Dealing with slow email responses: Why calling is better in Portuguese business

You sent a polite, well-structured email to a Portuguese supplier, landlord, accountant or potential employer, and nothing came back. A week later you wonder if you offended someone or if the deal is dead. Usually neither is true. This guide explains why emails stall in Portuguese business and how a short phone call, and the right follow-up, gets things moving again.

Why Emails Go Unanswered in Portuguese Business

My first months working with Portuguese clients from my flat in Lisbon were mostly spent refreshing my inbox. I sent a proposal to a marketing agency in Porto, a contract question to a coworking manager in Cais do Sodré, and an invoice query to an accountant in Almada. I got three silences. When I finally phoned the agency, the director picked up on the second ring, remembered my proposal, and agreed to it in under four minutes. He had read the email on the day I sent it. He just had not replied.

That was my first lesson. In Portugal, silence on email rarely means rejection. It usually means your message is sitting in a queue of things that feel less urgent than the person standing at the desk or the colleague calling on the phone.

A Relationship-First Business Culture

Portuguese professional life runs on personal trust and familiarity. People prefer to deal with someone they have spoken to, ideally met, and can picture. An email from an unknown foreign name is easy to set aside. A voice on the phone saying “we spoke last month at the conference” is not.

This connects to the wider patterns in Portuguese Work Culture: Hours, Communication, and Office Etiquette. Conversation is where decisions get shaped. Email often confirms what was already agreed out loud rather than starting the discussion. If you come from a culture where the written thread is the official record and the main channel, this can feel backwards. Once you accept it, a lot of frustration disappears.

There is also an element of courtesy. A written refusal can feel cold and permanent to many Portuguese professionals, so they sometimes delay replying rather than send a flat “no”. On the phone, they can soften the message, suggest an alternative, or explain the context. A call gives both sides room to stay polite.

Hierarchy Slows Written Decisions

In many traditional companies, the person who receives your email is not the person who can decide. They may need to check with a manager, who checks with a director, who is in meetings until Thursday. Writing a reply that commits the company feels risky, so the email waits until someone senior gives the nod.

Corporate Culture in Portugal: Hierarchy, Dress Code, and Meetings goes deeper into how decision chains work. For our purposes, the practical point is this: a phone call lets the junior contact say, informally, “I need to check with the Engenheiro, but it looks fine”. That is information you would never get by email. It also helps to understand titles before you call, which Boss-employee dynamics in Portugal: Navigating hierarchy and titles (Doutor/Engenheiro) covers in detail.

The Hidden Layer of WhatsApp and Phone

A great deal of Portuguese business happens on WhatsApp and by phone, even in fairly formal sectors. Small business owners, tradespeople, landlords, estate agents and many independent professionals run their day from their mobile. Their email inbox may be checked once a day, or once a week, or handled by a family member.

I learned this when renting my second apartment. The agency’s email address bounced messages back to me for days, but the agent’s mobile number at the bottom of the listing reached her instantly. She answered between viewings, sent photos of the contract over WhatsApp, and asked me to “send the email too, for the records”. The email was paperwork. The phone was the actual channel.

When a Phone Call Works Better Than Email

Phoning is not always the right move. Some situations still call for writing first, and calling too early can feel pushy. The trick is knowing which tool fits which moment.

Situations That Call for Picking Up the Phone

Call when you need a decision, when the topic is sensitive, when you have already waited a reasonable time, or when a deadline is close. Also call when an email thread has gone back and forth several times without clarity. One conversation often resolves what five emails could not.

Here is how I decide in practice:

Situation	Better First Move	Why It Works
Sending a formal proposal or quote	Email first, then a short call	The document needs to exist in writing, the call makes sure it gets read
No reply after several working days	Phone call	Shows genuine interest and bypasses the inbox queue
Urgent deadline or problem	Phone call	Email may not be seen in time
Negotiating price or terms	Phone or meeting	Tone and flexibility matter more than wording
Complaint or dispute	Call to discuss, then email to record	Keeps the relationship intact while protecting you
Sharing contracts or invoices	Email	You need attachments and a paper trail
First contact with a stranger	Email, or a warm introduction	Cold calls without context can feel abrupt
Small business, tradesperson or landlord	Phone or WhatsApp	Many check email rarely

Timing Your Call Around the Portuguese Day

When you call matters as much as whether you call. Mid-morning is usually good, once people have had their coffee and settled in. Avoid the lunch window, which in many offices is long and genuinely protected. Mid-afternoon is often fine, and late afternoon can work well because some offices stay busy into the early evening.

Be careful with calls outside working hours to employees. Portugal has a law limiting employers from contacting workers outside their working time, explained in Right to Disconnect: Portugal’s law against bosses calling after hours. That law concerns employer and employee relationships, but the cultural spirit spreads further. Calling a business contact on their mobile at night or at the weekend, unless they invited it, will not win you goodwill.

Also think about the calendar. August is notoriously slow, and the weeks around Christmas and the June Santos Populares festivals can be quiet too. If your email went unanswered in mid-August, the person may simply be on a beach in the Algarve. The “August Shutdown”: Why getting things done in summer is impossible explains how to plan around this.

When Email Is Still the Right Choice

Email remains essential for anything you may need to prove later: agreed prices, delivery dates, contract changes, invoices and formal complaints. It is also better for first contact with someone you have no connection to, especially in larger corporations, universities or public bodies, where an unexpected call may get passed around without anyone owning it.

The best approach combines both. Write the email so it is professional and complete, then use a call to bring it to life. If your written Portuguese needs work, How to professionally write an email in Business Portuguese to a client walks through greetings, structure and sign-offs that Portuguese readers expect.

How to Make the Call Even If Your Portuguese Is Basic

The biggest barrier for most foreigners is not culture. It is the fear of a phone conversation in a language they are still learning. I put off calls for weeks because I dreaded freezing when someone spoke fast. What finally helped was preparing a short script and accepting that a clumsy call is far better than no call.

A Step-by-Step Call Routine

This is the routine I still use:

1. Reread your original email so you can summarise it in one sentence.
2. Write down the name of the person, their title and the company before dialling.
3. Note the one decision or answer you need from this call, and nothing more.
4. Open with a polite greeting and introduce yourself and your company.
5. Mention the email directly, with the day you sent it, so they can find it.
6. Ask whether they have a couple of minutes, which shows respect for their time.
7. State your question simply and pause, letting them talk.
8. Agree a clear next step, such as a date, a document or another call.
9. Thank them warmly and say you will confirm by email.
10. Send the confirmation email within the same day.

Keep the call short. Portuguese professionals appreciate friendliness, and a moment of small talk is welcome, but a focused, warm call of a few minutes leaves the best impression.

Useful Portuguese Phrases for Business Calls

European Portuguese phone language has its own rhythm. People often answer with “Estou?”, “Sim?” or “Está lá?”, which can throw you if you expected a full company greeting. Here are phrases I keep on a sticky note:

• “Bom dia, fala com (name)?” for “Good morning, am I speaking with (name)?”
• “Daqui fala (your name), da empresa (company name).” for “This is (your name) from (company name).”
• “Estou a ligar por causa do email que enviei na terça-feira.” for “I’m calling about the email I sent on Tuesday.”
• “Tem dois minutos?” for “Do you have two minutes?”
• “Desculpe, pode falar mais devagar, por favor?” for “Sorry, could you speak more slowly, please?”
• “Então ficamos assim.” for “So that’s agreed.”
• “Vou enviar um email a confirmar.” for “I’ll send an email to confirm.”
• “Muito obrigado” or “Muito obrigada”, depending on whether you are male or female, for “Thank you very much.”

Asking someone to slow down is perfectly normal and rarely causes irritation. Many Portuguese people will switch to English if they hear you struggling, especially in Lisbon, Porto and the tech sector. But opening in Portuguese, even imperfectly, earns real goodwill.

To practise listening to fast, swallowed European Portuguese vowels, I used audio lessons from PortuguesePod101 on my commute, focusing on their phone and business dialogues rather than tourist phrases. Being able to recognise how a real person answers the phone made my first calls far less stressful. If you want a structured path, Learning Portuguese for Career Growth: Certificates and Business Language and How to Improve Your Portuguese for the Workplace both lay out options from courses to certificates.

Handling Voicemail, Switchboards and WhatsApp

Voicemail is less relied upon in Portugal than in some countries. If nobody answers, try again later rather than leaving a long message. If you do leave one, keep it short: your name, company, the reason, and your number, said slowly and twice.

Switchboards at larger firms will ask “Quem fala?” or “De onde fala?”, meaning who is calling and from which company. Have your answer ready. Ask for the person by name and, if they are unavailable, ask “A que horas posso ligar?”, meaning “What time can I call back?”

For smaller businesses, a WhatsApp message often works as a bridge between email and a call. Something like “Bom dia, enviei-lhe um email sobre a proposta. Posso ligar-lhe hoje?” is polite and gets attention fast. Check your mobile plan supports frequent calls to Portuguese numbers, which Home Internet and Mobile Plans: Vodafone, MEO, and NOS Compared can help you sort out.

Following Up in Writing So Nothing Gets Lost

A phone call moves things forward, but it leaves no record. Many foreigners in Portugal have learned the hard way that a verbal agreement can be remembered differently a month later. The fix is simple: always confirm in writing.

The Confirmation Email Formula

After each call, send a short email that opens with “Conforme falámos ao telefone”, meaning “As we discussed on the phone”. Then list what was agreed in two or three bullet points, the next step, and the date. Close with “Fico a aguardar” for “I look forward to hearing from you”, and “Com os melhores cumprimentos” as your sign-off.

This email is far more likely to get a reply than your original one, because it refers to a real conversation. Even if they do not reply, you now have a dated record of what you agreed. With accountants, landlords and suppliers, that record has saved me more than once.

Building Relationships So Future Emails Get Answered

The deeper solution to slow email is becoming someone your contacts know. Meet in person when you can. Accept the coffee invitation. Attend industry events, meetups and talks. Once people have a face and a voice to attach to your name, your emails move higher up their pile. Networking in Portugal: LinkedIn, Meetups, and Face-to-Face Connections has practical ideas for building that network.

Small gestures count. Remembering someone’s holiday plans, sending a friendly note before a long weekend, or calling just to check in on a project all build the trust Portuguese business depends on. Within a year, many of my contacts who once ignored my emails were replying within the hour, often with a quick “liga-me”, meaning “call me”.

Keeping Patience Without Becoming a Pushover

There is a balance between respecting the slower rhythm and letting important matters drift. Give a reasonable window before chasing, then call once, politely. If nothing happens after a call and a written follow-up, escalate gently by asking who else you could speak to. Stay warm throughout. Raised voices and sharp emails tend to close doors rather than open them.

Continued language practice, whether through PortuguesePod101, a local tutor or conversation exchanges, gradually turns these calls from a dreaded task into a normal part of your week. The day you pick up the phone without rehearsing first is the day Portuguese business starts to feel like home.

Disclaimer

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Laws, prices and regulations vary by location and change over time. Consult a qualified professional for guidance on your specific situation.