Communication

In '95 my cell phone was just like Gordon Gieko's from the movie Wall Street. At the time the majority of phone interaction was over 'hard lines' with a random pager from time to time. Now the majority of phone communication is cell phones. It seems the last 36+ months (growth of smart phones) has provided even more diverse communication methods; texting, social media (basically emailing through facebook). Some still like to be called at their office or home 'hard lines'. Others like only cell phones while others like email. I am finding more people never listen to a voice mail deferring to email/text which decreases "phone tag".
In a transactional situation everybody should discuss how best to communicate (including a 'point person' in a marriage / couple situation) early on - set communication expectations because there are a ton of options. While typing messages & emails is very effective you can count on a necessity to talk directly and share ideas to develop strategy relative to the transaction.