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How long does it take you to respond to an email?
How about a text message?
Or a phone message?
The answer, I suspect, is “It depends on who it’s from.”
Let’s get more specific then: How long does it take you to respond to a client or to a prospect’s email or voice message?
If your answer again is, “That depends on what they want,” then I urge you to consider implementing the following habit that will make you a far better communicator than your competition.
If a client or prospect contacts you for something, say, more information or to look up the status of an order, etc., rather than waiting until you have the answer—which could take a day or longer—get into the habit of responding back within the hour with even: “Just wanted to let you know I received your email, and I’m working on it. I’ll reach back once I have an answer.”
How long did that take? 10 seconds?
Consider the impact this will have on your client or prospect compared to them not hearing from you for a few days, or even a week or longer.
I think we all used to be better at communicating and responding than we are now.
Because of the advent of email and then text, and certainly social media, we’ve all become conditioned to respond whenever we think about it, feel like it, or remember it.
And this means we don’t communicate very well anymore.
And this is especially important when it comes to business (although, it matters a lot to your friends and family members as well!).
Like you, I receive a lot of emails and phone calls. If I’m not interested in speaking with the countless sales reps who contact me, then I simply don’t respond. I mean, there’s only so much time.
But whenever I get an inquiry from a new prospect, I always email back very quickly, even if it’s to say, “Thank you for your email. Just wanted you to know that I’m training the rest of this week and that my next opening to have a brief conversation would be next Monday or Tuesday at X time. Let me know if you’d like to connect then.”
I respond quickly to my clients as well. It’s always good to get these “tasks” off my mind and my clients and prospects appreciate the quick response.
While this is the way I communicate, I find it’s not how others do it. I routinely wait days, sometimes a week or longer, for others to get back to me. It’s frustrating.
And it doesn’t have to be that way. Ten seconds is all it takes.
As you go forward in your week, ask yourself how good of a communicator you are.
And then take the advice above and become a better one starting today!
Related: 5 Reasons to Follow a Sales Script