Our Consultancy is admittedly a small funky group of people who enjoy working together. Our clientele ranges from Fortune 100 to start-ups with very cool technology. Our assignments vary from seeking Angel or Venture Capital, Corporate reorganizations, Executive Search and IT Consulting.
Most of us have done extensive fund raising for various charities as well as politically, certainly I have, as well as being on numerous Boards of Directors.
Recently I hosted a couple of cocktail parties to introduce some of my friends to a local Photographer who has a fascinating eye, and has done some exceptional night photography.
One of the huge diferentiators with our Consultancy, is that, unlike many corporations who have voice mail where it is difficult to reach a human ever, our telephone is always answered by a human being except if is absolutely impossible or totally disrespectful to whomever we are with. Our clients love this, and we receive calls literally 7 days a week. One cannot manage a business between 9 and 5, during five days of the week.
There seems to be a new trend with lower level employees, including lower level managers in large corporations to either never answer the telephone or only answer when they see the call is from someone important within their own company or a family member. Some hide behind incredibly rude condescending secretaries who interrogate one as to ascertain the level of importance of the caller. Yes, admittedly, often on the instructions of their boss, however, the level of rudeness is hardly appropriate. I struck one of these individuals last week who queried, ‘is she expecting your call?’ when told the answer was no, she then told me to send an email outlining the reason of the call and they would decide if they deemed the call sufficiently important. Seriously??!! I let the arrogant secretary know that I indeed had the individual’s home number, that the interrogation convinced me that I was no longer interested in speaking with the woman in question.
One of the most striking discoveries I have made is that the more successful and wealthy the individual, the more likely they are to answer their own telephone, and if one is obliged to leave a message, it is usually returned within the hour with an apology for the delay. How senior are we talking about?? Well, one gentleman calls me from the air in his private jet, flying around the world to conduct business, another, who has travelled half way around the world twice in the last 2 months, another just returned from Europe, but always returns my calls 24/7 unless the time difference doesn’t allow it. Average net worth for these individuals?? Anywhere from $10 million to $1 billion.
For them, a lost phone call represents a lost opportunity. You can NEVER assume you know the reason for the call. You can NEVER assume that you actually know who the person is on the end of the telephone. Some of the least well dressed, most soft-spoken individuals are the most successful. Just because someone appears to be one thing, doesn’t mean that is in fact who they are. My friends and clients have certainly shown me that first impressions are undoubtedly very often wrong.
The joke is, the people who seem to believe they are too busy or too important to answer the telephone are usually the ones who are the least successful, earning anywhere from $40,000 to $150,000 per year.
The moral of the story?? Don’t behave like you are too busy or important to answer the telephone. You simply do NOT know the reason for the call at the other end of the line. They may never call you again.