Service businesses can make a lot of cash. In fact, 79.7% of the United States economy is made up of the service sector. Most of these businesses have a telephone line with over 80 million business lines in the United States. These businesses often fall victim to one of these top 3 mistakes.
1) Failing to call back a voicemail within 30 minutes of it coming in
For businesses, voicemails are usually leads or customer questions. Often times businesses will receive a call, which will go to voicemail, and then they will call it back more than 24 – 48 hours later. What these businesses fail to understand is that the patience of the average consumer is decreasing and the choices consumers have now are abundant. For example, imagine a consumer named Joe. Joe wants to get his transmission fixed and this service is going to cost him around $2,300. Joe lives in San Francisco and has a lot of choices. Joe types in “San Francisco Auto Repair” and is shown the Google 7-pack as shown in this image. Joe calls (415) 285-8588. The call goes to voicemail. The crew is at lunch. Since Joe is on his mobile phone, he now dials (415) 854-0111 since it is the next best businesses since it has reviews. It goes to voicemail, Joe leaves another message. Joe decides he will take his chances with a business that has no reviews and calls Horizon Auto Repair. They pickup and he sets an appointment that day.
Even though Joe has gone to a competitor he doesn’t really want to go to that competitor. That was his 3rd choice! If either the San Francisco Auto Repair Center (which has good reviews) or The Garage Automotive Services (which has good reviews) called him back within 30 minutes of getting the call, Joe would likely cancel his appointment and go with the company which has a better reputation.
2) When a customer calls in, failing to take down all information
It is amazing how many businesses still fail to ask for your name, number, and what you are requesting. Businesses spend thousands of dollars a month or year on advertising. However, most of this money is wasted in the conversion process, not the marketing process. When a business doesn’t track its calls, they are throwing money in the trash and helping their competitors.
3) Failing to remember their customers names
Even in 2015, remembering a person’s name is extremely important. People often buy the experience, not the thing. Customers will pay more when they feel a business cares about them.
About the author:
Dan is a Co-Founder of Tenfold and currently serves as the Chief Strategy Officer. Dan oversees the Tenfold sales organization, manages strategic partner relationships and works with key enterprise accounts to ensure their success with the Tenfold platform.