What is RSS?
Blog entries
How to win in the race for business
Imagine the picture – Mrs K and I sitting having diner discussing the soon to be completed extension to our country cottage. Not just a bedroom but a laundry room and hopefully the end of bulging wardrobes as least before her next visit to the shops. Being a woman of taste – well she picked me – she wanted something nicely fitted out, not a few shelves and a cupboard in the corner.
So after the delicious main course – I won’t bore you with the details – I popped onto to the computer and found a company in Yorkshire which fitted out dressing rooms with lots of stunning draws wardrobes and shelves – the pictures looked wonderful and MRs K’s eyes were shining in anticipation.
‘What’s for pudding?’ I asked. But before she could open the fridge door the phone rang. It was a charming lady from the fitted wardrobe company to make an appointment for their local guy to pop round to measure and quote. The date was fixed there and then and they promised to ring and confirm the day before too. I even asked a technical question which she was able to answer with ease.
This whole event from initial thought and going on the web to having an appointment booked in our diary took less than 15 minutes. The company clearly looked incredibly efficient by having someone on the phone with the fitter’s diaries to hand up to 8.00 at night. However, of even more significance, they struck when our motivation to pay the considerable cost of their service could not have been higher and probably before anyone else could muscle in too.
Well over 50% of the internet enquiries I make never get a response. Others will testify to the same experience. So to get a response so directly and so professionally in minutes was a revelation. In the race for business every minute counts. Do you have the same sense of urgency in your company?
Popularity: 1%
January 16th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
You are dead right Chris, and with cloud computing systems such as Salesforce.com, the covert connection to your prospects is even more interwoven. Unlike protected email where you can control the read receipts, once you open a proposal from a supplier using SFDC the salesman knows you have just read it, and the smart ones are on the phone shortly afterwards, mostly greeted by “OMG, I was just looking at your proposal, how timely”
January 17th, 2010 at 8:23 am
Gosh did not realise that Chris. Having said that an estate agent client of mine uses instant messaging to chat to viewers of their site and they can see what properties they have been looking at. Wouldn’t we have loved those facilities at Hi Tech Marketing eh?
January 18th, 2010 at 9:47 am
The website tracking you mention Chris is an amazing tool – quite often you receive a phone call from an applicant and they are enquiring about a particular property and you can see their activity on the system even without them using the livechat, you can see if they came from google for instance which keywords they used………
Back to the point – we have also noticed that an immediate response to a good email lead has an amazing effect – the good feeling it creates from the aspplicant is immeasurable and numerous times i have met with applicants a few days after on a viewing and they will say most agents didnt even respond – so many agents treat email enquiries as an inconvenience – keep it up i Say
January 18th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Great story Chris and a very impressive response from the wardrobe company. I also think that in these tight times we would all like to feel like our custom (and our money) is really valued. Leaving contact details on web sites and then never hearing back from them is infuriating! Maybe one good thing that comes out of the current downturn is that the good businesses start to wise up to how we want to be treated and we all get to experience great customer service for once!
January 20th, 2010 at 8:00 am
How refreshing – but how depressingly typical of many.
Responsiveness is the key here.
Thanks for highlighting this as it keeps people like me “on message”
January 20th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Absolutely Mark. Responsiveness is key! Tennis players win matches by getting the ball back quickly and on target and it is the same here.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Ah great customer service. Jolly elusive but actually quite easy to deliver. You just need to have a mind to do it.