Waiting has never been
a stylish posture

Eight of 10 Americans have little patience for merchants who don't answer the phone.

For the key demographic for most home and professional services (adults 35-44) that figure rises to nearly 88 percent, according to a study conducted in August for FastCall411 by Synovate, writes MarketingCharts.

The implications of the study, according to Richard Rosen, founder and CEO of FastCall411, are two:

1. "Voice mail, answering machines, unreturned calls, and unanswered ringing will send your customer straight to a competitor."
2. "The message to online local directories is equally clear: clean up your list. Your users have no patience with online searches that turn up six bad, disconnected or wrong numbers out of every 10."

According to the survey, four out of five Americans (82 percent) regard "immediate availability" by phone as an "important" or the "most important" consideration in selecting a local service provider (e.g., plumber, locksmith):

• 28 percent overall described immediate availability as the "most important" factor - 31 percent of women, 25 percent of men.
• 54 percent described immediate availability as "important, but other factors matter almost as much" - men more than women (57 percent to 51 percent).
• 13 percent of the sample said "other factors may be more important" - cited equally by men and women.

MarketingCharts provides additional findings, including those related to age, income and race.

, including those related to age, income and race.