Is a Prompt Response Really Required?

One of the nice things about my life is I have no clue what day of the week it is or the date is most of the time.  Unless I have a client meeting, I don’t have a clue, nor do I need one.  There is a really funny side effect in that I am really behind on lesser current events and articles.

Just this week I had a couple of thoughts on an article that I read in the back of a limo.  I looked at the date of the magazine and it was 2002.  Can you imagine that?  A magazine in a limo in good shape from 2002?  It was bazaar.  I was catching up on my magazine reading, and read a pretty good article in Fortune Magazine.  It was the November 1^st 2010 issue.  The article was “Work less do more.”  I really liked the article, but at the end there was a comment that really threw me off.

Michael Lev-Ram remarked “Where I live, a prompt response in expected.”  I couldn’t believe that I was reading this.  An article that outlines and proves that you can work less and do more that is finished off with the cop out about expected responses.  We all have friends that you know you can reach in 5 minutes or less and others that you know might take a week.  We all set our own expectations.

I know this to be true because I was the guy with two cell phones and a pager for years.  The first time I took a cruise, guess what happened?  Nothing.  Business didn’t go away, people just waited.  The next thing that I learned after trying to figure out how often I could turn off my phones and go on vacation, I found out that many people didn’t like that I would answer the call when I wasn’t in a position to help them.  They all said they liked leaving a message as long as they knew I would call back.  Who knew?

Now I have a simple policy. If I recognize your number and am in a position to talk and take good notes, I will answer the call.  If not, I WILL listen to your message, gather all the data and call you back.  I have learned to hate people that just say “call me back”.  Please tell me why I am calling back and what you want to talk about so I am ready.  It drives me nuts to call someone and waste both of our time discussing what we are going to discuss in the future.

It really is amazing if you take the thought of every step, and spend a little time looking at your day.  The thought of every step is a way to look at everything you do with the idea that you either are moving towards your goal or away from your goal.  When you think this way, you stop wasting time at the water cooler and start accelerating away from the pack.  Don’t let other people hold you back because you think that “a prompt response is expected”.  If you own a 24 hour plumbing service, then hire someone to answer the phones and dispatch.  It isn’t an effective use of your time.

Keep the big picture – stay focused on the target – and get there by working less and doing more.