With all the e-mail, gmail and hotmail flooding our inboxes these days, I find it refreshing and somewhat exciting to get snail mail. For the record, I’m not suggesting pre-approved credit card offers thrill me. I’m talking about the relevant stuff you enjoy getting like cards, special promos, magazines, etc.

Recently, I received a birthday card in the mail, not from my parents or a friend, but from Southwest Airlines! They remember me every year and the card acts as a friendly reminder of why I choose the airline when traveling for work or pleasure.

Even though it was a generic card, this sort of personal touch with your customers is important, especially in the B2B world. Whether it’s via mail, phone or e-mail, staying in touch with both clients and prospects alike will let them know you are there and you care. Nurturing relationships ultimately helps to earn new and repeat business. Remember at the end of the day, we’re all people working with people to make our businesses profitable.

What are you doing to make your customers feel special? Want to send me some snail mail?

With e-verything “e” these days, chatting consists of opening an online dialog box or tweeting with tweeple. Gone are the days when one’s phone used to ring off the hook. Today, it seems everyone is off the hook when it comes to verbal communication.

Recently, I found myself explaining the wonderful world of Twitter (in less than 140 characters of course) to a friend and tenured marketing exec who tends to resist technology.

After fervently flapping about fail whales, becoming entangled in a web of widgets and deciding there wasn’t an app to further this discussion; I realized we should have met for drinks, not lunch.

So, I got back to basics to find our common ground—the telephone. For some reason, the age-old technique of picking up the phone for a real-life conversation is now overlooked.

Don’t get me wrong, e-mail is important and often convenient. However, sometimes it can be impersonal and the writer’s tone easily misunderstood. Likewise, some occasions just benefit from real-time, verbal dialogue.

At Canyon Communications, we have a few best practices when it comes to calling vs. e-mailing (principles apply to personal life too). We pick up the phone when e-mail:

• Becomes too verbose
• Contains an idea that could get lost in translation
• Necessitates more than two replies back and forth

Relationship building is a vital part of every business. Don’t forget that creating and maintaining those crucial relationships requires taking advantage of the entire communication spectrum.

What do you think? How often do you pick up the phone these days? What other best practices do you follow? Share your thoughts in the comments.