Communicating with clients can be intimidating sometimes. What a pro says, how they say it and even the tone can make or break a potential business opportunity. We live in an age now where baby boomers are joining online communities and melenials are rapidly creating growth in e-commerce. This presents a unique situation where being flexible in your ability to communicate and being able to adapt to different generations of communication needs is paramount. I find that younger generations generally prefer to communicate via the platform or text. Verbal communication does not seem to hold the level of importance that it once did whereas the older generations enjoy verbal communication and generally appreciate the ease of a simple phone call versus back and forth text communications. I had a client, an elderly lady, preparing her husbands end of life documents and she needed a notary. She was unsure of what sort of things she needed and had a lot of questions. I this case it was much better to talk to her by phone so that I could explain that I only serve as a witness to the signatures and cannot provide legal advice regarding her forms. I was able to answer a few questions from a paramedic’s standpoint and explain to her how her husbands EOL wishes could be handled by EMS should he have an illness or death at home. On the other hand, I recently performed a wedding for a young couple. They preferred text and e-mail over phone conversations. This provided them with the opportunity to respond when it was possible or ask questions as they came up with the worry of playing phone tag. I think overall it is important to gauge what your client prefers but also what works best for the pro. Spending countless hours on the phone may not be the most effective option for me as this could prevent me from being able to secure additional clients. Additionally, if a client is texting and requiring immediate responses to be happy then a phone call may be better for that situation. In the end, ask what the client prefers, catering to their needs and expectations will always help you get that 5 star review!
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