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The Act of Responding

Is it me or is it everyone else?

It seems to me, if you email someone, requesting a quote, a job to be done, asking for information or something that requires a response, then good etiquette states you should reply and acknowledge the email, even if you don’t have an immediate answer.

Over the past year, different people I do business with have not responded to my emails of request for assistance or advice and the end result is I send more email messages and then end up ringing them because I think they are not getting my emails.  Then they think I’m being impatient or a nag!

How do I get across to them that they should actually just hit reply and let me know they’ve seen my email and they’ll get back to me later with the information I’m seeking?  How am I supposed to know they might be researching my answer rather than just ignoring me?

I’ve taken to asking them in my email to please reply and acknowledge they’ve seen my email so I know it hasn’t gone astray.

Kathie M Thomas

Comments

  1. Pattie Mason says

    16 June 2010 at 10:01 am

    It’s amazing how poor some people’s communication skills are and I think it genuinely doesn’t occur to them that you want them to acknowledge receipt of your email.

    I’ve also found this isn’t restricted to people who you may already work with, I have often emailed a business enquiring about a service or product and received no response. It’s not just poor etiquette, it’s appalling business sense.

    In a world where virtual working is increasingly common, people need to realise that good, clear, prompt communication is key to a successful working relationship.

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  2. Heather Villa says

    16 June 2010 at 11:57 pm

    You would think this would be a common practice. We’ve all experienced ‘lost’ email. It doesn’t take but a moment to send a “received and will review’ email.

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  3. Brian Gladu says

    22 July 2010 at 1:31 pm

    I’m guilty of taking too long to respond to emails that require a considerable amount effort or time. I’ve thought about just setting up an autoresponder (though a friendly, personal) one just saying, “Hey, I got it! Sometimes I may not reply right away but I will eventually!” Not sure if that is better or worse.

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  4. Kathie Thomas says

    22 July 2010 at 1:36 pm

    It’s better than people thinking you either didn’t get it, or you’re not interested Brian. People deserve an answer, even if it is an autoresponder in the first instance. Answering is a courtesy that should be afforded to all who are genuine, i.e. not spammers 🙂

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Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Virtual Assistant – THE Blog About Our Industry » The Act of Responding -- Topsy.com says:
    16 June 2010 at 11:37 am

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kathie M. Thomas, Alexandra Popovic. Alexandra Popovic said: The Act of Responding http://bit.ly/aiqpkF (via @KathieMT) […]

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