Q&A: Contact during vacation

Question from Phil Gerbyshak in response to my earlier post "Guard your vacation":

Do you have others answer you correspondence while you're away, or do you just let things wait until you return? How do you ensure your customers know you'll be gone for 2 weeks and won't be able to respond to them for some time?

A: I use a standard auto-response for e-mail to let people know I'm away, give them a fallback person to call, and promise to check voicemail at my direct number if they feel they have an urgent message. Here's what the auto-reply from this past Thanksgiving week looked like in their e-mail boxes.

From: Keith Ferrazzi
To: [Sender's name here]
Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: [their original message subject here]

Sorry, I am in the middle of my quarterly reading week. Dozens of books in 10 days! If you need immediate assistance, call my assistant Erin in the Ferrazzi Greenlight office at 323-655-8419. If you absolutely need to reach me, leave a message at my cell number --- --- ----. I plan to check it at least once every day.