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Ever Wonder Where Did the Money Go?

I just finished having a replacement furnace and central air conditioner installed in my house.  The experience was such an adventure that I thought I'd share it with you.  I will present the process from the consumer's standpoint to reemphasize the need to reevaluate your sales processes and training on a regular basis. 

Price Quotes
I decided to follow the conventional wisdom and get three price quotes from area companies.  The companies I chose were the original installer of the 20+ year old system, a company that has a good reputation in the neighborhood for quality service, and a company that advertises at all of the local school functions. All of the businesses I called are well respected and have been around a long time. I assume that they have developed their business processes over time based on years of experience and will be able to handle anything I need.

The first call went to the local advertiser.  I thought that I'd give them a shot since they were supporting the activities that my kids are involved in at school.  I called them in the middle of a Thursday afternoon.  The phone was answered quickly and professionally.  I explained what I needed and they dropped the ball.  "I'll transfer you to the salesmen's voicemail box.  Explain what you want and they'll get back to you".  Since I had no experience with the company and hate voicemail, I hung up. 

The second call went to the company that had originally installed and serviced the system.  Again, the call was answered well.  They took my information and told me that the salesman would call me the next day to scheduled the sales call.  He called the next day. I'm optimistic.

The third call went to the company with a good reputation around 4:40 in the afternoon.  The call was answered after many rings.  After my explanation, I was told to call back tomorrow because "None of the girls are in now".  No contact information is collected.  If I did not have strong recommendations on this company, including a direct recommendation from within NSPG, I would not have called them back.  The next day I called back and "the girls" were in.  They quickly scheduled the estimate.

As a replacement for the first company, I called the number from the web site of a well known area company that supplied a third manufacturer's systems.  Was told to call their other office which was closer to my location.  Again, no contact information is taken.  The other location quickly answered and scheduled a sales call. 

So, three out of four calls could have ended with no contact information collected.  I had to call a second time to two of the companies just to give them my information. If I had not been motivated by factors out of their control, they would have lost any chance at my business.  The third company that dumped me into voicemail lost my business.  I'm sure that they don't even know that they're wasting their advertising dollars by their inefficient phone processes.

Only one company out of four took my information on the first call.  If I had been like most consumers, they probably would have gotten the job by default.  No one likes to chase you for your services.

What can we learn from this? 
The big lesson from this exercise is that anyone who answers your phones MUST get the potential customer's contact information first.  It doesn't matter if you can schedule the sales call right away. If you don't get the information, the customer is gone.  He may call back, but why risk it. 

So you say that your system is designed properly. Are you sure that your phone people are following that design?  Training and reinforcement of the value of the process is paramount.  You could be losing business and never know it.  You're paying big bucks for advertising, so each lost customer costs you money.

Some other lessons learned from this experience:

1. Local advertising works.  I called a company that I never would have chosen through other means.  They dropped the ball, but the ads worked.  A $50 ad in a band or track program gets them exposure to several hundred potential customers.
2. Word of mouth recommendations are worth more than any advertising.  A reputation for good work can sometimes help overcome problems with your sales process.
3. We're all too busy keeping our business running to "waste" our time and money on review and training.  Are lost sales costing you more than review and training could ever cost?
4. The consumer does not know anything about your business.  When he calls, he wants to get your attention right away.  Unless you're the only game in town, he's going somewhere else if you don't meet his expectations.

Tune in Next Month for the exciting saga of The Estimates.