justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

“I didn’t get your email.”

“But I sent it.”

Sound familiar? Our present state of electronic communication has given rise to increased uses (abuses?) in less than efficient means of correspondence. When we compose and send an efax or email, we tend to think that we’ve fully “communicated” with someone when in fact, the recipient may not have received our email. This could be due to a variety of factors: it goes into their spam folder, there’s a problem with a server, there’s a mistake in the email address or phone number, the intended recipient could have previewed and ignored it, or…gasp…previewed and simply deleted it.

Email has been a near miraculous advancement in our communication process over the traditional writing and sending of a letter, or writing and physically distributing copies of a memo. At the same time, it has a glaring flaw. Far too many people feel that once they’ve composed and sent an email, they have fulfilled their role in delivering a message – regardless whether it’s been received.

What brought this to mind was a situation today where I had asked for some records to be faxed from one organization to another. I asked the recipient of the records to confirm receipt of the information I had asked to be faxed.

The recipient indicated they had not received the records I had requested from the first party. So, did the first party not fulfill my request for the records to be sent? Did they send them to the wrong fax number? Or, had they simply forgotten to send them?

Regardless, the records were not received. I was forced to backtrack and contact the first party to request once again that the documents be sent.

When I followed up with the receiving party this time, I was assured the records had been received and they could then move forward with the next action step I needed taken.

In short, we’ve become conditioned to believe that our email and faxes most certainly are being received, simply because we know we hit the send key. These foregone, yet incorrect conclusions can often lead to a variety of problems including wasted time, terse exchanges of comments, and less-than effective customer service experiences.