Who You Gonna Call?
By Fred Bergeron, DTM
Did you know that ghosts just don’t appear at Halloween, but also in communication?
Statistics show that 1 in 4 people have been ghosted after the first date or a couple of them, while 1 in 10 say they’ve been ghosted after a couple of months. But what about in the business world?
Did you know that 62% of companies do not respond to e-mails, and only 18% of people have some sort of time management system in place? Without managing time, no wonder people feel too busy to respond.
According to etiquette experts, text messages should be answered within a couple of hours, while phone calls should be returned within 48 hours, barring no time restraints.
Last year, I role-played with one of my former protégés about a scenario where it was Friday at 4:59 PM. She was about to shut her computer off for the weekend when an e-mail came in. How did she handle the scenario? She acknowledged the e-mail by replying that she received it and that she would be able to better assist with the request on Monday. Her response took all of 35 seconds.
When a message comes to your phone, do you look at it and put it back in your pocket or purse, or do you at least acknowledge that you got the message? Too many of us are guilty of looking but not responding, and it only takes less than a minute to at least acknowledge that you received a message.
Some of us often get “being busy” confused with “being productive.” Just remember that “being busy” is fueled by perfectionism, while “being productive” is fueled by purpose. And finally, it doesn’t matter how busy we are; if someone is important to us, we will make time for them rather than make excuses.
It’s worth noting that no one is “always busy”—it just depends on where you stand on their priority list.
