Pring's Blog

Sep 2015 “I promise to call you back” - surely it’s common decency!

I called another estate agent the other day as we were both involved in a chain of sales. I phoned at 2pm and asked to be called back, then again at 4.30pm. Both times the person’s colleague promised that my calls would be returned. They weren’t.

I phoned again the following morning and was told “Oh yes, sorry about that. We were really busy then someone came into the office at 5pm and took up an hour and at 6pm that person left for home of course”. Well, I wasn’t impressed with that.

I always return my calls the same day. Whether that’s at 6pm, 7pm, 8, 9, 10pm, it doesn’t matter. Even if there is no update or new information, surely it’s just common practice to call back the same day and say so. The whole “I leave the office at 6pm” thing cannot be a factor nowadays surely. With mobile phones, messaging, email and so on, there’s simply no excuse for poor communication.

I’m tempted to say that maybe it’s because it’s MY business that I work that way but that’s not true. I've always worked that way - whoever I've worked for.
I know plenty of business people and ex-colleagues where excellent communication is just second nature. It's not even "going the extra mile" – it's just how it should be surely.

I'm more tempted to say that it's "old school" (but maybe that’s not fashionable)!

New updates, no updates - as long as everyone knows you're doing your absolute best and keeping them in the loop and informed - it's all about communication.

My father used to say to me –

"Do what you say you're going to do and when you say you're going to do it Steve”,

It's really not rocket science, is it!