“In Business” by Roland Millward

Businesses spend huge amounts of money and time in getting new customers. Quite often a large majority of people that respond to the advertising do not always buy on their initial response. However it does not mean that those people will not buy but may not yet be ready or convinced to deal with you. It is estimated that it can take up to 7 contacts with a person before they become your customer.

It is essential therefore that you have a way of recording enquiries and keeping in touch with customers. For Internet enquiries you can use an automatic system such as Aweber to not only to respond to the enquiry but to send a series of broadcast messages.

In addition keep in touch with people by telephone, letter, email and newsletters. Do not fall into the trap of trying to sell to them each time. Build a relationship by giving them information freely. If you sell electronic gadgets for example you could send out a newsletter about new products about to be launched. However rather than trying to sell a product, simply give information and do not even give your price for it.

Occassionally send them a special offer or an invitation to a special event. These people are a potential goldmine if you look after them and once they have become customers are likely to have a long term relationship with your business.

Building lists of potential clients as well as listing existing ones is vital if you are going to be successful and in today’s economic climate your very survival could depend on it.

Don’t you just hate those call centre calls when someone is just reading a script?

I called a national bank the other day to simply ask a question. It was obvious that the person had been given a rigid script that they had to go through before they would answer my question. 15 seconds turned into 5 minutes!

Was I impressed with that bank’s well trained staff member? No! Think about your customers. When they phone you do they get a robotic person or a real human, as natural as though they are standing next to them person?

The telephone is a great tool in business and when used properly can bring in enormous benefits. Yes, staff need to be trained on how to talk to people but not scripted. Maybe if you own a business and employ people to answer the phones now is the time to get them some training and not a new script!