Agents & Phone etiquette....to answer or not answer?

[Brandon Hoffman]

It should be a pretty simple concept. If an agent is expecting an important call the client should be notified up front. Then the agent can answer that specific call and ignore others to be returned when finished with the current meeting. Exceptions would be when not immediately with the client, such as possibly driving in the car or while the clients are engaged in other activities not requiring the Realtor.

[jenkirk]

Originally Posted by palmcoasting

I'm with Jlbony.
The ones that annoy me are those that have the messages "I return calls between 10-11 and 5-6." I call at 11:30.

I agree!! They tell you it helps control your time, but I think it is just rude.

I often change my message to say "I am showing homes to a client in a certain neighborhood, and I will call back as soon as we are finished. However if your matter is urgent please hang up and call me again, and I will answer." or " I am on a listing appointment in such and such area. Please leave me a message and I will return your call on my way back to the office." and so on and so on.

[FlaLadyB]

I look at the caller ID first and then decide to answer it or not. Or if the clients are wandering through the house on their own I answer it, say or do what I can and go forward.

I did just change my outgoing message because I got SCREAMED at by a guy who said YOU NEVER ANSWER YOUR PHONE! when in fact, my phone rings off the hook and I am usually ON IT! He never bothered to leave a message!

Now my voice mail says this : Hi, this is _____ and if you got my voice mail its's because I'm probabaly on the phone, but please leave me a message and I will get right back to you as soon as possible! And I DO!

[Roselvr]

As a buyer I mind & I don't mind. It depends on what we are doing and if we are in the middle of talking or not.

I've had an agent that usually ignored calls, but there were some she took, like when she was trying to close a house. As both a buyer & seller, I was glad to see how she was sticking up for her client and it appeared to me she knew which calls were important and which could wait.

I like the texting idea and wish more agents would make use of texting.
My preferred form of communication was email, I tried not to be the client that always called since everything was not "right now" important.