You are in the middle of an install, your other installer took lunch with your slacker sales guy and the phone is ringing again, and again. Oh yeah, let’s not even try to find the wireless phone with the dead or dying battery that is taped on with your precious number 33+ electrical tape. Yes, I know you have an answering machine or service, so you let them leave a message; you can get to it when you’re not so busy. And why not let it ring, you just had someone come in with a brown box full of used equipment looking for installation, and it’s time to explain the pain you desire to inflict upon them if they don’t put it back in the trunk and come back to buy some of your stuff. The good news is that while he was headed to car to properly store his box o’stereo, your sales guy and installer pulled into the parking lot and decided to strike up a conversation. Good, you think, maybe they can earn their keep while I get this install completed.
So you take a deep breath, grab a bite of the breakfast you remembered about bringing in that morning and jump back in the car. What, the phone is ringing again! You reach for the phone you left in the passenger seat then look up to see it sitting on the workbench. You think to yourself again, why don’t they stop calling and just stop by the store? That is most likely how the call will end up anyway. As a matter of fact, maybe you should just make that your message so they don’t call back anymore.
Although this is just a made-up scenario, it is a story that plays out at retailers all across this nation. Heck, it’s played out fairly similar when I ran a store. That said, constantly letting phone calls go to your voicemail is a surefire way to turn potential customers away. The phone is just one tool in your box of marketing stuff. It is a very important tool as it is a primary means of communicating with potential customers looking to find out if you have the solution that will make the daily drive a more entertaining and informed one.
Take the time to develop a system to take advantage of this tool so you never gain a reputation of not being available. Let the phone pass from team member to the other like a baton in a relay race. Make answering on or before the first ring a priority. Pre-plan your response to specific questions, always with the goal of turning the call into dollars. Develop a question and answer template (this is good for your website too – but that is a whole other blog post).
If you make the effort, I can assure you that you will turn an annoyance into an opportunity!
Print | posted on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:16 PM