Trafcom News

You can’t undo hearing loss

Over the last week, I’ve taken the GO train (our commuter rail system) into and out of Toronto several times. On each occasion, I saw scores of people listening to MP3 players. Sometimes I even “enjoyed” their music, six seats away. Climbing the stairs from the subway to the packed streets of downtown T.O. at rush hour last night, I looked around and noticed that people were not turning off their MP3 players. The telltale white iPod cords were still snaking up to their ears. How loud do you have to turn up your player to drown out the sounds of the streetscape? VERY LOUD.

Maybe I’m becoming a little old lady, but I refuse to stick my earbuds in if I have to turn up the volume past the halfway point on my iPod nano. At the gym, I click the device off if the ambient noise of runners and weightlifters drowns out the podcast I’m listening to. While on the subway, I read. Walking on Yonge Street, I feel that I need to hear the traffic sounds to be safe. I’d hate to damage my hearing and get run down by an errant taxi at the same time.

I’m really concerned, especially for the 20-somethings who have 50+ years of ear-destroying listening ahead of them. Prediction: The hearing aid biz is going to get really big.

For some tips on saving your hearing, here’s a recent article from Wired. The money quote:

Like boiled lobsters, damaged ears cannot be returned to their previous state.

Do your clients expect you to be available 24/7?

The other day I was reading a newsletter by a sales and marketing guru in which a contributor told an interesting story. Wanting to buy insurance, he called an agent. When informed the agent wasn’t in, he asked the assistant for the agent’s cell phone number. She wouldn’t give it out, so he said he would take his business elsewhere.

I commented, asking why he couldn’t just leave a message and await a call back within an hour or two. (He was buying insurance, after all.) Further, I said that I don’t give my cell phone number to clients because I don’t want to talk to them (or anyone) while I’m eating lunch or driving my car. In 20 years of business, no one has complained about my not being available at 5 a.m. or 11 p.m. In fact, clients say I’m very responsive to their needs.

Well, the guru himself sent me an email, saying, "People call me all over the world – they don’t care if I’m eating – and neither do I. I make myself available to my customers 24/7 – they love it (and respect it)." He then added this unsolicited advice: "Change your perspective, and you’ll change your income."

In my opinion, the only person who needs a cell phone attached at the hip 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is a person who is waiting for a transplant. I am wondering what Mr. Guru does when he’s in a meeting with Client A. Does he accept a call from Client B? How does he drive his car while consulting his calendar and jotting down notes? And how does he talk with a tuna sandwich in his mouth?

What do you think? Are you available at all hours of the day and night? I would expect that someone specializing in crisis communications might HAVE to be on call at all times. But what about the rest of us doing internal or external communications or communications consulting?

Why is everyone "going forward" ?

Bleary-eyed this morning, in the car on the way to the Y, I heard yet another person use the phrase "going forward." Suddenly, everyone is saying this! Why, oh why? It reminds me of the 1970s when "at this point in time" was being uttered by every politician, CEO and news anchor with a pulse (and probably some without).

I can think of so many combinations of words that are much more effective than "going forward." How about
1. From now on
2. In the future
3. From this point on

In many cases, you don’t even need a phrase like "going forward." The person I heard on the local news today used it as a filler – you know, like, you know – words to just close a gap between his thoughts.

Maybe I got up too early and I’m being overly sensitive. ;-)
Wake me up when people stop talking nonsense.