A computer terminal is not some clunky old television with a typewriter in front of it. It is an interface where the mind and body can connect with the universe and move bits of it about.
-Douglas Adams
Email may be thought of as the best thing since sliced bread to some. To most real estate professionals it is a great covering to a sandwich filled with high quality products and services. When you want to market, advertise and otherwise communicate to your prospects, customers, employees, affiliates and consumers, email can’t be beat for the cost and immediacy. However, if confidentially is a part of the equation, email is not the way to go.
Even though it may seem like sitting at your home office computer that message you send to your prospect ‘for their eyes only’, it’s not. Neither is that ‘private’ message you send to an associate with the latest office news. The best way to think about email is that any message sent may be read by another. The second you send a message it hops from your computer over a number of networks to its final destination. Like a postcard, the content can be perused by anyone, at anytime, before it is delivered. That is not very secure or confidential.
People trained as lawyers, doctors or bankers have the concept of confidentiality ingrained in their daily consciousness. That mindset would be wise for every successful professional to adopt. Faxes, misdirected voice mails, improperly addressed e-mails and inappropriately accessed documents all pose problems when it comes to protecting confidential data, either yours or your clients’. It is beneficial for you to automatically think about how you are protecting sensitive personal information every time you have to transfer facts to another source.
