need it done...and I am gonna get them in before heading south in a few days

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

I've observed that although there often seems to be trends in regard to consumers (age groups, male/female,married/or not, income, ethnicity, etc) I try like heck not to box people in. It's easy to do that and for me it results in me not having my "business" ears and voice turned on. Use to think I understood the 55 and older crowd really well as they make up a big chunk of my repeaters but slowly found that most all my repeat and potential customers fail to respond to all kinds of communication, email or otherwise.

For me lately I separate first into two categories, 1-are you serious about cleaning? 2-whats yer time frame? Email more often gets in the way of my scheduling. If they are using work e-mail that sucks even worse. To many times I've had a good potentials ($350+) email me on Friday afternoon and not respond till Mon mid morning. All because they are using work email. Personal email has worked slightly better.

I like phone/text/email/smoke signal......in that order. Hell, even a land line phone is challenging for some. Again, I'm talking scheduling which is what I'm all about, making money. I'm up to my ass in consumer groups here in metro hell. Flaky real estate transactions, rental situations, old people who can't move fast, youngers who have no value about their living quarters, "shoppers" who never seem to go away, and on and on.............. This year I noticed and increase in prospect custies emailing me for info and then insist on carrying on the pen pal relationship all the way through scheduling; tossing mail back and forth. Noooo, not for me. I want them off the mail and on the phone.

 

[Mikey P]

If they are using work e-mail that sucks even worse

true..

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

I hate the phone. Instant quote form and then email communication only. I like the customers I get this way better.

 

[Mikey P]

really?

I prefer old people with charm.

 

[hogjowl]

really?

I prefer old people with charm.

You can forget it.
I'm not calling you.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

I have lots of elderly customers with iPads.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

People around here like the phone to price check, sniff out and negotiate deals.

 

[Goomer]

For initial inquiries, a phone call has many benefits, and can cover a lot of ground quickly, but I try to establish text or e-mail correspondence as much as I can for any future contact.

Phone calls are "screened" by everyone to some degree, and can be too easily rejected if the moment is not ideal for a conversation of unknown duration.

Text messages and e-mails have a much longer "shelf-life" than a mere log in ones call history which can easily be forgotten.

Text message in-boxes are generally checked more frequently and will serve as a reminder unless they are specifically deleted, and are easier to respond to than making a phone call, as the advantage of texting is that it can be done easily under more circumstances than a call can, whether in a loud/quiet environment, with family, at work, at a red lights, hung-over, pre-coffee, butt-nekid, or on the throne dropping a deuce.

Same with e-mail especially for businesses, geeks, nerds, and tech-savy professionals, as the emails are forever accessible in their mailboxes for future needs, and most people can easily recall that they had corresponded with you before via e-mail and do so again.