The Sundown Rule

Introduced ourselves to a new manager at one of my customers today.  He’d served food/drink retailers all his lengthy career by the sounds of it.  Having recently joined his new employers (supplying drink dispense kit to restaurants/bars) he ran me through a presentation just delivered on his team’s 07 strategy.

One slide featured ‘Rules of the Road’, things that each member should ensure they do.  The one that stuck me was the first; the sundown rule.

Put simply, it is that whenever you pick up a message from a client/prospect, you must respond that sameday, even if there’s nothing yet to say about the subject matter.  In other words, before the sun sets you speak to them.

Not a bad discipline to get into, as I often find myself picking up voicemails half-way through the day and only acting upon them the next.