This morning my answering machine gave me a message from a prospective client telling me that he’d sent me some information. I checked my email and no – there was no information from him.
So I called to let him know it hadn’t come through.
Of course it hadn’t – he’d sent a text message. Funny thing about that – land-line phones don’t accept text messages, and I live and work in a mountain valley where there is no cell service.
I wish we had it – from what I’ve seen, Internet via Verizon is much faster and more reliable than my satellite Internet. But considering the sparse population out here, a cell tower probably is not in our future for many years to come.
Not long ago I read a promotion for a text-based lead generation service.
It told how many hours per week the average adult spends texting and said that texts were far more favorably received than emails.
There’s just one problem. I’m not the only person in this country who lives and/or works where there is no cell service.
We exchange the pleasure of constant connectivity for the pleasure of looking out our windows at trees (or perhaps desert, plains, or water). Instead of cars and people going by, we see wildlife passing through.
While it is assumed that everyone in the U.S. has a cell phone and can respond to texts, it simply isn’t true.
Some of us have computers and “land-line” telephones.
So ASK people how they wish to be contacted. Even some who can accept text messages would prefer to have an email – or to hear your cheerful voice!