Several points struck me, but one of them I felt they have missed the mark on a little. In today's world of instant and voluminous communication, it is difficult to come across as personal or emotional in our typical methods of voicemails, emails and other written forms of electronic communication. Their recommendation was to find time and write hand written letters, suggesting there is no substitute for that type of personal communication. I respectfully disagree. I touched on it in a bit in the previous post, but in many ways I think a small video recording can have an even greater impact!
(I promise my next post will be specific to a technology or device. I just thought this would be helpful for a lot of people to consider incorporating into their business processes.)
As I was reading, I decided to ask some of the business men and women around me on the plane about their thoughts on the matter. I was surprised by their reactions a little bit. Many of them were not aware that was something that was easy to do!?!?! This was actually great news to me as it supports my position. I was expecting simple remarks such as "I would like that" or "feel that was personal". The important thing to consider here is anything that seems difficult to do conveys personal attention simply out of the time one assumes they dedicated to the gesture. When I started to talk to them about things you can convey in a video that you can't necessarily in a hand written letter they really started thinking about it and were on board with the idea. What better way to convey something emotional than with a video. Smiles, laughs and other heart felt emotions can be communicated with great power in a video. Furthermore, you are reinforcing your facial recognition with your name. If you watermark it with your logo, it is further brand recognition, etc. Being electronic, it allows the communication to be shared quickly and easily expanding your reach. There are any number of reasons this can be an excellent means of communication. So, while I think you can't go wrong with hand written letters, I believe in many ways a small video can exceed the effects of the letters and overall be more effective in personal communication.
I will do a follow up blog with specific instructions on how to do something like this. For now, just consider the parts of your business you might be able to introduce video into.
A great personal example of how it helped me in the past:
Designing a new part, I had a made a rough prototype that I was trying to convey to my manufacturer. It was an added part to a very large assembly, so shipping him all the pieces would have been expensive. I just gather the pieces on my desk and did a video showing my exact intent for the prototype. Uploaded it to youtube, sent him the link and within a few hours he had feedback from his entire team on a better solution and a price. This process otherwise would have taken days with shipping and only have a single piece to work with. With the video SENT AS A LINK (very important we don't email around 50+mb files) he was able to forward simply to the people and boom, we were in business.
I know this was in terms of a thank you, but it does show how it can be introduced to lines of communication and make an immediate impact!
Some other good resources for video:
www.wevideo.com
www.logitech.com (great webcams for those computers that aren't equipped with them)
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ (record your screen w/webcam plus it is FREE)
Another good use of video is a video testimonial from a customer or client. That goes a long way to building credibility with prospective clients. Seeing someone say it makes it real and personal, while it's easy to dismiss something that is written down.
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