Responding quickly is always appreciated. Getting back to someone with the right information is even more esteemed.Here’s one pet peeve I may do jail time for some day. I place a phone call to one of my suppliers. He’s not in or busy so his voice mail picks up. I leave a very detailed message and ask him to call back with the information or leave me a message with the answer. Later I return to my office. The red light on my phone is blinking. I press the play button and hear, “Hi john, this is Dan I’m returning your call”. Great! Where’s the information I needed? It’s not in the message. I call back a second time and his voice mail picks up again. Arrrggggg!

Want a second example? I send an email to someone asking for some fact I need to move a project along. The person calls back almost immediately. At first I think, wow, this person has their act together. During the conversation I’m disappointed. They say on the phone, I got your email. There’s a pause. Then I say, did you read it? No. I thought I would call first. I’m thinking to call why, to waste my time? Now they read the email, while I’m waiting on the other end of the phone, and then tell me they’ll get back to me with the answer. Arrrggggg!

Respond in a timely fashion. But, remember to reply with the information, the answer to the question, the solution to the problem.

Tags: Best Practice, Customer Care