trendSpotting Report
Rebecca Silver

“You have reached the voicemail of…. I am out of the office until…” How often have you gotten voicemail when you’ve called a friend, your client, a reporter [your mother!]? At that crucial moment, the most important question: Do you leave a message?

Chances are not. Because unless you are calling your mother, you don’t truly expect a return phone call. Sometime between eagerly waiting by the phone for your crush to call and screening your cell phone caller ID so you can avoid the loser from last night, we became a society that no longer returns calls.

That’s where the disconnect lies. Media relations thrives—no, survives—on a practitioner’s ability to woo a reporter on the phone. Crafting a perfect pitch is successful only if you have a human on the other side of the line to talk to. You can’t tell the client you scheduled an interview with BusinessWeek if they don’t pick up.

As children, we run around the playground during recess trying to catch all the other children running away from us, just so we can stop chasing. As adults, it’s no different. How much of your day do you lose re-dialing the same people…reporters to schedule an interview, clients to confirm a time, third-party sources to give their expert opinions, friends for dinner [because after all that, you need a drink]. But, with so much technology at everyone’s disposal, they’re all running and you’re “it.” Good luck getting someone on the phone.

There are strict etiquette rules about answering a call before the third ring, keeping your cell phone on vibrate on the bus, and not texting during a dinner party—but why not a rule about calling someone back? Professionally, it’s frustrating; personally, it’s maddening. Returning phone calls is an essential part of building strong relationships. It is the foundation for a successful feature and a lucrative future, so how did we become a culture lacking this most common courtesy?

So, PR pros, we challenge you to buck your impulse to delete your messages and ignore the incoming. Pick up your phone! Be the person who answers calls and returns messages. Start the one trend that will persist throughout the season [when the sales are but a memory] and check your voicemail, review your caller ID log, hit *69. People will be so impressed with your class and then don’t be surprised when your phone rings off the hook. It’s the Times calling you back.

Rebecca Silver is an Account Executive at RLM who is a pleasure to converse with by phone. And she always answers.