Successful Marketing - Ideas For Business Pros | Are You Leaving Your Customers Out In The Cold?

Are You Leaving Your Customers Out In The Cold?

kimhillman | 05 January, 2009 10:40

Picture this. It's new year's eve, just after midnight. You're home, and now that the festivities have died down you're ready to hit the sack. It seems a little chilly, so you turn up the thermostat on your way up the stairs. But, the heat doesn't turn on. You go back downstairs, play with thermostat some more, and then go out to the garage to have a look at your furnace. It's dead.

By now it's 2:00am, and you're flipping through the phone book looking for someone to fix the furnace. You're concerned because it's a holiday, but as you look through the ads you find several companies that claim to have 24 hour emergency service, and some of them are open on holidays. You begin dialing numbers, starting with the first ad.

Here's the big question. When you're calling these companies who claim to have 24 hour service, would you expect a live person to answer the phone even at 2am? This situation is real. It happend to me just a few nights ago on new year's eve. And I did expect a live person to answer the phone when a company claimed to offer 24 hour emergency service, even on holidays. I was disappointed by every company in the phone book, however, except for one. Only one company had someone answer their phone at 2am. All the others had a machine answer, offering to take my name and number and have someone "get back to me." Since it was the wee hours of the morning on a holiday, I guessed that hell might freeze over, and so would I and my family, before I would hear from anyone at any of those companies.

There is a big lesson here, and it's this. Little details matter ALOT. The companies with the answering machines probably thought they had their bases covered. But, from my perspective as a customer at 2am, I felt like I had been left out in the cold. I was tired, frustrated and cold. I needed to speak to live person so that I would know that the situation would be taken care of. This wasn't something I wanted to leave to chance and hope someone would get back to me.

Whatever your company promises to do, whether it's 24 hour service, free gift wrapping or fresh, hot delivery, find out what your prospects and customers expectations are. You may think you're fullfilling your promise, but your prospects and customers may feel otherwise. A simple phone call or survey by mail can give you insight that will be invaluable to your company in the services you provide. And if you need help putting together that survey and business letter to mail, Up & At 'Em is here to help you!

Up and at 'em!

Kim Hillman

Up & At 'Em Publications

www.upandatempublications.com