Saturday, March 20, 2010

Courtesy of a reply

If someone writes a personal e-mail to me, I will always give a reply. It can be a short reply like "ok" or "thank you" to acknowledge receiving an information that does not require any action (which is quite common).

If someone ask me my advice on a complicated matter, my usual reply is "let me think about it". I will give a more detailed reply in a few days time, unless I overlook it. In many cases, I will answer some of the questions immediately, and answer the rest later.

Some people are fair and considerate to me. They spend time to think about their issue and put it down in clear terms. I will try to help them as best as I can.

Other people are quite inconsiderate. They do not make the effort to write them their issue clearly to me and expect me to spend a lot of time to understand their question and find the answer. I usually give them a short reply, "Sorry, I cannot help you".

A few people send me materials to post in my blog quite regularly. They do not expect a reply from me for each e-mail. But I do send them a reply occasionally to acknowledge that I appreciate their contribution. They can also see my indirect reply, when their contribution appears in my blog.

I want to encourage people to give a reply. It is only courteous.

Tan Kin Lian

11 comments:

C H Yak said...

You are great. This is simple courtesy. It is also simply amazing that you also do it very fast.

Sadly, there are still people who wants your help and needs your reply, but they just do not border to acknowledge at their end.

Anonymous said...

I can't agree more with that Mr Tan. Thanks for pointing out the obvious, yet much ignored. Simple courtesy is hard to come by nowadays.

Tan Kin Lian said...

I have written e-mails to many people in high level positions in government or business. I know many of these people personally or they know of me.

I often do not get any reply or acknowledgement, even for a matter that requires a reply. It is a bad habit among or leaders.

I am not deterred. I send them the e-mail a second or third time. I only need to get an acknowledgement that they have received it.

If they tell me "no", it is the end of the matter.

The lack of responsiveness is a culture in Singapore, all the way from the top leaders down. They are busy people, too busy with too many things to do, that they cannot pause to give a reply.

Perhaps they are afraid to give a reply, as they might make a mistake. The fear of making a mistake is prevalent in Singapore.

Tan Kin Lian said...

There is one CEO that also respond to e-mails. She is Chong Phit Lian, CEO of Jeststar Asia. She is very busy, but she always reply immediately, and as helpful as is possible.

I hope that many people will support her airline. I give preference to Jetstar and Valuair when I travel.

Anonymous said...

not like the current ntuc FT..the high and almighty who squanders on another renovation...nothing can change a leopard spots. You can only put on another sheep skin and below is still the leopard.
New title for your salesmen doesn't change the fact they are still koyok salesmen ans women, the dupers.

Anonymous said...

This ntuc FT is a write off. He is good at bullshitting to his greedy salesmen ans women and they oink like pigs in a slaughter house.

Concerned said...

Recently I wrote to HSBC Institutional Trust Services, the trustee for the Minibond structured products on why I received only a partial payment of about 55% of my investments - i.e. Minibond Series 9 when the market value of the underlying securites Wachovia Bonds was valued at 103% at time of liquidation. Up to today, I do not receive any reply. Just totally ignore my letter. Not even a short letter to say looking into it or otherwise. Just ignore it and that is it. Is this how a trustee operate. See how arrogant the trustee is?

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I find that it is a bit curt to have an email with only "ok", so my preference will be "Noted with thanks" or something similar.

Anonymous said...

Some organisation uses auto reply mode which is better than nothing.

neutralsg said...

Hi Mr Tan,
Thank you for being generous in your help.
I have a question which may be of interest to the motoring public in Singapore.
Recently, my company's commercial truck was stolen. Can you advise if I will be liable if the truck should involve in an accident during the 'missing' period. Police report has been made. LTA has been informed. Also, should I terminate the renewed policy which will be effective April 2010? By doing so, will I expose myself to third party claim should there be an accident if the policy has been terminated?
Thank you in advance for your advice.

Denise said...

Thank you for posting this!
I really agree that leaders set the tone for how an organisation responds to people/customers.

I read your comment on how Jetstar's CEO always replies emails and I do wish you would help me get in touch with her, because I am desparately seeking some sort of response from Jetstar.

Their customer service deptartment seems to be adverse to offering any form of help or advice to travellers.

You say that you give preference to the airline and you encourage others to travel with them. In order to agree with you, I need to know that they care for my needs as a customer. So far I am seeing none of that.

I would greatly appreciate your advice Mr Tan. If you can reply this post or send me an email at dsterr@hotmail.com I'd be most grateful.

Thanks again.

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