How to Lose Customers and Alienate People: The Impact of Delays
For this week’s Tip I want to introduce Craig who is a friend of one of our thebestof colleagues.
It was time for Craig to move out of his flat share into his own place and from this comes a story of business sabotage, that we want to make sure isn’t happening in your business – and it’s courtesy of a Letting Agent and a Landlord.
Craig found an ideal apartment online and rang the Letting Agent straight away. What usually happens in this sector is that the Agent rings the Landlord and gets back to you normally within the hour - or even after just a few minutes, to arrange a convenient viewing time.
Four days (yes 4!) passed and Craig hadn't heard back from the Letting Agent!
So, he rang up to see what was happening. Apparently, the landlord doesn't accept calls during working hours. And, it seems, the Agent doesn't make calls outside working hours! Craig suggested that one of them should have a little think as to how silly this sounds.
'I'll get back to you before the end of the day' the agent said.
And yes, you’ve guessed it, the end of the day came and went and a further two working days later poor Craig still hadn't had a call back. He had decided by this time that perhaps he doesn't want to rent off such an inefficient Agent but he was interested in seeing this through just for his own amusement!
He rang at 1pm on a Friday - a whole week since the initial call - to see if they've figured out a way to speak to each other and was told he’d get a call back within half an hour.
It got to 8.00pm, the Agent had closed, and, you’ve guessed right again, Craig was still waiting......
Now here’s the point - this apartment came on the market the very day he made the first call. They could have had a tenant arranged the same day. How good would that look on a testimonial?
If the agent had responded straight away, not only would they have succeeded in achieving a continuous flow of money for themselves and their landlord, their reputation would also be upheld which would attract other Landlords from their competitors.
It's the little things that all add up to make a real big difference to your business.
What’s your customer journey like?
How quickly do you respond to people?
How do you keep them informed of what’s happening with their enquiry/quote/order?
If you’d like an outside perspective of what your customer journey is like to make sure it’s the best it can be, then give us a shout.
