There are two kinds of consultants: Those who return clients’ phone calls and those who don’t. Unfortunately, most consultants fall into the second category and commit deadly sin #1. You should always be responsive and return phone calls – no matter how busy you are.
In this day and age of cell phone and Blackberries, there is absolutely NO excuse whatsoever for anyone not to return customers’ phone calls. If you have to call your future customer and tell him that you are too busy to talk to him at length right now, do it. Just set up a more convenient time later. Your client will not be upset with the fact that you are too busy to discuss his needs with you immediately. In fact, he will be very appreciative of the fact that you take the time out of your busy schedule just to return his phone call. This is just basic good business common sense – not to mention professional courtesy.
However, it is amazing how many consultants fail to return their future clients’ phone calls in a timely manner. Incidentally, the bigger the consulting firm, the slower it is to return calls. Many firms have lost potentially lucrative contracts because of this.
Contractors (plumbers, repairmen, carpenters, etc.) were notorious about not returning phone calls severla years ago when there was a building boom in this country. You would be lucky if one out of five contractors returned your calls at all because they were so busy with work. Now…many of them are unemployed or out of business. If they had kept in touch with their potential customers when they were busy in good times, they might well have several jobs to do right now in hard times.
The problem of not responding to messages is also an internal one with many consulting firms – especially large ones. Remember – you cannot make a sale if your staff does not return your future clients’ messages. Here is a test: Have someone outside your firm make a service request call to your receptionist and see how long it takes for someone within your firm to call back.
