Have you ever called a business that doesn’t answer the phone?
I recently looked for an electrician for a repair I needed. I called someone who was recommended to me at around 4:30 but their office closed at 4:00. I was redirected to an answering service who put me on hold twice and wasn’t very friendly. Due to the recommendation, I toughed it out and then left a message. After a week, I still had not received a return call. I called again and hung up after three minutes of hold time during the middle of the day. Even with a strong personal recommendation, this business lost the sale from simply ignoring their potential client.
This is a fairly common problem among small businesses. Being sure that you have planned for adequate phone coverage is critical. Here are the basics:
- Be sure your phone is answered within 15 seconds. If you can not make that on a consistent basis, look into an answering service to kick in after that.
- Smile when you say hello. Smiles are audible through your greeting and they start off that conversation with a positive bang.
- Return calls as soon as possible but never leave for the day with unreturned messages that came in that day. Even if you know your audience isn’t there, return the call, apologize that you missed them, and let them know you will return the call again in the morning.
- Return any of those missed calls and the overnight messages within an hour of opening.
A lot of small businesses feel the time crunch that inhibits putting these practices into place. They then let messages go unreturned, or let the calls go into voicemail, or let their frustration show in their phone voice. All that does is institute a growth governor ensuring you will remain stuck where you are only to drive your clients to your competitors. That’s a sure-fire path to mediocrity.
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