Categories: Articles

Voice Mail Bankruptcy – The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

I was doing some traveling last week, and when I got back to Twist Image HQ, I realized that there were over a dozen voice mails for me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I never check my office voice mail remotely. Then, while at home, I got three calls in a row from the same telemarketing company that was conducting a survey. It was at that point I begun questioning why I even have a home phone number. Anyone who knows me will either email or call me on my mobile.

Then, it struck me: declare voice mail bankruptcy.

In the past little while, there have been people who have declared email bankruptcy… so, why not voice mail bankruptcy?

If you call my office and I am not there, the message goes something like, "Thank you for calling, but I am declaring voice mail bankruptcy. If you would like to connect, please either email or call my mobile. I will not be checking the messages on my office voice mail regularly, and I can’t guarantee that I will return your call if you leave a message here."

I also made another executive decision: I’m not answering the phone at home. If needed, people know how to reach me. If email and mobile are not your thing, you can leave a comment on this Blog, instant message me, Skype, Facebook message, twtter… there are enough channels to grab my attention.

Shel Holtz over at the For Immediate Release Podcast has this famous saying: "new media don’t kill old media."

I have moments where I agree… and moments where I see new media (like MP3) definitely killing old media (like CDs). That being said, all of this has got me thinking that Marketers really do need to look at all of the communications channels and how they are changing. My appetite for voice mail and answering a phone with a Caller ID from someone I don’t know has drastically changed in the past twenty-four months.

Imagine what the next twenty-four months will bring.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.