It Might Not Be the Market. . .

Has your phone gone from this. . .

to this  . . .

Are you blaming it on the market? Are you sure it's the market and NOT your telephone policy?

Don't miss Part 2 in the series.

 Clients and Agents Biggest Pet Peeve . . .

Is the failure to receive a timely return phone call. Attorneys, CPAs and real estate agents run a tie with being the worst at returning phone calls. Have you ever been frustrated because another professional does not return your phone call? Are you ever likely to refer one of your clients to that professional after your poor experience? Do you consider yourself a professional?

IF YOUR PHONE HAS STOPPED RINGING

My referral reflects on me. Most likely if my client has a bad experience with a professional to whom I referred them, they will partly blame me.I interview all potential professional referrals because I want to know several things about this person as a professional before I entrust my clients to them.

1.  Do they have exceptional experience and knowledge in their field?

2.  What is the average time it takes them to return a voicemail/email?

3.  Do they have a return voicemail/email policy?

4.  Will they tell a client right away whether they are too busy to handle their case?

All of my referrals understand that I expect them to respond professionally, ethically and competently. I tell them up front that I will take them off of my list if they take too long to return phone calls promptly and courteously.

I will call the professional and alert them that I'm sending a referral and ask to be kept abreast of my clients's situation. I ask my client to tell me right away if this professional has behaved unprofessionally (not returning their phone calls in a timely manner), unethically or incompetently. In that case, I will explore with the referred professional what led to this opinion by the client (there are always clients who complain about everything, warranted or not). If I determine that the referred professional was indeed acting unprofessionally, unethically or incompetently, I will take them off of my referral list.

My Personal Phone Policy

1. All phone calls and email are answered within 24 hours. However, they are usually returned within two hours of the original phone call or email depending on whether I'm teaching a seminar or not.

2. My office telephone asks for a two hour window to return the call and gives an option to call National Headquarters (all personnel are fantastic) if they have an urgent 1031 exchange question or need to open an exchange.

3. I use my out of office reply on email all the time because I teach so many seminars and meet with clients outside of my office.

My company and I are fanatics about answering and returning phone calls and emails. Nobody likes speaking to a voice machine, so there is always an option to reach a live person right away.

Please leave any other ideas that you have to address this issue. I've seen a number of posts and wanted to leave my own thoughts because it is something about which I feel very strongly.

LET'S KEEP THOSE PHONES RINGING!!!

My next post will address different telephone policies when you answer the phone and when you return a phone call or email.

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Lisa A. Lambert,  Esq.  877.646.1031 or LisaL@apiexchange.com

Asset Preservation, Inc. 800.282.1031 or info@apiexchange.com or www.apiexchange.com

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