7 Reasons Why I DON’T Use a Phone For Business
Posted on 04 June 2007 by DeanHunt
This morning I contacted a webmaster who owned a website I was considering purchasing. Here is what he said:
I will not deal with anyone unless they are willing to talk on the phone!
In my opinion this is a fatal mistake!
Not only do I feel that limiting yourself to the phone is a costly error, but personally I avoid the phone like the plague.
Here are my main 7 reasons why I don’t use a phone for my business:
1) I don’t live in America - therefore it will cost me a minimum of $1 per minute to call you. I could call a sex hotline for less 
2) Poor line quality - my phone line is not great, but when I do long distance calls it is far from perfect. I don’t have the time or the patience to be mis-understanding you. There is nothing more annoying than hearing your own voice, or a 2 second delay.
3) It is not necessary - technology has come a long way. There are still many people who avoid instant messaging, but surely an email is not beyond your abilities? Get with the times!
4) I avoid verbal masturbation - some people love the sound of their own voice. You will often find that these people also love staff meetings. Why spend 45 minutes in a meeting, or 20 minutes on the phone, just to make a simple decision? These people will call for no reason, they will bug you every day, and they will bore you with their life stories.
5) Cut the crap - When you send an email or chat via IM you avoid a lot of the social nonsense that comes with a face-to-face chat or phone call. Hi there, how is the weather? Great thanks, how’s things at your end? Good thanks, I bought a new computer yesterday and blah blah blah.
I don’t want to hear your life story, I don’t have time for social nonsense. All I want to know is the answer to my question, nothing more, nothing less.
6) It saves money - I would hate to see the phone bill of the typical verbal masterbator. 45 minute phone calls to see if a product arrived? Are you kidding me?
I have done complex deals, arranged trips around the world, earned 6 figures per year, done long term ad deals and solved complex and extremely important problems via IM and email. Using the phone can often magnify the problem.
7) It saves me time - If you are capable of typing at a half decent speed, then there is no need to be using the phone so often. Here is something that I hear a lot…
Verbal masturbator: Dean, can I call you tomorrow?
Dean: I prefer IM but sure
Verbal masturbator:Ok, I wil email you 10 mins before I call
Dean: errrr. Why?
If you are going to email me anyway, why not just add an extra paragraph to your email and tell me what your issue is. I can probably have answered it before you have even picked up the phone.
Do you know any verbal masturbators? Could you survive a week without using the phone?
I would love to hear your feedback on this…. but use the comments feature. DON’T call me
Dean
June 4th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Dealing with a global client base, there are plenty of pros and cons for email, IM, telephone calls, in person meetings, net conferences, etc. The key is knowing which mediums are best suited for the agenda.
Some meetings can run into overtime, if thats the case - be sure to set an agenda and cover only those topics to keep the meeting flowing.
June 5th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Although I’m not a fan of phones either, there are times when they’re necessary evils. I wouldn’t want to be notified of an emergency by email, since I don’t spend all day in front of the computer.
With cell phones evolving into personal workstations, you can still catch emails “on the fly”, so perhaps that would balance out some drawbacks.
What I didn’t understand, Dean, is if you were serious about purchasing that website, wouldn’t the cost of the phone call be very small compared to the purchase and possible future income of that site? Look at it as an investment, perhaps - a cost of doing business?
As for the “social nonsense” - people are for the most part social creatures - witness the social networking phenomena. Doing away with the little things - the “Hi, how are you, how’s the weather?” ritual would, I think, alienate many people to the point where you begin losing friends and business contacts.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:12 am
John - Good point. I know of a guy who runs a large product based business, has 15 members of staff and makes 7 figures per year. He has NEVER had a meeting or conference in 4 years. He received two phone calls to his mobile in 2006.
It depends on how you set things up from your side.
Sifu Phil - You raised some great points. I initially wanted to stir the bee’s nest, but many of your points were areas I was going to address in the next post.
So here is an update:
Regarding emergencies… firstly, 99% of what we consider to be emergencies are NOT emergencies. However, the most important people have my mobile phone number, and if there is a genuine emergency then I will be happy to speak to them.
Regarding the buying of the website. This was very much the first stages of the process. Bear in mind I make many such requests EVERY day, so making international calls would cost me around $50 per day extra. Secondly, if each phone call takes an extra 20 minutes to complete, then I could easily be wasting 5-6 hours per week.
Regarding the social nature of things… firstly, this is business! I am good friends with hundreds of website owners, and I will bend over backwards to stay friends with them. I am NOT against being social, I am against being social for the sake of it, as opposed to getting something achieved.
In my emails I usually start with a friendly (social) opener, but on the phone this can often spiral into 10-15 mins of mindless natter.
On a sidenote, I just visited your website http://sifuphil.com/ it is very interesting.
Dean
June 5th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Dean, I have also had the same issues when buyers wanted me to call up. I dunno probably it has more to do with the fact they can hear a voice behind a name and feel more safe.
The solution I found was Skype-Out and Skype-In. It has worked out great for me and I find that on phone I can usually up-sell things.
June 6th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
I hate the phone too. Customers often ask for my phone number via email with is so funny to me. Like Dean said, why not just add the sentence of why you want to talk to me in the email asking for my number?! I haven’t taken a business call from a customer in nearly 2 years.
The only calls I take are from business partners, joint venture partners and friends. Customers, ahahhaah, no. There is no reason a customer should have to talk to me since I have a very complete FAQ page.
They think their questions are special, yet I only have like 15 different questions I am asked on a daily basis.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:33 am
Saved emails and IMs are archives of those many conversations one has. Very useful indeed.