Is The Tail Wagging The Dog? Stop Waiting! Here’s How.

Overheard

Got any appointments this afternoon?

I wish.

No sense waste’n the day, wanna go see Cameron’s new AVATAR flick…supposed to be awesome, if we run we can catch the 2:15, maybe it won’t be crowded and we can walk right in, grab some popcorn and check it out?  Since you suck at selling real estate and I’m the greatest of all time, I’ll buy.

Nah, I can’t.  I’m stuck here — waiting on a couple’a important calls.

What’er you talk’n about?  You’re sit’n here, just waiting?  Don’t they have your cell number?  C’mon, let’s go, it’ll be fun…I’m buy’n.  Hell, I’ll even fly too…besides, your car’s a beater.  When you gonna upgrade…it’s holding you back man, I couldn’t drive a car like that.

Two phone calls, one from the listing agent, man, this dude is a loose cannon, ever work with Smedly Fly, what an arrogant ass?  Anyway, I gave him an offer last night and I’m wait’n to hear back.  My car’s paid for.

And, that nightmare file I was telling you about, the one where the husband found his wife and her boyfriend in their backyard hot tub…and beat the guy down…BAD.  Broke the dudes clavicle and three teeth. They had to call the cops and EMS.  Ugly stuff.

Yeah, that’s wild, he’s lucky the guy  didn’t kill him dead…his wife too.

No kidding, can you imagine,  walking in on your wife and her boyfriend, drinking your Crown, naked and bang’n away in the bubbles…right there in your own backyard, in your Jaccuzi?  Anyway, they divorced, I sold her a condo in The Waterway Lofts and I’m waiting to hear from the loan officer.

They were drinking his Crown? That’s so wrong!

When are these clowns supposed to call you?

I don’t really know about the Crown, I was just imagining the worst case scenario — makes a better story.  Anyway, that’s the problem, I don’t know when they’re call’n, that’s why I’m waiting.  I have to wait in the office because I might need some forms, or scan some stuff and send it.

Whad-a-ya mean you don’t know when they’re going to call.  You’re just gonna sit here with your thumb up your butt and wait and hope they call you?  You’re a bigger clown than they are, you’re the King of Clowns!  Why don’t you call’em and find out what’s up, then let’s go to the movies.  It’s playing at Tinseltown.  Starts in 40 minutes.

No, I don’t want to call, it feels pushy and I don’t want’em to get mad at me.  They’ll call soon.  I hope anyway.

I can’t believe you.  You got it all wrong John.  The tail is wagg’n the dog here.  You gotta control and manage your communication, if you don’t, you’ll spend half your life at other peoples beck and call, wait’n around for people to call you, whenever they want.  That sucks, you should do what I do.  It works most of the time.

What’s that Obi Wan, what’s your secret mind control phone trick.

It’s not a trick, it’s genius strategy.  Because you’re kinda lame, you probably couldn’t pull it off like a pro like me does.  I’ll tell you what I don’t do, I don’t  sit around and wait.  Waiting is for amateurs….which I am not.  Seriously, I set expectations. I hold people accountable.

What ever.  Whatta ya mean, what’a'ya do?

Well, for example, when I send an offer to the listing agent I say,  “My clients excited and eager to hear back from your sellers.  So I can keep them relaxed, I’d like to let them know when you think you’ll be able to present the offer and when do you think we’ll hear back from you?” If I ask, most of the time they’re happy to share their timeline.  Then, before I hang up, I confirm the time they’ve committed to and I  let them know if I don’t hear from them, I’ll give them a call.

I’d say something like, “Ok, Mary, I’m excited about working with you.  So good luck on the presentation, if I don’t hear from you by XYZ time, I’ll give you a call to follow up.  Is that OK with you?”.  Now, I don’t have to wait around like some loser.

You don’t know if that guy is gonna call you in 10 minutes or ten o clock tonight, do you?

No, I guess not. Crap.

When I have a loan in underwriting, I do the same thing.  I ask, “When will I hear from you?” and then I tell them, “If I don’t hear from you by XYZ, then I’m calling you”.   If they don’t call me like they said, I call them and unleash hell.

Anyway, bottom line, I do two things.  I confirm when I can expect them to call and I let them know I’m going to call them if I don’t hear.  Like I said, this keeps me from waiting around like some wuss agent and I don’t ever worry about should or shouldn’t I call someone back, am I bug’n them or being too pushy.  They know I’m gonna track them down if I don’t hear from them.  I think most people, if they said they would call by XYZ, they try to do it.  Overall, it puts me more in charge of the conversation.  You should try it, it’ll make a difference.

Now, since you’re not as wise as me and these clowns left you hang’n, call’em right now, find out what’s up, ask them when they’re gonna know something and if you don’t hear from themn, YOU’RE gonna be the one calling them.  Then let’s go see Avatar.  It starts in 38 minutes.

Manage Your Follow-Up Communications

1. Never let others get back to you without sharing their timeline and the understanding that you will follow-up if they don’t keep their committment.
2. Always conclude the conversation by asking when you can expect to hear back from them and make a promise to contact them if you don’t hear from them.

How  Do You Manage Your Follow-UP?

If you have a tip or two, things, methods, actions or strategies that help you manage Follow-Up, we’d love to hear them in the comments.

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