Things that make you go hmm: How hard is it to reply to an email?

If I email a restaurant and no one responds, it makes me wonder. I can appreciate that restaurants, especially those run by the chef, are busy. However, how is it possible that you don’t respond to someone who is contacting you about an event that can earn you money and hundreds of new customers?

This was my experience as I tried to round up four food trucks for a recent elementary school event. To be fair, there were several who responded within a day to let me know if they could participate or not. Bravo to you Captain Poncho’s, Gussy’s, OnlyBurger, Parlez-vous Crepe, and Porchetta. There were others who, like Voldemort, shall not be named that never responded at all. I used their online contact forms and email addresses in my attempts.

Word to the wise: If you don’t want to engage with customers and prospects, don’t go to the trouble of creating a “contact us” page. If you only want to be reached by phone, say so. Otherwise, you end up with a disgruntled potential customer (and blogger) who tells everyone she knows that “XYZ” truck didn’t have the courtesy to respond to our request. I won’t take offense if you don’t want to participate in our event, but the courteous and professional thing to do is reply either way.

Reputation management is not only about the food on the plate. Your interaction with the community across all media will impact your business. And it’s much more fun to add customers than to wonder about lost opportunities.