At what communication frequency do you most comfortably operate?
Do you resonate most on the email frequency? Or maybe it is the face-to-face frequency? Or the phone frequency? Or the text frequency? Or the social media frequency? Or possibly there are still a few out there who resonate most with the touch-intensive letter frequency.
Most of us can identify a method of communication – a frequency if you will – with which we most resonate. Like a radio dial tuned to a clear radio station, we tend to “hear better” (and articulate more easily) when we are on our more comfortable frequency.
Today we can communicate in a multitude of ways. If you had your druthers, which would you rather use? Understanding your own communication biases is important.
But here is a question of equal, if not more, importance: What are the preferred frequencies of your donors? This isn’t a group answer. You can’t answer it effectively by saying, “Most of the donors in my portfolio prefer email communications.” It’s an individual answer. Each donor in your portfolio has their own communication frequency on which they receive information most efficiently. They may email, but they really like the phone. They may meet with you face-to-face, but they really like snail mail. Or, they may like email for some communications, snail mail for others, etc.
To build deep relationships, we have to communicate using the frequencies that others naturally hear most clearly. Which means development professionals should be comfortable with (and engaged with) all of them.
