Thursday, September 3, 2009

Telephone Etiquette

A recent discussion with a business associate reminded me of what could be considered one of my pet peeves. That is how people deal with voice mail.

It is recognized that many of us are busy and often not right next to the telephone in our office. For that reason we put on a voice mail. The message usually goes something like this:

"You have reached Viv Smith at Somecompany on Thursday, September 3rd. I am not able to take your call right now but leave your name; number; and a brief message and I will return your call by the end of the business day."

When the caller gets your message they feel good, first you have confirmed you are in today and second you have promised to return their call by the end of the business day.

The issue is not with putting the message on the phone and often not even with the wording of the message. The issue arises when you fail to follow up on that commitment made in your voice mail. For whatever reason you either:
a) do not check your voice mail regularly
b) decide that other matters are more urgent than returning the call
c) decide that you really do not want to talk to that person

The message you are then sending, probably without meaning to, is more like this:

"Thanks for calling Viv Smith at Somecompany on Thursday, September 3rd. I am not able to take your call right now but leave your name; number; and a brief message and I will return your call by the end of the business day if I consider it important or if I truly feel like it. Otherwise, you should keep calling to see if I answer it live at some point."

OK, this may be a bit of a sarcastic way of looking at the message you say. However, when you sit back and think about it, this is really the message your are sending. In fact, it may even be interpreted by the caller that you screen them out because of some bias. This they will tell their associates and soon nobody will expect a call from you. So, if they do not expect a call back, why bother to leave a message.

How many clients are you losing by not following the basic etiquette and returning calls when you say you will?

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