Sitting at my desk on a cold Winter Friday morning, looking at my referrals that were given to individual Professionals that were not acted on and wondering how some of them are still in business in today s market.
I have now called all of these professionals three times this week to find out why personal referrals are not being acted on and I am still waiting for a phone call or email back from any of them.
Where has the courtesy gone? Is it a lost art to answer phone calls and emails in a timely manner? By timely manner I mean within 24 to 48 hours. Just a simple message or email indicating you have received the voice message and you will get back with me.
Every day I run across full email and voice mail boxes and wonder how much business individual professionals are losing due to the lack of follow up and follow through. I also listen on a daily bases to voice messages that where from a week or a month ago. I just had one the other day that was from the 2nd and as I called the person it was the 27th. When I run across a full email and voice mail box, most of the time, I removed this individual from my contact list.
Ranted enough! Here are some Ideas to make certain you are not losing out on business: (I use some of them myself)
- Hire a virtual assistant.
- Delegate and ask for help
- Set time everyday to return calls and emails
- Set the auto responder when you are not available for a longer period of time. Just change the message later.
- Make a work schedule. Will it be perfect? No. Use it as a guide
- Make a daily to-do list. Will you be able to complete it all that day? Maybe yes, maybe no…none of us are perfect.
Plan you day and work the plan. Don’t forget time for family, devotion, friends and fun.
I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. ~John D. Rockefeller, Jr.