When you don’t get a response to your email

It’s frustrating when you email someone a couple of times and don’t hear back from them. But before you take it personally, consider the possibility that your email was never received. There are all kinds of spam filters and blockers out there just waiting to steal your message.

If you don’t get a response from your message, your next step will depend upon the urgency of the situation and the politics (for lack of a better word) surrounding it. Your actions will also take into account what your previous messages said.

For instance, it would be terrific if in the original email you wrote, “If I don’t hear back from you in two weeks, I’ll give you a call.” That gives you every reason to be comfortable picking up the phone to follow up. Even if you never mentioned a call, it's still important to quit emailing and get to a telephone.

Presume that your message was never received. Place a call.

I always give someone two weeks to respond to me in order to account for vacations, illnesses, and overflowing inboxes.

Many people (like me) much prefer email to the phone, but email will never equal the phone for dependability. If it’s a very important opportunity, I’d pick up the phone from the get-go. Of course, that’s easy to say in hindsight.

Image ©Sasha Howard, Universal Prayers for Peace