One person knocks on your door, invite them in…
If you are selling something, anything from software to a service, you need to make it easy for the end user to contact you. For the past few weeks, I have been testing and pricing up various IT products (please no sales emails!), and the one thing I have noticed is the lack of response, or the slow response…it’s mind boggling.
Example one – I filled in a company’s ‘request a demo’ page, and found the response time should be within 24 hours (24 hours!!). I’m not in sales but honestly 24 hours for an online lead is poor, so 3 days later the only communication I have had is a mail to say ‘I will hear back’. I then called them, yes I’m chasing them for a demo so I can buy their products!! Eventually I received a phone call and the sales guy in question left a message for me, which coincidently I never got.
The moral of the story is that I may want to buy from you, I’m interested in your product and that’s why I filled in the form. Ring me back, hunt me down, get me the demo so I can test and buy your product. First impression is key. If you leave me for 3 days to complete this simple task, then what will the customer service be like? The support? The product?
This particular company is one of the top in its industry, and that’s worldwide!
In my opinion, every customer is key and good customer experience goes a long way - but it starts at the first point of contact.
Example two – this was a different company and a different product.
We managed to get a demo... we logged onto the call with the sales rep. Bearing in mind in previous communications it was arranged that we would have a demo, this is how the conversation went: Myself – “Hi, thank you for joining the call to enable us to see the product in action”.
Sales rep response - “Err I didn’t realise we were doing a demo”.
A few minutes later, after going back and forth, we managed to see a poor and unprepared demo.
As soon as this call was over, myself and a colleague (who also joined the call) looked at each other and instantly said ‘’no chance’’.
The issue wasn’t the product, it was simply the lack of preparation and lack of enthusiasm. Why would I want to deal with someone who struggles to arrange a simple demo? What about when we need support? Is this experience reflective of what we can expect through the whole user journey?
From first contact I ask nothing more than to be excited, interested, and enthusiastic. After all, if you don’t care about your product why should I?
