Take care of your clients
I called a fellow business owner recently.
A cheerful young woman answered the phone.
“Could you wait a minute?” she asked.
“Yes, if not too long,” I answered.
She put me on hold for four minutes.
Four minutes. That’s like four hours.
Ordinarily I would have hung up.
I stayed on the line because the owner is a friend.
I wanted to see what would happen next.
After four minutes, she came back on the line.
I asked if she had in stock what I needed.
“Hold on,” she said, “and I’ll check.
Seven minutes later she confirmed that they had it.
She kept me on hold for 11 minutes.
For a Type A like me, that’s an eternity.
Now here’s the lesson for all of us.
How are your employees handling client calls?
Are they putting them on hold?
Or do they offer to take a number and call back?
How do you know what they do?
If they do this, whose fault is it?
Yours, of course. You haven’t taught them better.
Make this a lesson at your next staff meeting.
Talk with everyone who answers incoming calls.
Discuss how to handle calls, requests or complaints.
Why is this so important? Look at reality.
Washington has run up $17 trillion in debt.
And it was done it in only five years.
The White House wants to add another $3 trillion.
What this means for your business is NOT good.
Forecasters predict that over the next three years:
• We’ll find it extremely hard to make a profit.
Government regulations will cripple us.
• We’ll need better ways to generate leads.
We’ll also need new skills to close sales.
• Our competition will be in the same fix.
They will be willing to undercut our rates.
• We’ll work harder to keep our most loyal clients.
We must offer the best choices for them.
Next: One owner turns around a losing business.
