Martin Byrne from Yahoo Canada was quoted earlier this month talking about the importance of search in the modern marketing mix (here). This lead me to look at his personal website, which, among other things, lists advice on how to get in touch with him. The gist of his advice provides part of the dilemma that technology in communication has created.

Want to reach out to Martin Byrne?
Note to those from the just-so-crazy-it-might-work school of thought: no postal address or fax number is even listed.
Not surprisingly, the advice is “send me an e-mail.” The address of choice is “work.” By the way, there are two phone numbers. Call display will likely give you voice mail on the cellphone, and calling the deskphone appears to be as effective as opening your window and yelling, “Hey Martin!”

I admire the honesty of Mr. Byrne’s advice: “Send me an email and I’ll send you my home phone…unless I don’t want you calling me at home.” Technology in communication puts enormous pressure on written communication in the unsolicited modern-day cold call. The first hurdle for a terse and attention-getting message will be to get past the spam filter. Breaking through the clutter is still unlikely given the amount of e-mail we receive. (One might assume that traffic at Yahoo! Canada is higher than average.)

What to do? We actually come full circle, back to the days of relationship. If you really want to get through to Martin Byrne, you want to find an “in.” We are back to the old-school relationship whereby you get past the gatekeeper. Today’s gatekeepers are call-display numbers and from-box names.

If you can’t get the “in” and have to resort to the work e-mail approach, it is well worth spending time on the message (and ensuring that you steer clear of filters). Mark Twain famously apologizes to a correspondent for not spending the time to write a shorter letter. When your chance at a first impression is reduced to 20 typed words, it will be worth investing the time to choose them wisely.

Tagged as: communication, e-mail, Martin Byrne, technology, Yahoo

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