As passionate as we all are about our sales career there are inevitably times when we need to take a day or few off. Perhaps it’s a friends wedding, your anniversary weekend, or maybe (like me) your first child is being born.
Or maybe you aren’t out for an extended period of time, maybe just the day for a long meeting. Either way you still will have very limited access to take calls, reply to emails, or look up information available at your office.
This is where an out of office comes into play.
And I don’t just want to talk about the same out of office that everyone uses:
Hello,
I am currently out of the office in meetings. I will have limited access to answer emails or calls but will respond to your message as soon as I am able.
Best Wishes,
Johnny Bravo
Look familiar? I’m sure it does because if you aren’t using the above message, someone you’ve emailed recently does. It’s the same old thing over and over.
And although the message is straight and to the point, it doesn’t do much to make your customers feel special. Especially the panic stricken ones who feel that their email was a matter of life and death.
This is becuase normally only a few topics are covered in a generic out of office reply.
- What dates you’ll be away
- When you return
- When you’ll get back to them
- Who to reach out to if it is urgent
As you can see this type of message is meant for the masses and pretty much only focuses on you, you, you….
For someone who spends their days trying to provide the best service possible, this simply wont do.
Doing The Out-Of-Office Well
There are some basics that you’ll want to keep in the message. Obviously you’ll want to provide the dates you’ll be out. This is also a great opportunity to explain why you will be out.
For example if you are attending a major industry event then you might want to let them know in case they end up going as well. Or if you will be visiting a specific region within your territory you might want to say that so anyone in that region can reach out to you to meet if schedules permit.
If you’re out for personal reasons then it’s up to you if you want to include that information. Whether you’re on vacation, maternity leave, have a major surgery, or getting married. This is up to you and doesn’t have to be put in the message.
However because I am quite excited about the birth of my son, I do plan to include a small byte about where I’ll be. I’ve noticed that when you plan to be out for an extended period of time people start asking why. I try to beat them to the punch.
So my first sentence will be:
“I will be out of the office from Feb. 17th through Mar. 3rd to welcome my new son, Bailey Bravo, into the world.”
Next you’ll want to give your availability for calls, meetings, and emails during that time. This is where I plan to stray a bit from what is the general rule.
“I’ll have limited access”…..”but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can”
I’ve always struggled with that statement. First of all, I literally don’t know a single person who has limited access to calls or emails in today’s world. Personally my iPhone is attached at the hip and I carry around my iPad Mini like a security blanket. If you’re on a cruise in the middle of the ocean…ok maybe you get a pass on this.
What I’m trying to convey is that you should be truthful in your out of office. If you will have access for emergencies or you plan on not responding, let them know and give them an alternative.
Mine will say:
“In order to spend time with my family, and try to create a child prodigy at the same time, I will not be responding to emails or taking calls in any regular fashion. I will probably have down time and will check emails, but I very much plan on exercising restraint in sending any out.”
Lastly you’ll want to provide an alternative to reaching out to you. Usually there is an assistant, someone in customer service, your regional director, or Jim in the next cubicle over who can help them out.
A great idea for this comes from Josh Kopelman, through Brad Feld.
What Josh did was create a special email address requiring people to think twice before sending the email. For me that email would be inturruptingfathersonbonding@mrisoftware.com.
I think that is a great idea but if you work for a sizable company, and you aren’t C-level it may not go over too well. You could always create a Gmail account but I have an alternative that I plan to use, vSnap.
I haven’t created the video yet but will work on it this weekend so that it’s ready to go by Monday morning when customers start reaching out.
That is where the magic will be. An in-person “I’m sorry I can’t be here for you”.
I’ve talked about vSnap before and think it is an amazing tool which I am planning to utilize more often but that is a post for another time.
As soon as I’ve recorded the video I’ll post the link here for you to see and copy as you please.
Lastly, and this idea comes from Carolyn McRae who says you should add an element of engagement within your posts. Besides their question, give them something to think about or another follow up item that would be great to discuss.
For me I’ll include a quick note at the end:
“A quick question I have for you, what industry events are you planning to attend this year. I might be attending as well as we should schedule some time to meet up. Or if you need ideas you should set your calender to attend this years MRI International Users Conference. I’d love to see you there.”
Out Of Office Recap
Remember that there are two main reasons to use an out of office when required.
- So they know why you aren’t responding to their emails
- So they know what to do because you aren’t responding to their emails
Everything else is for you. It’s for you to build a better customer relationship. It’s for you to manage their expectations of when you’ll get back to them. It’s for your peace of mind that your inbox isn’t filling up with the same question because you didn’t respond immediately to the first time it was asked.
A few points I want to reiterate about what to put into your out of office message.
Keep it Short: No one wants to (or will) read a 5 paragraph out of office response. Personally I usually delete the out of office messages since I know what they are going to say….that they are out of the office.
Get To The Point: Within the first sentence you should tell how long you will be out for.
Personalize It: If you’d like you may put in a personal note as to why you are out (e.g. trade show, childbirth, vacation to the Bahamas).
What To Do In An Emergency: Preferably you want to give them the name, phone, and email address of a single person. Again this could be an assistant, customer service rep, or manager. Also, please make sure this person knows that you are directing your clients to them.
Add Something Engaging: Be sure to include something engaging in the response. a vSnap or a question, what ever works best for you.
Follow these simple rules and you’ll find that your customers are better managed, better engaged, and don’t freak out as much when they can’t reach you immediately.
Can you think of any other tips to add (or take away) from an out of office response? Let me know in the comments below.
~ Johnny Bravo
