Most of the time, it’s the same as Russell and Ken – promptly and personally.

Prompt is key – it’s like internet leads – if you don’t respond quickly (and call the number they provide if they do), they’ve already moved on to another real estate website. Same for most phone calls.

Navy Chief, Navy Pride

2. Most VM messages are recorded stating that the agent will call back ASAP. A few state the times they return their calls.

3. I personally don’t make a promise. I return my calls responsibly, which means it depends on the urgency of the call.

4. I personally return all my calls.

Unreturned calls is a plague.

I hear daily stories from our team about MIA agents daily (They show up promptly at closing or pick up checks though.)

I believe the root of evil lies in the brains and attitudes of the Broker/Leaders. If leadership expects professional action and response, it happens, if they don’t give a crap, then crappy agents buzz around them like flies.

My 2 cents. I mean really, how hard is it to dial 10 freaking digits.

1) I plan out every day and every day I set my voicemail to tell people what to expect for that day. What I’m doing, when I’m doing call backs, etc.

2) I meet or exceed what’s on my voicemail.

For my brokerage I don’t set rules. They are all good agents who don’t need them.

> call clients back in a specified time window?

Of course. 30 minutes should be enough to extract one’s self from most situations during communicated availability hours; optional level-of-service agreements can stipulate otherwise.

> How do you convey to clients your promise to call back? How soon do you promise to call back?

Via busy recording; 30 minutes.

> Who calls clients back- you or your assistant?

This is a matter of call content, fiduciary relation and assistant competency. Many in-demand, highly-skilled people always communicate through assistants unless there is specific need or desire to speak directly. Real estate agency can be considered as a matter of time and expertise, with a rising level of expertise corresponding to less required time from the expert directly, whenever possible.

> Tell us about your attitude toward calling people back.

Where company is involved, structures must be in place to return every call. From my personal business perspective, I view incoming calls based on my availability with consideration to origination; clients and prospective clients having preference. I prefer, and mainly achieve, scheduling all my calls; just as I do with face-to-face meetings. Being discriminatory here is a good thing as you’re looking for a fulcrum between exceeding expectation and managing your time/income purpose.

The fact is that *nothing* is as important as the SPEED of that first return call. This is so true from my point of view that even when the person who is going to be the one to call them can not call them right away, someone else in the office will call that person to let them know we’ve received their message and they will be getting a return call and when they can expect it.

The single most frequent complaint I hear about agents (both from the public and other agents) is they won’t return phone calls. This, more than any other factor, is the “big thing” – as it just comes across as insulting.