We have all been there. Work a whole week on a major element, hold multiple meetings and informational interviews to put together our deliverable. We spend time at home or in the hotel tweaking the different key aspects so there is no confusion when we send the explanatory document to all the key stakeholders. After rigorous research and development, the item is finally ready to be submitted to the pool. You open your email, compose a professional message, and then send both the document and the composed email to your key people for review before sending it to the client. The item is due to be delivered to the customer the next day, leaving plenty of time to go through it, or so you think.
Two days later, he still hasn’t received any feedback and his delivery is a day late. Just like your original email, your follow-up emails go unanswered (or, at best, delayed responses).
Everyone at some point is guilty of not responding promptly to emails or phone messages, but that doesn’t make it okay. In fact, not getting back to people is a very bad reputation to build in your organization. We live in a world of immediacy. Think about a time when Google takes more than 10 seconds to load, we all immediately close the window and try again. While our response expectations to an email or voicemail message are longer, however, a quick response is still greatly appreciated and can only help your reputation within your company.
My suggestion is to reply to an email within the time frame that you receive it. For example, if you receive an email in the morning (8am-12pm), respond during that time if possible (it may depend on whether you have someone else to communicate with). If you receive the email in the afternoon (noon to 5 pm), please reply to that email during that time. Anything after 5 pm is ok to reply the next day. The maximum time an email should go unanswered is one business day (assuming the email is answered within that time frame).
You may not see the positive results of your promptness, but your colleagues and superiors will notice and appreciate it. Without a doubt, he will add to his professional and personal image among his colleagues and clients.