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Mike Antoniak is a freelance journalist, who writes frequently on technology.
| | Productivity Booster
E-Mail, Anytime, Anywhere
Using downtime to respond to e-mails can improve your service.
REPORTED BY MICHAEL ANTONIAK
Could you use an extra hour in your work day? In a recent survey, Blackberry wireless e-mail users averaged a 53-minute daily productivity gain, thanks to their ability to send and review e-mails while waiting for client meetings and during other slow periods. The survey, conducted by Research in Motion, makers of the Blackberry, was completed last summer and validated by Ipsos Reid market research firm. The 320 Blackberry users responding to the survey also said they spent less time calling on their cell phones or connecting to their e-mail account on their PDAs or laptops. As today’s buyers and sellers make more use of e-mail, the ability to receive and promptly respond to messages in the most efficient way can shape perceptions of the services you provide and keep transactions moving at a faster clip.
Before you start applying these findings to your selling activities, it’s important to note how Blackberry differs from other mobile options. The Blackberry solution combines a server, special software, wireless airtime, and a handheld device, similar in size to an alphanumeric pager but with a keyboard. Where wireless support for Blackberry is available, the system automatically routes incoming e-mail messages to the handheld. One of the compelling advantages to Blackberry is that it is always on, like a pager. Users need not dial in or secure any connection before sending or receiving e-mail messages. That immediacy and access allows you to manage your e-mail accounts whenever you have a spare moment—waiting for a customer at a showing, during a down time at an open house, at the restaurant waiting for your order.
If this seems a little too high pressure, remember that many e-mail-savvy customers consider response time an indicator of quality service. Speed can be especially critical during initial contact: the first real estate professional to respond to an e-mail query may be the one who gets the listing or gains the trust of the buyer. Wait until the end of the day to manage your e-mail account, and you risk losing business. Review and answer your messages as you go, and the task is more manageable, your service more responsive.
In another survey of 1,000 experienced Internet users conducted last June, Ipsos Reid found 61 percent—nearly two-thirds—preferred communicating by e-mail over other options. These numbers will certainly grow as the Web becomes an even more pervasive factor of personal and professional life.
Can you afford to forego a mobile e-mail solution and wait to respond to client e-mails at the end of each day? Probably not--if you want to make more sales. And think of all the sales you could make with that extra hour you gain. | |
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