Yahoo, MSN, Google, ICQ, AOL, Text Messaging and other IM programs are perfect for business situations.  Consider having instant communication with co-workers and clients instead of that elusive e-mail send and receive campaign.  A recent study has shown that more experienced internet users are checking e-mail less often. (see article here)  As an internet and IT professional, I'm always looking for information to help my clients get the most out of their technology, and after reading this recent article from Techdirt, I started to think about how I communicate with my clients, friends and family.  Most of my friends and family have an instant stream of communication with me VIA instant messaging, either texting or IM's to my computer or cell phone, but I haven't opened this communication tool to my business clients.  Why was I missing the boat on this?

After reading the article I thought about the one person I know professionally who advertises his Yahoo messenger account and how easy it was to contact him for questions. Larry Karp is the director of sales and support for the Carolinas region of Coldwell Banker United.  Recently we have spoken several times over the phone, but I was amazed at how easy it was to contact him with the Yahoo instant messenger.  Just for a quick question or two, it was actually faster than having a face to face conversation.  We said pleasantries, asked and answered questions, and were off to our normal work.  The time it took to get the answers we both needed was so little compared to an e-mail send-receive conversation or even a phone conversation. Another nice thing about IM's is that your computer can log them.

So why haven't you let your customers/business partners/employees go to IM?  Try it and see, I'm changing all my contact information to have my IM, so if any of you have a question or problem, I can get to you faster!  My MSN is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Give me an IM anytime!

Now, there are a ton of IM programs out there, however I've found a program called Trillian, (check out the site here) that is free and can talk between the major instant messaging clients.