It takes a lot for a general print article to get me going, but I read an article earlier this morning that talked about the stupidity of using auto-replies on e-mail to tell someone you are out of the office. The person claimed that they don't use voicemail, travel 250 days a year, don't have a Blackberry, get 200+ e-mails a day, and respond to everyone within 24 hours. Obviously, they must be an amazing communicator (or have an amazing assistant).
While I agree that it may not be optimal to use an auto reply that says you are out of the office and gives an alternative contact, I appreciate knowing that fact. We are all busy. Travel is a way of life, and everyone wants an instantaneous reply. I can't advocate that people don't take vacation, and I do advocate that people be disconnected at times. People need to refresh and innovation often happens when you step back from the fray.
I talk about this because the better solution than giving up your life would be to use e-mail (for example) to kickoff a process. You could create a customer management process by which they can call or e-mail or fill out an online form to initiate the follow-up process. The prospect or customer provides some basic information that lets the process route it for follow-up. If your sales person is gone, the process automatically escalates it. If another SME needs to engage, the process engages them. If it is a billing question, the data can be pulled up and routed (with context) to an agent for follow-up.
The point is that sales and customer support don't need to be dependent on one, always connected resource. It is a team effort and process management using rules can make this seamless and transparent to the end customer. If you choose the original route, good luck. I have tried, and I couldn't do it.
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