Are you throwing away customers?

13th March 2012

... Comments

Today has been a frustrating one for me. As someone who lives and breathes business growth and marketing, toiling to generate enquiries for local businesses, it is somewhat demoralising to find that many people cannot even be bothered to answer their phone to potential customers.

It is business sabotage on an epidemic level, and business owners are their own saboteurs! If you run a business and spend time and money on marketing, why would you not make sure there is someone to answer the phone? It is YOUR responsibility to make it easy for a customer to buy.

Do you really think a potential customer is going to waste their valuable time leaving a voicemail message and then wait for you to call them back, just so they can buy from you?

The chances are, if you don't answer, your competition will. And guess who gets the order...

Voicemail is no the answer. You wouldn't buy from a shop that was closed with a sign outside telling you to 'leave a message and we'll get back to you', so why expect other people to do that for you on the phone?

If you cannot make sure that there is always someone available to answer the business number, consider a call answering service such as Call Miss Jones or similar.

Nothing will present the first impressions of your business to a customer better than a real life person answering your phone, in your business name, in a polite and helpful manner.

Don't go to all the efforts of getting yourself known, persuading a potential customer to actually pick up the phone and call and then fall at the last hurdle. You might not get a second chance with them!

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