No matter the industry, a company’s reputation goes a long way in determining whether or not it will gain or lose customers. The various comments made about a company on social media, for example, can have a huge impact on what others think about it. It doesn’t even take a person to have a personal experience with a brand to consider not giving it a try. One bad review is all it takes for a potential buyer to lose interest.
So how can business owners ensure that their companies make good impressions? At MeloTel, we believe that it has everything to do with how customers are treated. It’s one thing to provide excellent products and services – which, of course, is important – but it’s another thing to provide worthwhile experiences to everyone who comes in contact with your company. And this is an important point to highlight.
Do customers have it easy when it comes to contacting your company? One of the easiest ways to earn a bad reputation is to be unavailable. When customers need their questions answered, they tend to want them answered quickly. And who can blame them? Who has time to sit around and wait anymore when there is a wealth of information immediately available to them on the internet? Getting in touch with you and/or speaking to a live person should be just as easy.
Now, this is not to say that you should make yourself available 24/7. That isn’t humanly possible. However, it is important to establish the type of customer service policy that insists upon speedy responses. When a customer leaves a message for you, it is certainly in your best interest to return that message as promptly as possible. If not, you stand to lose clients. Here are four things that unreturned messages say about your business.
1. Maybe the product isn’t so good. If a company believes in what it offers, this confidence should be communicated through its customer service. When phone calls go unreturned, it gives the impression that there isn’t a great demand for the product being sold. Perhaps, the company would rather not deal with the subject of their poor-quality products, so they avoid questions and concerns rather than face them head on.
2. Maybe the business isn’t doing so well. Late last year, one of our associates attempted to purchase a pair of insoles from a company online. Having had previous experience with this company, he assumed his order would arrive promptly. It didn’t. After sending three emails and leaving as many voicemails, our associate concluded that the company must have gone out of business. Surely, this isn’t the impression any smart business owner would want to give off.
3. Maybe the company can’t be trusted. How do you feel when you don’t hear back from a friend who owes you money? It’s one of the worst feelings you can have about someone who you thought you could trust. And sadly, many of us have been in this situation. The fact that the money-owing friend is somehow harder to contact than he or she was before leads you to believe that you may never receive your money back, right? Now consider a business that exhibits the same neglectful attitude.
4. Maybe they don’t want my business. This is the worst impression of all. When you go a day or two without returning a message, most people who leave messages will assume that they won’t be returned at all. Quite simply, you stand to lose business if you are not adamant about being a quick message-returner. Both voice mails and emails require your immediate attention. It’s simply better for business.
Call MeloTel at 1-888-MELOTEL to learn more about the various Telephone Features we offer that make it easier for you to be accessible your customers!