Somewhere along the line, some business school decided it would be a good idea to teach its classes that it was standard procedure to not call someone back. They reasoned, that if you don’t call someone back, the other party would understand the message. I did not attend this class and have always believed it was proper business to return every phone call.

I had this client years ago who was very wealthy (probably with a B) in Fredericksburg VA. He was arguably one of the wealthiest people in Virginia and he had always adhered to the practice of calling every person back before he left for the day. People loved him even if the message wasn’t what they wanted to hear.

I remember when I started out in hotel brokerage. The first several days I stayed in the office thinking that was what I was supposed to do. About day four, I said enough of this, and got in my car and went to 137 hotels down I-75 and found some people to talk to. I will never forget Bob who owned a little hotel in McDonough. He talked to me even though he knew I didn’t have any idea what I was doing. To this day, Bob will always return my call and we have been friends for many years. When someone calls me now, even though I can’t help them, I always call them back because I remember what it meant to me all those years ago.

In much of society today we seem to have forgotten our manners. I still have the wound marks on my arms and legs where my mother would pinch me when I didn’t display the proper manners in public or at church,,,, especially at church. ha

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln responded to every letter he received while being President? Yes, every single one. Could you imagine that level of etiquette today? Well, we can still do it if we really want to reap what we sow. If you sow good manners, you will reap good manners from others. Much of life I have learned, is doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. KT