Mary Gober’s Clinic – The Scourge of Calls Not Being Returned!
Mary’s column is published in Customer Strategy magazine. To read the rest of the magazine, please click here.
How frustrated are you by your phone calls not being returned?
What is your philosophy and approach to returning business phone calls? What percentage of them do you actually return? Do you have a policy of always returning your calls personally? Do you filter some calls or messages and make a conscious decision not to return some of them? Are you so busy that you really are just not able to do your job and return all the calls you get in a timely manner? What does it say about you and your company if you do not return calls?
How about the people on your team? What is their behaviour and reputation for returning phone calls?
I pose these questions because I have finally decided I must write about this issue. It is such a topic of conversation in my business and also in my customers’ businesses. It seems to have become worse in the last year during the downturn. When I started to look into this further, I realised it is a hot topic. You just have to search on the internet or talk to colleagues, listen to your sales team or service team, to know that the practice of not returning calls is common and upsetting to many of us. It is also having a detrimental effect on business.
From my research, there seems to be a growing opinion, especially relating to sales, that it is not an issue to not return a call – that it is incumbent on the caller to call back and to catch the potential customer at a time convenient to them. So my question is, does this matter?
My view would be, yes it does – for a number of reasons:
Courtesy and good manners – there are many ways to acknowledge a call – if you truly are too busy, then keep a log and quickly email to acknowledge the call, or if you are in a position to ask a colleague or PA to return the call as a courtesy, then do.
Efficiency – if you have no interest in the caller’s services or are unable to assist them, it is much better to call back and say that, so they don’t call you again. It is highly inefficient for all businesses to continually have to chase people by phone, and for the business receiving the calls to have to listen to the calls over and over again.
Brand – your business brand will be negatively affected if you or your employees habitually do not return phone calls. Outside your business, it will affect your reputation. Inside your business, as a leader, you wish to set high standards and not returning calls will damage your reputation with your people.
So, if you are lamenting the fact that people do not return your calls, how about you take a moment to reflect on your own track record? Put in place processes to enable you to quickly and courteously return calls or email people to update them. Then at least they are not left hanging without an answer and can get on with their jobs, whatever the information you give them.
I was amused by one article I read on this topic published in BrooWaha, where the writer (Ed Attanasio) said, “I wish I could have done a more thorough study of this subject, but most of the people I called to interview never got back to me. (Everyone interviewed for this piece asked to remain anonymous. They don’t want anyone calling them!).”
Food for thought!
