Today, while researching a job opportunity and trying to find out more about the person I was going to be speaking with. I ran into something troubling. I couldn't find that person's work number, email, or any other relevant information. This is unacceptable, especially within the HR/Head-hunting field. Allowing a person access to the bare minimum of your contact information is no longer a choice. We live in a 24/7 world today, everyone should have access to everyone at all times.
Does this come with some exceptions? Absolutely. Personal cell numbers, emails and addresses should only be given out to those people that you explicitly trust. However, this comes with the caveat that one should be able to contact you at all times. I eat, sleep and breathe working. I constantly check my email, twitter, and blog in an effort to grow my business. My cell number is listed on my Twitter background.
The same level of transparency and access should be made available to anyone that would need to be contacted by those not affiliated with your own company. This includes but is not limited to: Salespeople, pr, marketing, and customer service. If I can't contact you as a web savvy individual (within 5-10 minutes of looking) the person that I do find is going to get my business. This is not rocket science. Optimizing your information is easy to do.
Privacy is overrated, I've given up even trying to hold onto it. So I make it easy to peer into and access all the information people need to get into contact with me. Granted I want to be found, but your customers want to find you. So throw them a bone and let them have a conduit through which to speak to you. The last thing you want is for someone to get a hold of you from a bad email address and continually contact you there. This can breed resentment, distrust and frustration: All because you did not make your information easy to locate and use.
The best customer service experiences I have had have been when I have called "Executive Hotlines" which forward me to people who can do more then press 3 buttons. Outsourced customer service people aren't inferior to those in the U.S. in fact most of the time they are arguably better. However, they are locked into a system at their desk and are unable to solve problems that are more complex then the options they have at their console. I advocate the Zappos model of Customer Service. A customer service person has carte blanche ability to make the person on the other end of the line happy and excited. The world would be a great place if we were all empowered in such a way.
HR people are fond of saying: "If I can't find out about you from your resume in under a minute, I don't want to hire you". Doesn't the same apply with being able to find simple contact information on the web?
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tagged as contact information, Customer Service, ease of contact, SEO, Social Media, transparency, twitter
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
People will argue with you about privacy, in fact that point was made recently by a comment on my blog – and I tend to agree with you. There is a limit to the amount we need to share (eg personal cell and email), but I do believe if you are using social media and internet as a means to do business, then you do have to be reachable.
To take it a step further, many of my clients would think that “About Us” is useless information and don't take it seriously – I know many who will look first at the About Us page before making a buying decision. Why would you not want people to know about your business if you want them to buy from you.
Nice post.
Excellent points Wendy. I definitely agree with your point regarding the “About Us”. The way in which we do business is changing…we are all now informed buyers thanks to the internet. So we need people to differentiate themselves in terms of brand, personality and quality to make an objective decision on whether or not to purchase
.
I always cast a very dim view on a company with no personal information or contact details for the management
Privacy is overrated? No way. Regardless of industry, I think that personnel should be able to protect themselves. Email address availability, yes — but also depending on the industry. Maybe it's because I'm all healthcare oriented, but you do have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy for a reason. For doctors & healthcare workers in particular, it's an invalid argument to make that anyone should be able to access them at anytime. If you choose to make the info available, okay, but each individual — even those in HR — has the right to make that choice.
People will argue with you about privacy, in fact that point was made recently by a comment on my blog – and I tend to agree with you. There is a limit to the amount we need to share (eg personal cell and email), but I do believe if you are using social media and internet as a means to do business, then you do have to be reachable.
To take it a step further, many of my clients would think that “About Us” is useless information and don't take it seriously – I know many who will look first at the About Us page before making a buying decision. Why would you not want people to know about your business if you want them to buy from you.
Nice post.
Excellent points Wendy. I definitely agree with your point regarding the “About Us”. The way in which we do business is changing…we are all now informed buyers thanks to the internet. So we need people to differentiate themselves in terms of brand, personality and quality to make an objective decision on whether or not to purchase
.
I always cast a very dim view on a company with no personal information or contact details for the management
Privacy is overrated? No way. Regardless of industry, I think that personnel should be able to protect themselves. Email address availability, yes — but also depending on the industry. Maybe it's because I'm all healthcare oriented, but you do have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy for a reason. For doctors & healthcare workers in particular, it's an invalid argument to make that anyone should be able to access them at anytime. If you choose to make the info available, okay, but each individual — even those in HR — has the right to make that choice.
Privacy is overrated? No way. Regardless of industry, I think that personnel should be able to protect themselves. Email address availability, yes — but also depending on the industry. Maybe it's because I'm all healthcare oriented, but you do have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy for a reason. For doctors & healthcare workers in particular, it's an invalid argument to make that anyone should be able to access them at anytime. If you choose to make the info available, okay, but each individual — even those in HR — has the right to make that choice.
People will argue with you about privacy, in fact that point was made recently by a comment on my blog – and I tend to agree with you. There is a limit to the amount we need to share (eg personal cell and email), but I do believe if you are using social media and internet as a means to do business, then you do have to be reachable.
To take it a step further, many of my clients would think that “About Us” is useless information and don't take it seriously – I know many who will look first at the About Us page before making a buying decision. Why would you not want people to know about your business if you want them to buy from you.
Nice post.
Excellent points Wendy. I definitely agree with your point regarding the “About Us”. The way in which we do business is changing…we are all now informed buyers thanks to the internet. So we need people to differentiate themselves in terms of brand, personality and quality to make an objective decision on whether or not to purchase
.
I always cast a very dim view on a company with no personal information or contact details for the management
Privacy is overrated? No way. Regardless of industry, I think that personnel should be able to protect themselves. Email address availability, yes — but also depending on the industry. Maybe it's because I'm all healthcare oriented, but you do have a fundamental constitutional right to privacy for a reason. For doctors & healthcare workers in particular, it's an invalid argument to make that anyone should be able to access them at anytime. If you choose to make the info available, okay, but each individual — even those in HR — has the right to make that choice.
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