Loading...The Follow-up Phone Call
Posted by Laura Black in
Friday, July 16th at 2:03 am (Permalink)
We left off with Jill waiting for “The Call”, the job offer that was supposed to come by “the end of the week.” It is 4pm on Friday, still no phone call. What does Jill do?
We all can relate to Jill. Maybe it’s not a job offer, but a client who promised to get back to you and close a deal. Perhaps it is an agent; you’re waiting for his decision on representation. It may even be your physician, who promised to get back with test results.
In all these situations, we feel out of control. We perceive that we are at the mercy of the other person, helplessly waiting for them to contact us. Why don’t we take control and contact them? Usually, we hesitate because we hate putting ourselves in a vulnerable position. We do not want to be perceived as needy, annoying or pestering. We are afraid of hurting our chances by negatively influencing their decision. We do not want to incur their wrath because of our impatience.
I find the best solution is to be reasonable. In Jill’s case, I would probably wait until Monday, and if I had not heard from the employer, I would call. In other words, I would give the other person a “reasonable” window, and then take back control. When making the subjective determination of “reasonable” objectively consider the necessity of a timely response.
When you do make that call, the key is to refrain from putting the other person on the defensive. You do not want to begin by saying, “It is Monday, and you promised to get back to me by Friday.” That will get you either an embarrassed or defensive response. Instead, depending on the matter and the person, get to the point of the call and ignore the missed timetable, take responsibility for needing to know an answer or even use humor.
In Jill’s case, after an anxious week-end, she finally made “The Call” Monday afternoon. After some coaching she said, “Hi, I wanted to touch base with you and see where we are? Is there any additional information you need from me or anything I can do from my end?” The response, “Oh Jill, I am so glad you called, I could not get all our decision makers together on Friday, and I was going to call you later this afternoon.”
Please share your thoughts: laura@realwomenwin.com
We all can relate to Jill. Maybe it’s not a job offer, but a client who promised to get back to you and close a deal. Perhaps it is an agent; you’re waiting for his decision on representation. It may even be your physician, who promised to get back with test results.
In all these situations, we feel out of control. We perceive that we are at the mercy of the other person, helplessly waiting for them to contact us. Why don’t we take control and contact them? Usually, we hesitate because we hate putting ourselves in a vulnerable position. We do not want to be perceived as needy, annoying or pestering. We are afraid of hurting our chances by negatively influencing their decision. We do not want to incur their wrath because of our impatience.
I find the best solution is to be reasonable. In Jill’s case, I would probably wait until Monday, and if I had not heard from the employer, I would call. In other words, I would give the other person a “reasonable” window, and then take back control. When making the subjective determination of “reasonable” objectively consider the necessity of a timely response.
When you do make that call, the key is to refrain from putting the other person on the defensive. You do not want to begin by saying, “It is Monday, and you promised to get back to me by Friday.” That will get you either an embarrassed or defensive response. Instead, depending on the matter and the person, get to the point of the call and ignore the missed timetable, take responsibility for needing to know an answer or even use humor.
In Jill’s case, after an anxious week-end, she finally made “The Call” Monday afternoon. After some coaching she said, “Hi, I wanted to touch base with you and see where we are? Is there any additional information you need from me or anything I can do from my end?” The response, “Oh Jill, I am so glad you called, I could not get all our decision makers together on Friday, and I was going to call you later this afternoon.”
Please share your thoughts: laura@realwomenwin.com