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Replying to Emails & Phone Calls
By selfemployedblog | June 5, 2006
How often do you answer your emails? Do you respond to them right away or wait until the end of the day? Depending on the message, I tend to wait until the end of the day to answer emails. They can be time consuming if you stop in the middle of your work to reply right away to each one. It is good customer service but most messages are not urgent and can probably hold off.
I find that answering messages at the end of my day gives me more time to gather my thoughts and organize my projects at the same time. I feel the same way about phone calls but you can’t really avoid those during the work day. I keep all of my clients on caller ID so that I can weed out the telemarketers which I do receive calls from at least a few times a week.
To keep your customers happy, you can always reply with a quick message stating that you’re confirming receipt or that you will get back to them with more details in the evening. Sometimes your clients need to know that they are your priority. I know I feel a sense of relief when I contact support for companies I use quite often and they reply within an hour or two.
I do have some clients that will email and call a few minutes later if they do not receive a quick response. They know that you are working and get used to the quick replies so some clients may get antsy when they don’t receive that email.
After awhile you will learn to differentiate the quick reply messages from the ones that can wait. You’ll also get used to the clients that require a little more hand holding as well. Overall, it’s always good to keep up excellent customer service during the work day whether by email or by phone.
Topics: Self Employment |