Respecting the Response: Do you need to be Chased Down to Respond?
In today’s busy world, we are often faced with multiple modes of communication. This is true in Business as well. Are you responding in a respectful time-frame?
LinkedIn Messaging, Email, Texts, Phone Calls, Facebook Messaging, Twitter - are you keeping up with all the venues that clients, vendors, suppliers, centers of influence use to reach out to you? It may seem daunting, but today’s digital world requires each of us to be a master of our own domain and manage it appropriately with common courtesy.
Returning a message should always occur within 24 hours of receipt. Some may require an immediate response but most people understand immediacy is not always an available option. And depending on the urgency, or lack thereof, an immediate response is not always necessary. But, rest assured a response is required. Respect the effort to reach out to you, ignoring it altogether could be a very poor business decision while defying common courtesy.
A lack of acknowledgment altogether is not only a bad business practice but certainly can negatively impact your reputation. Reputation Risk is real if you choose not to respond to someone in your Circle of Trust, or an Advocate, or simply a business colleague that may or may not move to become an Advocate of yours. Can your business risk that? Most cannot.
Yes, many of us receive those pesky solicitation forms of outreach. Some voicemails are not even in a language we can understand. Those should go unreturned! But, choosing to not respond to a Circle of Trust member or an Advocate, let alone a client or center of influence, can not only be received with hostility but could be a reason you lose future business. Remember if you can be anything be respectful.
Always use Out of Office Reply options when you are on holiday or away from a reasonable response time. It helps people understand that you are not ignoring their contact. The next time you check your emails or your messages, a simple ‘Thank you for the message, I will respond shortly’ reflects the respect you have for the sender and their message. They should not have to chase you down for a timely and courteous response.
Remember the 24 hour rule, it could be the difference between respecting you or not, choosing to do business with you or not, your choice. Try hard not to be the person who has to be chased down for a response.
