“You have reached the voicemail of…. I am out of the office until…” How often have you gotten voicemail when you’ve called a friend, your client, a reporter [your mother!]? At that crucial moment, the important question: Should you leave a message?
Let’s say no. Because unless you are calling your mother, you don’t truly expect a return phone call. Sometime between eagerly waiting by the phone for your crush to call and screening your cell phone caller ID so you can avoid the loser from last night, we became a society that doesn’t returns calls.
That’s where our disconnect lies. Media relations thrives—no, survives—on a practitioner’s ability to woo a reporter or a blogger or your mother on the phone. Crafting a perfect pitch is successful if you have a human on the other side to talk to. You can’t tell the client you scheduled an interview with BusinessWeek if they don’t pick up.
As children, we used to run around the playground during recess trying to catch all the other children running away from us, just so we can stop chasing. [I still do that.] As adults, how much of your day do you lose re-dialing the same people…reporters to schedule an interview, clients to confirm a time, third-party sources to give their expert opinions, friends for dinner? But, with so much technology at everyone’s disposal, they’re all running and you’re “it.” Good luck getting someone on the phone.
There is strict etiquette about answering a call before the third ring, keeping your cell phone on vibrate on the bus, and not texting during a dinner party—but why not a rule about calling someone back? Professionally it’s frustrating while personally it’s maddening! Returning phone calls is an essential part of building strong relationships. It is the foundation for a successful feature and a lucrative future, so how did we become a culture lacking this most common courtesy?
So, PR pros, I challenge you to buck your impulse to delete your messages and ignore the incoming. This is karma talking. Pick up your phone! Be the person who answers the ones who call you, be the one who returns those messages. Start a trend that will persist throughout the season and check your voicemail, review your caller ID, make the effort to see who it was that wants you on the phone. People will be so impressed with class and don’t be surprised when your phone rings off the hook.
Oh my. Look at that! It’s the Times calling you back.
I’m now Twittering with karma in mind at www.twitter.com/laermer
Your comment on voice mail is bang on target. Most people do not reply. Someone should measure the efficacy of a message left on voice mail versus a SMS message.
ReplyDeleteOnly one issue - as a PR professional, your contact information is often displayed EVERYWHERE. I received about 10 "sales calls" a day, and have stopped answering my phone for this reason. Reporters leave messages - and I call them back immediately. I think its important to screen calls.
ReplyDeleteYes, I screen my calls but I also have a 24-hour callback rule. If someone leaves a message, I call back by the next day. Yes, it takes more time than e-mail, text or Tweet but it is so much more effective to actually talk.
ReplyDeleteMany times PR people reach out and when you respond, do not call back. I think they just want to say they called.
ReplyDeleteIf someone returns the call, there is some work involved. It is much easier to make the phone call after hours and leave a voice mail that will NOT be returnd
Dr Wright
www.wrightplacetv.com
I too stopped answering my phone due to unwanted and unpleasant calls from sales people and others. I have my contacts in my phone-book and can instantly see if they call. Withheld numbers are the worst.
ReplyDeleteI go by the mentality that if it's important, then the person will leave a message. It won't help to call me 50 times in a day, especially when your number is withheld so I can't see who you are. If it's so important that you call me 50 times in a day, then leave a message so I at least have an idea of who it is and what it is about! Please!
If people would bother leaving a message, then I'd call them back if it's a legitimate call. It's important that the message left indicates who is calling and why they're calling. A message just saying name and number, call me back, isn't good enough. Why should I call a stranger who won't bother telling why I should call him and what it's about?
Pia - massage therapist and entrepreneur
Like others, I screen my fair share of calls, but I also answer plenty. More importantly, I respond. The nature of the voice mail request dictates how.
ReplyDeleteOften the caller just asks for an email to provide specific information, so I email the proper reply. If the person needs a call back, or there is an issue I want to discuss, I call. FWIW.
I held as fast as possible to a 24-hour callback, even with sales people. One, they're just doing their job. Two, they may actually have something of interest. Three, you never know who they know. It's basic PR, that is "public" relations. Someone who is courteous and polite on the phone to someone in sales may find there's other connections that can be made because so many people don't call back. It's the "you never know" principle that is one of the unwritten rules of PR.
ReplyDelete