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I agree with you 100%. It is very frustrating to get directed straight to voicemail.

I actually wouldn't mind the voice mail, if they get back to you immediately.  If not, then it becomes a big problem.

I'm with you, should be a live person during office hours! 

-Karin :)

If you can not get someone why be in business...

Merry Christmas from your friend in Charlottesville!

Bravo!  One of my pet peeves is hearing "your call is important to us"on a voicemail....HELLO!!!! don't lie to me....it's not that important....obviously!  Tell me your busy, out at the beach, sleeping...anything...but don't tell me my call is important to you.  Otherwise--answer your phone!

I agree, referrals are so important to our business and a reflection of us.

I am very very careful or refer with a caviot...I've not used them but...some of my friends have.

My insurance company got that VM system. I told my agent I hate this, so he gave me his direct line.

Now i don't have to go through a lenghy wait, he told me they had had lots of complaints.

Just answer the phone....it is not hard to do....if it is not important just say no thank-you and hang up

Hi Rich:

I'm with you....

Companies need to answer the phone!  Consumers want a live person, not voice mail.

Totaly true. If that phone rings there had better be a live body answering it.

                                                                    ...

Totaly true. If that phone rings there had better be a live body answering it.

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Richard. It's more efficient for them does not equal great customer service...

How is that more efficient, I mean once a voice mail is left, you know have to go in to the voice mail, decipher the message, which if mumbled, long and the number left (usually to fast to get the first time) you have to start the message all over (maybe two or three times), get though all the messages, and only then start to call people back....I don't get that kind of service and would also NOT recommend clients if that was how they operated.

Bravo! I couldn't possibly agree more! What do they expect? Potential clients want answers NOW!

Debi

Richard,

I won't do business either with machines! Sure, folks sometimes get mine - usually because I'm on the line with someone else and won't make that person hold to take another call.  Can't tell you the number of times I answer and the caller is shocked that I'm "live."

How funny. Just today the lovely young lady from Liberty Mutual who gets a shot at all my business, stopped by my office today with some yule time treats. Not only is she VERY competative, but responsive at all times. Usually I send her the listing once we ratify and she responds with a quote in a matter of hours. Let me know if you need a referral!

Bravo Rich, I wonder how people can argue with your statement?
Your friend in Washington State,
Paul

Richard,

Well, your call is important to the machine......

Ann Hayden in Wildwood, MO

I agree 100%.  If I did not want to talk to a person, I probably would have taken care of business online.

More important is the return call - QUICKLY.  I advertise my direct line consistently, as I want my clients to be able to reach me more effectively.  However, in my line of work (and probably yours too), I spend a ton of time on the phone.  I will be sitting at my desk 95% of the day, but if I'm on the phone with another client, I WILL NOT interrupt that client for another call.

Busy professionals, usually the better closers and producers, deserve at least enough grace for you to leave them a message.  A good insurance, mortgage, inspector, etc will call right back, or within 1-2hrs if in appt.  Or at least a quick text msg if they are in a required training session.  If you get no response ... unless it's a weekend ... then move on.

I agree as well. I worked for a company near Orlando that is known for it's world class guest service. Yet, a line to their administration office netted voicemail every time. Standard procedure. And equally as frustrating being the human in another apartment who had to either transfer calls to that line or apologize profusely for the callers inability to get a human in the right department.

And, if I might add.  I make every effor to answer my phone, but as we are all aware that may not always be possible.  However, sometime back, I ran across http://www.phonetag.com/ .  It's a low cost service that converts my voicemail to email.  Of course, I have the option of listening to the voicemail or reading.  On many occasions, I have been on a phone call while I read the message just left for me.  I can then determine if I need to  reorganize my immediate priorities.

I answer my phone whenever possible, which is 99% of the time. If I can't I return the call as soon as I can. NO businessperson OR company in a competitive business should ever have a phone answered by voice mail.

Well said.  In a commoditized world, service is what sets you apart.

I agree with Paul, #12. Plus, the inefficiency of returning calls, only to get THEIR voice mail! Companies who think voice mail is more efficient than a person are fooling themselves. Some salesperson sold them that idea, and I bet they answered their phone!

All these comments are keeping my hope afloat. In this world of internet savvy, non verbal communication, we are still giving hommage to the good old human being. Someone to ask our questions, to express our concerns and to bounce ideas off of.

When I have to hit a button to speak to someone in English, my blood is starting to boil (personal peeve). But telophony makes us hit several buttons to get the magic combination to reveal the hidden sales rep. By that time, if I haven't been cut off, I'm exhausted and not in the best frame of mind.

Sales business is people business and people still need people (thank you for that one Barbra).

What a good reminder for all of us! Thanks!

Nine too Richard!  I don't like to wait 2, 8 or 24 hours to get a return call but that is exactly what goes through my mind as I am leaving the message.

I much prefer to do/refer my business to those who answer the phone!  Great post ~ Brad

two thumbs up!

You have a phone on your hip.... Awnser it when it rings.... what a concept =)

I responed to phone calls and email, almost immeditaly.

It has been a great tool for my business!

Sometimes I am not available to answer the call...either I am on another call or working on a real estate project, however, I return all calls within 24 hours. Or, I will follow-up with an email asking when would be a good time to return the call.

Clients seem to appreciate that.

I also read an article that the phone message should 'give people something to do' while they wait for someone to pick up. I only believe this to be true if someone is on hold for a short time and if the message is not too advertorial. No one likes to sit on hold listening to a bunch of advertising.

Worse case is when I have to listen to a list of advertisements before even getting to the options to leave a message. If no one is available to accept my call, please leave the option to leave a message right from the start.

Janine Gregor
www.YourVirtualWizard.com

The same goes for many of our fellow Realtors.  If I call you about showing your listing it's because I have an interested client.  I know you are busy and may be with on the phone or with a client of your own, but it is your listing that I am trying to show and perhaps help you sell.  We are on the same side even though we may work for different brokerages.  Why do you wait hours, or even until the next day and sometimes not at all to return my call?  You took the listing, you represent the seller; who benefits if you don't return my call in a timely matter to allow me to set up a showing?

We left a message on an agents voice mail the other day, regarding an offer.

His voice mail said, "Please leave me a message and I will return your call as quickly as possible"....which I believe most voice-mails say.

We left a message to recommend he change it to, "I'll call you back IF I have something to tell you". 

It always amazes us that people and often agents just don't call back with updates.  EVEN IF THERE IS NO NEW NEWS, We call and say, "just calling to let you know we are on top of it, but nothing has changed yet."

They just want to know you are still in the game with them!  Joy

So true!!! I think I might need to move from a long time provider to someone new because he drops the ball. I just can't be chasing him and my normal work too....kills me, cause I just love this person....but I am losing business and that doesn't work.

I coudn't aree more, we have a policy in our office that a live person always answers, voicemail for an incoming call to a business kills sales!

I remember when I used to work for Bear Stearns Securities Corp in New York City.  The president, Dick Harriton, refused to allow his executives to have voice mail.  His motto was "you won't get voice mail, you'll get me".  Of course, we all had assistants that took messages for us, but if you really needed to reach someone after hours, you could have us paged - but no voice mails!

Yep, and it seems a lot more businesses are doing this lately.  So very annoying as most of them don't return the voicemails for 48+ hours.

WoW do I echo that. The one thing that is so annoying in a company is to have to press a thousand number and never be able to get to a human being. Know when technology is an asset and when it is a hindrance!

I like the messages that say " I return my calls between Noon and 1:oo or 3:00 and 4:00....and if it is after 5:00 I will return your call the next business day....which is what if I call you on Friday? Is it Saturday or do I have to wait until Monday ?

Do you have a full time job and have to wait until lunch to check your mail and return calls? What if I am waiting outside of one of your listings, which is vacant, so no owner to set appointments with, and the buyer wants to see it? Should I tell my buyer it is new to the market and hasn't hit the MLS yet so let's just camp out overnight and await your return call sometime when you get around to it?

Even if you are on appointments, you can still get back with those who have called in something less than 4 or 5 hours. By then, it may be too late and you and possibly a seller has lost out or maybe it is a buyer you just met and the buyer wants to see a hot property which won't last long....make them wait and lose out because you were  too busy to return a call and you might not have that new buyer for long.

He who laughs last was most likely the one who waited the longest to pull the joke up from his email or voice mail....

We just had a post all about competition....your competition will find it easy to beat you if you don't answer or return messages super fast in this business climate.

That being said, I will check back sometime tomorrow or the next business day (Monday) to see if there are anymore comments...    :>)

what a great headline! 

when anyone asks me how i have been profitable for my entire run in real estate i tell  them "i answer my phone".  the clients who call you are the paydays, and the agents you blow off will remember you too.  this is a basic business courtesy.

just answer your phone.  that's it,  the best advice ever.

larry,  that practice you described has always killed me...several of the local title reps tried that a few years ago.  i used to leave them messages that said "i have an order for you, you have 15 minutes to call back or i call so and so".   it was fun to watch  them squirm when they lost a file for failure to deal timely.

My primary phone number is my cell number.  If you need a Realtor I want to be the first one there to help you.

I agree with you and that's why he's asking you what happened. He needs the business and doesn't want to admit he's chasing it away. I would have stopped giving out his name, too.

If you don't answer your phone you are showing people that you don't care about them. I need to make sure I am following my own comment!!! 

Press 1 for this, Press 2 for that,  Press 3 for something else, Press 4 to start over.

I hate that.

I totally agree with you on that.

Absolutely, and I answer my phone if I'm not in the shower, with a client, in a meeting or asleep.

GOOD AFTERNOON RICHARD! 46 comments and not featured yet??!!  Great one - and this post is important to us! Happy weekend Rich! -- Gabrielle

"Remember that this voice mail system can't be used to purchase, bind or change coverage..." How many times have we heard that when we called an insurance person.  If that is the case, why do you have something who can't make a sale for you taking your sales calls?  If you are seriously on the phone voice mail is one thing, but all the time?

Good for you! It drives me crazy when businesses like that funnel everything through automated. They will claim that it saves them money, but at what expense? That is a sure fire way to lose customers.

Evening Richard,  Drives me nuts when that happens.   You were honest enough to tell them why you no longer refer to them.  They should take the feedback and use it !    Hope your Holiday Season is the best ever!

I hate talking to machines when I call a business like that, or worse yet, the dreaded automated call systems. Ack! I answer whenever I can, not everytime, but mostly.

Hi Rich:

I hope you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and re-blog this to keep it circulated!

Richard,

Just look at the number of comments. Isn't it telling? We all hear that often.. too often. And we get the call back not really often.

Rich, I couldn't agree more - I want to talk to a live person!

How many live people do I have to hire to answer the phones during business hours? I and we get a lot of calls and unfortunately(or fortunately) the overflow goes to our live answering service which then gets paged out.

I call back ASAP.

Ty

Thanks for your post as too often, people forget how important the little things are. Now I have to think about how I want to handle my new (me & virtual) business which is based online?

Richard:  Yes it's more efficient & it's costing him money in the process! Wow it's working great for him isn't it!  You're giving him valuable feedback & he's throwing it back in your face when there is so much competition.  We have fought with our corporate office about this time & again - we have LIVE breathing people answering the phones where other companies/offices don't.  I believe in that totally.

Ditto what Lynn says.  Not answering the phone is pennywise and pound foolish.

Richard, I totally agree. Why be in business if you don't answer the phone?  

For years I've been pleading and screaming to real estate agents: "Answer the %^&* Phone!" I've written articles, shot videos, presented seminars...and still, NO one answers the phone! I'm close to saying that if your company doesn't answer the phone, then you can NOT call yourself full service. And I don't want to hear blaming the budget. If you're in business, then you must provide some basic level of service. Answering the phone is one of those services. 

Two days ago I called a company and the receptionist took me through this line of questioning: "May I tell him who's calling?" "What company are you with?" "Will he know what it's regarding?" Unbelievable! Is this guy really that important? Is he really getting that many calls? Do you really want to ^&*$$ off all your callers just to eliminate a few telemarketing calls?

Some day maybe this industry will see the value of answering the $%^&* phone!

Hear! Hear! and Bravo! it is one thing to call an individuals cell and get a voice mail...I could be on the phone or in Michael's case, crawling around in the attic....but to call a company line and go to the 800 # maze of enter this and enter this and then you have to leave a number...nope i would not recommend them either

This post, even though it was written in 2009, was worthy of a feature then as it is now. I'm suggesting it because it's that good. It's not about "them". It's about the client. Perfectly said and reason enough not to use that company.

Ridhard:   I have had this happen with mortgage brokers and then, when my clients told of their frustration, I struck them off my referral list.