- ” Answer Your Voicemail” Image via Wikipedia
The idea for this post came up during idea cropped up during a dinnertime conversation over the holidays. What advice to give to young people entering the workforce and getting started in their career?
Besides the obvious (work hard, get there early, etc.) from my perspective, one of my pet peeves is folks who don’t follow up on messages, voicemails or emails. Now, being in the middle of my own career, I’ve certainly made my share of mistakes, had the opportunity to learn from mentors, and the opportunity to coach younger team members that are just getting started, or are in the early phases of their careers.
Returning phone calls seems like a silly simple thing, doesn’t it? So simple, that it is routinely included in various guises on 10-point “tip lists” on myriad career, job or personal improvement site.
And yet, it seems to be one of those things that if not scrupolously followed, can and will have long-term adverse affect on your career development.
Here’s what happens when you don’t return you voice mails or e-mails.
The person that’s trying to get in touch with you, whether an internal customer, external customer, or just a co-worker, after trying again once or twice, will move up the department food chain and contact your supervisor instead, and in the best of cases, just lays out the problem/issue/request. Your supervisor will then probably take action (thay’s why they’re the supervisor). Still in best-case-scenario here, your supervisor will leave you a note or message on your desk, you get the message, take care of the issue right away, and then follow up on your supervisor’s message telling he/she, no problem, got your message, took care of it. Done, won’t happen again.
Now for the not-so-good version. The person that’s looking for you is now all jacked up, and complains to your supervisor that I can’t never get So-and-so to call me back, she never answers emails or messages, and I’m in trouble because of you (cue high stress levels here), and what are you going to do about it? (remember, this person is upset, and as such may not take the trouble to point your good qualities). Chances are now, that you supervisor may, in addition to doing something personally about the issue,will also try more energetically to get in touch with you, up to and including calling your personal cell and home phone. When she does find you (dang the bad luck!) you’re yucking it up at the snack vending machine with a couple of other co-workers.
Continuing on in the worst-case scenario, this isn’t the first time that’s happened, so now you’re establishing a perception pattern, one of unreliability. Your supervisor has to take time out of their schedule to do your job, the job you’re hired and paid to do. So, what does she need you for? Gradually, the money the company shells out each week, each month to pay you and your bills moves from leveraged investment, to out-and-out cost category. You’re becoming a liability.
All for not following up on your messages. And if you think that this scenario is a little on the extreme side, a little implausible, it’s not.
Always call or email people back. Always and right away. Be consistent with people you like and people you don’t like. Especially people you can’t stand. It’s just good practice, and many times you don’t get to vote on who you have to do business with. If you’re behind the curve and trying to correct a negative perception pattern, try escalating the service and the human touch in your response. Answer a written message with a phone call and confirm with an email. Answer a voice message with a personal visit (if possible), and then confirm in writing if necessary.
On further reflection, this extends into personal life and finances as well. Even more so, as we sometimes take liberties with friends and family members, thinking they’ll cut us some slack. At least I do sometimes. Make that one of my new year plans (I don’t like resolutions), be a little more diligent in maintaining personal relationships.
Great tip 101! I also find that if instead of answering right away I decide to set aside time to do it later, I usually forget and make it a point to get to it as quickly as possible. For me that always works.
Moneycone recently posted..Best Of MoneyCone 2010 And One Last Roundup
MC, that certainly is the best method, do it right away and be done with it. My alternate way is to write messages or notes in a separate part of my daily agenda, and cross them off as they’re attended to.
I’ve just made it a habit to always answer emails and return phone calls. Most of the time I’m glad I did because I was able to handle some issue before it spiraled out of control and got blown all out of proportion.
The Biz of Life recently posted..Quote of the Day- Christopher Snowdon
Hello Biz, you’re right, it’s like that noise under the hood of the car, it’s not going to get any better by ignoring it.
“Be consistent with people you like and people you don’t like. Especially people you can’t stand.”
Very true.
Good post.
Mark
Ya gotta grit your teeth sometimes, but just do it.
This is an interesting tip. I think it is omitted from many lists too because it seems intuitive or not important. People you don’t like are likely to complain. That’s a great observation that many might not consider.
Roshawn @ Watson Inc recently posted..Jessica Simpson- Britney Spears Round Up and Uncommon Money News
Hello Shawn, you are correct in that this one of the fundamentals.
This is a great post. I cannot stand when someone does not get back to me in both my personal and professional life. I hate wondering if they got the message or not and if I should call again. I have one friend that I know will never get back to me and I rarely call her any more for this very reason.
In my opinion, not returning a call or email shows a lack of respect and can also indicate how much you value relationships. I don’t think anyone would purposely want to make others feel unvalued, but that is exactly what it does when you don’t respond in a timely manner.
Everyday Tips recently posted..Goals For 2011 Sorry They Are A Little Late…
That’s right, Kris. It boils down to simple consideration. Can you be bothered to take the time to tell the person, yes, I care, and here I am calling you back to show it. If you don’t, you’re the showing that you don’t care all that much.
Now that everything have moved online, I get 1000x more emails than voice mail. I will respond to voice mail as soon as I can, but the urgency is much less for email. So call me if you need something done right away.
retirebyforty recently posted..2011 New Year’s Goal and Resolutions
No doubt… as my old sales manager used to say, a phone call is harder to ignore than a letter, and a warm body in your doorway even harder than a phone call.
Good tip! I didn’t do this when I was younger, but I do now…
Money Reasons recently posted..Lessons Learned From a Funeral
As a small business person, it’s not always easy to get back with every person, since you are the salesman, the IT guy, the consultant, the accountant, and on and on.
You have to prioritize who you get back with and so on.
It’s not a perfect world, but it’s just the way it goes sometimes. In an ideal world, I would love to answer every single voicemail. But, when you know ahead of time that someone is going to talk to you for an hour, you must prioritize.
givejonadollar recently posted..Jons Perfect Girl
Hi John, thanks for the feedback. Hour long talkers should get an early yank, that’s a fact! I wonder why incessant talkers just don’t go somewhere and talk into a mirror.
[...] Career Tip #1 – Why You Need to Answer Your Voicemail (101 Centavos) [...]
[...] 23. 101 Centavos – Why You Need to Answer Your Voicemail [...]