Answer Me !
I’ve found more and more that people are not concerned at all about the response time for various avenues of communication. How long does it take you to respond back to someone trying to reach you? Or, do you answer at all? I’m still in shock I have not received an answer from a representative at a major real estate news company sent two weeks ago! What does that say to the person waiting? If you can not answer a question, just say so! If you need more time to give a response, just say so! But do not do nothing!
Sometimes, you can kick yourself in the butt because you set people’s expectations too high. For example, if you are adamant and always return calls/emails within 5 minutes, and all of a sudden you take 8 hours – this can be misconstrued as rude because it is so much longer than normal.
Here are some examples of what I feel are acceptable response times for non crisis responses …
- Voice Message – Same day
- Text Message – 1 hour
- Email – 4 hours
- Twitter @ – 2 hours
- Twitter DM – Next log in (no more than 24 hours)
- Commenter – Next day
- Instant Message – Instantly
- Lead from Buyer (no matter what avenue of communication) – 1 hour
Leave them Alone – NOT!
Of course there are always exceptions – and the best practice is “as soon as possible” But, there are times when that just doesn’t work. And remember, don’t just ignore.
While we’re at Etiquette 101. If you are engaged in a conversation back and forth – it is polite to end the conversation before you disappear. Responses should be immediate if the conversation is flowing; but not end abruptly.
