Lack of responsiveness will sink you.
Colleagues won’t want to entrust you with their clients and clients will get annoyed (quickly) and seek out other attorneys – whether at your firm or elsewhere.
Eventually it gets around.
In contrast, someone who is responsive – who returns calls and emails quickly, who follows up and delivers what they said they would send – even if it is forwarding an article or tracking down a contact — are sought out.
People trust them; people will send them repeat business.
HP breaks it down, after the jump.
You know HP loves examples.
Example 1: Brilliant but disorganized partner Joe. So smart, yet a mess. Puts off calling people back, asks junior associate to return calls to client towards end of day, probably won’t reach client, just leave a message. Colleagues start calling Joe’s junior associate. Junior associate is always able to be reached, returns emails and phone calls quickly, pleasant, on the ball, enthusiastic. If she doesn’t know the answer, she will track it down. Junior associate starts developing work on her own from colleagues’ internal referrals. Clients also get to know junior associate and start calling her directly – she’s easier to reach than partner. Associate matures and builds business. Associate advances. Joe, well, he’s kind of sinking.
Example 2: Partner goes to colleague to assist in a matter. Colleague (we’ll call him Larry), returns emails (if at all) days later. Partner finds out that colleague didn’t respond to client email for several days, and then just spills excuses. Partner also finds out colleague is not keeping partner and client in the loop on the progress of matter. Partner goes to another colleague and asks her to take over matter. Partner will not go to Larry ever again, and mentions to other colleagues.
Let’s state a basic principle: clients and colleagues should receive a return email or phone call within 24 hours.
Now, you may not have an answer, but you can at least acknowledge that you’ve received the message, and give them a reasonable estimate you can likely fulfill on the deliverable.
I’ve found something like “I’ve reviewed your message while in between meetings and would like to schedule a time to talk tomorrow” works well – gets something pinned down and gives you time to deal with this matter (and take care of other things beforehand).
DO NOT ignore things – if you have Outlook, there’s a follow-up reminder feature you can use for emails. If you are worried you will forget something, ask your assistant to remind you. I put all sorts of reminders on my outlook calendar.
People remember those who are responsive.
If you are brilliant yet not on the ball you might as well be dumb. It’s not complicated to return an email or a phone call promptly. As Nike says, “Just Do It.” You could be the brightest lawyer in the office, but if you lack in responsiveness, you might as well be Dopey Dan. Pick up the phone and return the freaking phone call, friend. And by all means, keep people informed of what’s going on. It’s an ethical duty as well as a professional one.
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