Ok, I've calmed down now so I can write without going off on one.
If you have a form on your website for potential customers enquiries, how good are you at replying? For the past few months I've been sending out emails, filling in those bloody forms, not just for stone but to marketing companies, tool suppliers etc and do you know what the overall response rate is?
It's 50%, half reply, half I never get anything back and trust me I've been making an awful lot of enquiries about buying in materials and services. I have to hold my hands up and admit that in the past I've not been that good but it beggars belief that in the times we have now companies can be so slow in responding or worse just not responding at all.
A couple that stand out for me is one training company not replying for 4 months to my enquiry then emailing me to ask if I want to attend their course beginning in 2 days time!
A stone company had pretty much all the stone I wanted in the sizes I wanted I asked for a quote 6 times :mad2: (5 emails, once I even spoke to the guy on the phone) and still no response. I think I continued to try out of sheer bloody mindedness.
Yes I know sometimes we're very busy/on holiday/get loads of enquiries but if you have someone essentially saying ' I'm thinking about spending some money with you' you try to at least acknowledge them. If you have loads of emails amend your website to say there may be a delay in replies, if some enquiries end up in your spam folder, clear it everytime you're online.
When I've spoken to some companies they've admitted that they have found the same, particularly in business to business enquiries, about 50% response rate seems to be the norm. So if you respond to an enquiry you've already seen off half the competition!
Ok rant over
If you have a form on your website for potential customers enquiries, how good are you at replying? For the past few months I've been sending out emails, filling in those bloody forms, not just for stone but to marketing companies, tool suppliers etc and do you know what the overall response rate is?
It's 50%, half reply, half I never get anything back and trust me I've been making an awful lot of enquiries about buying in materials and services. I have to hold my hands up and admit that in the past I've not been that good but it beggars belief that in the times we have now companies can be so slow in responding or worse just not responding at all.
A couple that stand out for me is one training company not replying for 4 months to my enquiry then emailing me to ask if I want to attend their course beginning in 2 days time!
A stone company had pretty much all the stone I wanted in the sizes I wanted I asked for a quote 6 times :mad2: (5 emails, once I even spoke to the guy on the phone) and still no response. I think I continued to try out of sheer bloody mindedness.
Yes I know sometimes we're very busy/on holiday/get loads of enquiries but if you have someone essentially saying ' I'm thinking about spending some money with you' you try to at least acknowledge them. If you have loads of emails amend your website to say there may be a delay in replies, if some enquiries end up in your spam folder, clear it everytime you're online.
When I've spoken to some companies they've admitted that they have found the same, particularly in business to business enquiries, about 50% response rate seems to be the norm. So if you respond to an enquiry you've already seen off half the competition!
Ok rant over
