Three calls or emails with no answer and it is considered dead! No, call them daily for months until they pick-up!
Those two opinions mark both extremes of the spectrum when communicating with business partners, both potential or existing. Where does the reality stands? What is considered a best practice? Some factors must be considered here, like the strength of the relationship, its status but also cultural aspects and the time of the year.
As a Swiss born and raised person now living in Germany and working with partners worldwide, I see how this influences many relationships and getting it right is a helpful skill and a constant challenge. On one side, nobody wants to be that annoying guy who sends tons of mostly repetitive emails. On the other side, it sometimes gets effort and repetition to obtain what you want or need. And by the way, this also applies to private relationships but naturally in slightly different ways.
The status of the relationship is the first factor to consider. How much can you insist when trying to get in touch with a new partner? One way of seeing it is that as you have zero relationship, there is nothing to lose. Then it depends of the kind of communication channel you use. If it is a good old phone call (yes, this still exists and still happens), my opinion is that you can try a couple of times per day, depending if you leave a voice message or not. Personally I'm not a big fan of voicemails so I tend to leave messages only after a few unsuccessful calls. The urgency and importance of the contact then dictates how frequently and for how long I call. Keep in mind that people can be on leave, in meetings, or on travel in a different time zone and as telephone is a synchronous way of communication and it requires your counterpart to take time for you at the very moment you call... unless, once again, you leave a message.
This brings me to an interesting point about caller ID. Do you pick calls from blocked caller ID? And what about calls from numbers that are not in your contacts directory? Don't assume that your partner, especially if you don't have contact yet, will act like you would. Some people basically NEVER accept a call from a number they don't know. The same often applies to returning calls, especially in this age of telephone spam - and this is where leaving a voicemail can help.
Getting in touch with people you don't know via email can be easier, especially if you are an introvert. However, you never know if your email is read or even if it reaches the recipient's inbox or if it get flagged as spam. Repetition or not? If your email is flagged as spam, there is no purpose in writing again but as you never know, trying a few more times is ok - but watch your tone. Don't become aggressive. People can be too busy to reply and it will take a few days until they find the time. Everything goes faster and faster but time is more than ever a limiting factor.
Some people want to take the time to send a good response and not just a basic one or something along the lines of "I've got your email" and this takes time. Over and over again, I get surprised by the timing of some responses and I can only assume that people are also surprised by the timing of my replies and because of this, there are no fixed rules.
Other communication channels like Whatsapp or Linkedin messages give you extra hints about the person you try to contact: are they online? Have they received your message? Have they seen it? This kind of instantaneity is a double sided sword. How do you feel when you sent a message to somebody, see they are online but have not seen your message? Frustrated? Upset? Impatient?
And what when the person you try to contact has seen your message but does not reply? How frustrating can this be? I personally tend towards being a fast responder. Sometimes too fast even. Because of this, I instinctively tend to expect the same from partners and then I get to think that a single message without a reply means the relationship is dead. I had to learn that this really is not the case. In many cases, all what I need is some extra patience and often also a reminder.
Multi-channel communication can also be really helpful. Your emails don't get through, or the responses are not coming? Send a Linkedin message. Over and over again, people are juggling with so many balls that your question or contact request can be lost and a reminder via another channel helps.
Geography, or even more culture, also plays a role in communication. Being direct is totally ok and even expected in northern cultures. Actually, the more up north you go, the shorter the emails and discussions. Cut the small talk out and go straight to business. But if your counterpart has a more southern or eastern background, being direct might make you seem rude. I recently subscribed to the newsletter of US website I follow and have interest in and they send almost one email a day, which to my Swiss taste is way more than I'd expected and would like... Those are just two very basic, simple examples to illustrate my point here, there is much, much more cultural aspects than just those.
From my personal experience, most people are ready, even willing to help and interested in new contacts - this will be the topic of another post - but also very busy and there is nothing wrong in insisting and trying again over multiple channels.
What is the answer I get the most to a second, third or fourth attempt? "I'm sorry it took so long". Assuming your request is interesting and legitimate, there is no reason people should get upset or ignore it. Keep persisting, adjust the communication channels, the frequency of your messages and be patient.
And one last thing: if you try calling, make sure you have time available. The worst possible thing is trying for the 15th time in a month, just because you have a few minutes, and eventually get an answer and then not have time to talk...
If you think this post is interesting and want more, please register so I can inform you when this website will lauch officially.