How fast does a business owner/salesperson need to respond to give great service?

I always try to respond right away. This digital age has made it much easier for a prospect to send out 7 messages, to 7 different competitors. I want to respond right away, waiting or not responding right away can lead to losing the potential client. 

I always will try to respond to someone within a 4 hour window. If anything to acknowledge that I received the phone call and get the information from them. 

I then advise when I can get back to them with the answer; quote; order or whatever they had requested.

To me it is what is missing in the market today, CUSTOMER SERVICE and knowledgeable people.

I just wrote an article on this topic. My research showed that the younger your customers the faster they expect a response, especially if they contact you via social media. Also, more people are using email to contact companies with questions or issues. Email was the first choice for the majority of consumers. 

But always respond, even if it is just a statement, either positive or negative. Let them know they are heard. Most people with a complaint will remain loyal to you if they feel you listened to them and cared.

How we respond always infers meaning. The question then becomes, "What message do you want to convey?"  Sooner is always better and increasing your connection with the customer by speaking with them directly is always better than written communication because you can transfer the meaning you intend and you can also understand then better as well. The most successful companies are connecting companies. 

The faster you respond the better chance you have of gaining a new client.  If they are checking with your competitors and one of them responds before you, your chances go down. Of course they may not go with the first person that answers, but they may.  Whichever competitors respond before you may look to have better customer service in the clients eyes. 

My gold standard is always within 24 hours. I believe that small operations can't always find effective ways to respond immediately (they don't have the budget or the staff), and that chatbots send customers into a tizzy. I once had someone so weary of chatbots that they responded to my personal message as if I was a chatbot (I must have sent a pretty generic response--oops!), begging to talk to a representative. So a personal response is great, and someone should be tasked with doing this once a day, including the weekends. 

Response in a very fast manner holds no validity to the kind of service you will receive.  It does not constitute the kind of service you can expect to receive.  Typically a busy contractor will get back to you by the end of the day and no later than 24 hours.  This does not constitute weather you will receive good service or poor service though.  The quick response is not automatically indicative of the level of professionalism one will receive.

Best Regards,

Jeffrey  

It depends on the Product or Service.  I like to respond the same day.
Other times it can be in one hour or less.  You never want to keep a Client or Prospect Standing around waiting for a reply.

Within a couple hours . No excuse in this world of technology. 

Interestingly enough, just yesterday, I was needing to order a home warranty for a closing.  I was in a pretty big hurry as the title company was waiting for the invoice.  I pulled up a home warranty company online that was new to me.  A chat box popped up.  I thought, "great, someone can help me sign my company up quickly."  As I was chatting back and forth for a few minutes, I realized the response was automated and that I was not talking with a person at all.  When I asked if I was, I received a weird "thank you, how may I help you?" Wow!  I moved on to another company completely.  Three hours later, a salesperson called me to see if they could help me.  Three hours!  No thank you!

I monitor my email all day long.  I'm not obsessed with checking it but I do watch it closely.  I respond quickly to text, phone calls and emails.  In the world we live in today with technology, consumers expect quick responses.  An hour late to respond to a general inquiry is acceptable in my opinion.  (unless it's after normal working hours.)  With life and work demands, It's simply hard to be on top of everything all of the time.  Setting up a good system and plan of response will make all the difference in your revenue and reputation.