Are you as amazed as I am about how many people do not return phone calls? Insane.
As marketers, making a connection with prospects and customers is our lifeblood. Think about all the opportunities you have to gain insight into others’ thinking, needs and concerns when you engage in the simple act of conversation.
But, if you participate in what I call ” selective return”, you are probably short-changing opportunity. You know, it’s the practice of pre-determining what the person who left you a message wants, or what the outcome of the call will be. I think that’s just plain egotistical.
A mentor taught me a long time ago that if one wants to build a reputation of respect for other’s time and efforts, return phone calls and do so promptly. This mentor is a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Ask anyone who knows him and they’ll tell you that he is a master relationship builder … with customers, prospects, competitors, suppliers … because, among other things, he returns phone calls. He once said to me, “you never know when you might meet the person whose call you ignored.”
Sometimes the person you’re calling back may not like the message you’re delivering, but I guarantee they will appreciate the fact that you took the time to call.
Seems so simple, doesn’t it?
Do you know this old parable? A man has a large boulder in his back yard, and every day he goes out a hits it with a sledgehammer in a effort to reduce it to ruble so that it can be removed. Each day he hits it one time. This goes on for a year. And on the last day of the year, he swings the sledgehammer, and it cracks and crumbles in to a million small pieces.