Here is another great article from Cliff Banks. “E-Mail or Phone? Don’t Let the Customer Decide”.
Not sure what it is, but Mr. Banks articles always stick out (for me atleast) and this was another one that I felt as it I should post about. I don’t even know Cliff Banks but if you happen to read this, shoot me an email or call me!
This article talks about 2 difference perspectives when using email or the phone for contacting the customer. There is no doubt in my mind, the quicker you can get the customer on the phone the better your chances are making the appointment and getting that consumer in the showroom. I know when I’m on the consumer side, once I set an appointment, my shopping process slows down. I have an appointment and I no longer need to shop as much. That’s just the mental state that my brain goes into.
YES, you will always get that customer that gets offended or just wanted to communicate via email. I think many times (and I’m guilty of this myself at times) we focus too much on the minority rather then the majority. Majority of your customers actually appreciate a phone call.
Take a moment and think about this for a second, if you put your legit phone number in a form, are you not expecting or at least inviting a phone call? If a consumer fills out a form on your website or any other 3rd party site and they include their legit phone number, they don’t mind getting a phone call.
The consumer that wants information or pricing without a phone call will just leave the phone number portion blank or fill it in with a bogus number. It’s that simple!
In all of my years in internet sales I bet I can count on 1 hand the amount of customers that were upset that I called them. And that’s such an easy objective to overcome.
Make those phone calls!
This reminds me of an older posting of mine “My Lending Tree experience”
