I have not yet switched to online banking and stop by the branch for many transactions instead of using the ATM. Often, I get into a quick chat with one of the tellers, and leave smiling that this brief interaction was so worthwhile the extra time. Yesterday, my husband, on the spur of the moment, stopped by a customer he hadn’t seen in person in a while. A chat here, an exchange there, and lo and behold, he walked out with an unexpected order.

In business, we often hide behind our emails and wonder why some issues don’t get resolved, why misunderstandings arise, or why some things take an awful lot of emailing back-and-forth, with lag time in between. Picking up the phone can resolve something in a heartbeat, and seeing someone face-to-face can move mountains and achieve so much.

In an effort to “save time,” our culture has moved relentlessly to remote, internet and email based business and communication. However, not only does the human connection get lost, we also don’t get the full picture because the interaction is depersonalized. So do we really save time?

Hearing a person’s voice, reading their emotions and body language, and looking into their eyes, all provide a deeper level of communication that we seem to underestimate, and that is lacking in email correspondence. Go to lunch with someone, pick up the phone, stop by and see your customer. Repersonalize!