Thank you for reading!

You met Andy Alger in the first chapter. He’s the real estate professional who generates the majority of his business by staying in touch with the people in his database with personal videos.

Propinquity is the psychological proximity and familiarity built through frequent exposure - even in the absence of physical proximity.

Click here to learn more about building propinquity with video

Click here for the PDF overview of the main survey.

Click here for the blog post overview of the Gmail survey.

At the end of the chapter, we share a few video stats and claims to ignore.

Click here to see the 200-300% claim used in youthful ignorance.

Click here to learn more about Albert Mehrabian and the 93% claim

Click here for comical uses of one minute of video being worth one million words.

Survey: 77% of People Benefit from Video Email, 20% Double Results

New Data: 78.8% of People Improve Gmail Results with BombBomb

Silent Messages by Albert Mehrabian

The Humanizing Voice: Speech Reveals, and Text Conceals

1) Unsubscribe From The List

Every mass email you receive should have an unsubscribe link in it. Your inbox tool may even add one right up top for you. Just give it a click and confirm. Or you can use a service like Unroll.me to help you identify those emails and manage subscriptions more effectively.

2) Punish Bad Senders

For mass email that’s truly unsolicited, go for the abuse or spam button. This not only puts this sender in the spam folder for good, it’s also a feedback signal to your email provider that the sender isn’t respecting recipients. Because of the negative consequences to the sender’s reputation, don’t use this button just because you’re tired of the Banana Republic coupons that you signed up to receive.

3) Budget The Time

If you’re like me, you don’t budget your email time. And yet, you have to invest the time every day. As a result, it all feels like an intrusion on your day. Instead, block and schedule the time before lunch and before the end of the day - or more often if you need or want to. Just be sure to account for the time required so you don’t feel as anxious about the time coming from other activities.

4) Prioritize The Time

We tend to manage our inbox by topic or sender, but the urgency and importance of these isn’t consistent. Instead, think about prioritizing by response time. Response times might be never/delete, immediately or within the hour, within the next 24 hours, within the next 3 days, within the week, and within 30 days. Folder everything one week and beyond and access it once daily. Keep and clear the rest as needed.

We mentioned both Slack and Conversica in this chapter - and we use both every day at BombBomb

Nearly half of US mobile phone calls will be scam calls.

Lost in translation: study finds interpretations of emojis vary widely

This opinion piece written by Stephen Marche and published in the New York Times significantly affected our understanding of the importance of face-to-face communication.

Click here to read Marche’s short essay.

Click here to see the TEDx Talk it informed and inspired.

How Much Time Are You Wasting on Work Emails?

This Is How Much Time You Spend On Work Emails Every Day

2018 Adobe Consumer Email Survey

15 Outrageous Email Spam Statistics that Still Ring True in 2018

15 Text Messaging Statistics Every Business Should Know

Why No One Answers Their Phone Anymore

Nearly Half All Cell Phone Calls Will Be Scams By 2019

Email Statistics Report, 2018-2022

Email Continues to Deliver Strong ROI and Value for Marketers

2018 Email Marketing Industry Census

The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2018

Study Shows Email Marketing Still Popular and Effective With Millennials

The Epidemic of Facelessness

Click here to read Good Genes are Nice, but Joy is Better

Click here to learn about her book Presence

Click here to learn about his book Thinking, Fast and Slow

Click here to see Cialdini’s principles of influence and persuasion.

Good genes are nice, but joy is better

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann

When Did Human Speech Evolve?

Finally, the Beauty of France’s Chauvet Cave Makes its Grand Public Debut

Turkish Archaeologists Discover the World’s Oldest Known Writings

Cuneiform: Ancient History Encyclopedia

Literacy: Our World In Data

Nonverbal Communication: Science and Applications by Matsumoto, Frank, and Hwang

Infants Process Faces Long Before They Recognize Other Objects

The Neuroscience of Making Eye Contact

The Hormones and Brain Regions Behind Eye Contact

Why It’s Hard to Talk and Make Eye Contact at the Same Time

Emmanuel Levinas: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

20 Hand Gestures You Should Be Using

The Fascinating Science Behind ‘Talking’ With Your Hands

Your Hand Gestures Are Speaking For You

Benefits of a Smile in Video and in Sales

Click, Whirr, Buy.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Gap Selling by Keenan

Click here to learn more about Daniel H. Pink

Click here to learn more about To Sell Is Human

We didn’t name Michael Krueger of Krueger Brothers Construction in the book, but we mentioned him with this third sign you should be using video to rehumanize your business: better customer experiences. He’s a long-time BombBomb friend and customer.

See a couple of examples of improving customer experience from the roofs of their homes right here.

Click here to learn more about Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI by Paul Daugherty and H. James Wilson

Reviews on Amazon are a powerful trust signal to potential buyers. If you enjoyed Rehumanize Your Business, please go leave a rating and review! It just takes a minute and it’s incredibly valuable.

Click here to read Cialdini’s quick take on the persuasive power of Consensus

Click here for tips on collecting customer testimonials (it’s written toward video testimonials, but works for any kind of feedback)

Part of the benefit of video messages using BombBomb is the asynchronicity - you record and send when it’s convenient for you and each person opens it up and experiences you in person when it’s convenient for her or him.

For synchronous video communication, we use Zoom every day at BombBomb. You can host more than one person, share your screen, conduct chat and Q&A, record your presentations, and more. We use it for impromptu connection, scheduled meetings, and even webinars with thousands of guests.

Our publisher limited us to a specific word count, so this is one sign we removed from the final version of the book.

If The Relationship Matters More Than The Transaction

If you’re exclusively playing a volume game, this personal approach may not be for you. But if you value the relationship above the transaction because the initial sale is the first of many, opening it up face to face through video is a great way to start.Obviously, it’s far less expensive to increase revenue through existing customers than it is to generate and close opportunities with new prospects. Repeat sales from people you’ve already served are faster and easier than starting cold. The same is true of anyone referred to you; some trust is already established. The social proof in a personal endorsement or recommendation starts that opportunity much closer to the finish line.

This is all true, but the language above is also very transactional. Each person is still, in a way, a means to an end - more transactions. And that’s OK. No matter what opportunity you’re selling or advancing, it’s an elective value exchange on both sides. But each person who comes into contact with you and your organization has inherent value. Each person is a fellow human being with needs and wants and questions and emotions and deadlines and friends and family and all the other things that you bring to a relationship.

When you reach out with a one-to-one video in a spirit of service, you’re honoring that person’s dignity. You’re honoring the promise of the relationship. You’re building the relationship with sincere interest that the other person can feel. You’re not only improving the likelihood of compliance with your first request - an email reply, a returned call, a text message response - you’re also creating the expectation of a different and better customer experience. Working this way isn’t just more effective for you, it’s more satisfying for you and for your client. Because it’s more human.