Returning Client Calls and Emails
Firm Issues
By Bob Weiss
August 2009
You should return clients calls and email within four hours.
That’s the new standard we see in client satisfactions surveys we have completed over the past 12 months for both trial and transactional firms. We’ve asked: what constitutes “promptness” when receiving a response to your emails and phone calls? More than 60 percent say within “four hours.” The “same business day” is the standard checked off about 30 percent of respondents, and “within 24 hours” is the response for less than 10% of the more than 2,000 clients we have surveyed.
What happens if you are in a deposition, a closing, hearing, a trial or travelling? We decided to find that out and asked several dozen in-house counsel, executives and business owners. The answer: a response from an assistant or colleague is sufficient.
It’s not that they have to answer the question or do anything immediately, we were told. Clients just want to know the message has been received and the situation has is set to be addressed. The same standard, we discovered in these interviews, goes for referrals-- acknowledge the referral ASAP, contacting both the person who was referred and the person referring the matter to you.
What about inquiries made at 4:59 p.m.? That same evening is preferable to the next morning, but first thing in the morning is acceptable.
What about weekends? A response over the weekend is much appreciated but not considered requisite in most circumstances.
ALYN-WEISS & ASSOCIATES, INC.
Marketing | Business Development
1331 - 17th Street, Suite 410
Denver, CO 80202
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