Your customers are ready to talk…but is YOUR business ready to listen?
A new report reveals just how much a typical consumer is itching to speak to you and your business on the telephone.
But how many businesses are choosing to hang up on this golden opportunity?
Here’s how to make the right call for your business and your customers…
Ring ring!
Down in the local coffee shop, my brief lunchtime chat with fellow business owner Donald was interrupted by the sound of a ringing mobile phone.
It was Donald’s mobile phone. I noticed with silent approval that he’d opted for the more traditional ringing effect over a silly novelty ringtone.
Bit of a shame that our own conversation had been temporarily interrupted.
Or had it?
Ring ring!
Donald just continued with our own conversation as if he was completely oblivious to the sound emanating from his device. He never even raised an eyebrow.
“Yes Martin, it’s worrying,” he was saying.
“The business just seems to be slowing down at the moment. Not many email enquiries at all today. I may as well just take the rest of the day off and go fishing.”
Ring ring!
Well, I had to say something.
“Are you not going to answer that, Donald? It might be important.”
“What? Ah no, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. If it’s important, they can always call back. Fabulous coffee, isn’t it?”
Hmm.
If Donald’s business was backed up by an office full of employees poised to handle customer calls, I could perfectly understand his relaxed attitude to answering the telephone.
But Donald is the owner of a very small business, and his own mobile phone number is the only one advertised on his business cards and promotional leaflets.
“To be honest” he continued, “I wish more people would just send me an email, it’s so much easier…”
That may be true. I kind of agree with the point.
In this modern digital universe, my friends and colleagues are much more likely to send me an email, a Facebook message, or a Tweet instead of bothering to pick up the phone.
But how does the typical consumer feel when trying to connect with a business?
Can it be true that the humble telephone conversation still carries far more weight than digital alternatives?
A new report compiled by Ifbyphone reveals the truth of the matter;
A huge chunk of your customers still want to give you a ring.
But are you ready to answer the call?
Despite the widespread growth of online customer service tools, a mighty 79% of surveyed consumers still prefer to deal with a business by telephone.
It would appear that having a genuine conversation with a fellow real-life human being is still considered to be far more appealing than dealing with cold automated processes.
In fact, 67% of consumers claim that they have eventually given up in frustration when discovering that they were unable to speak to a live representative from a business.
And this is the real danger.
It’s all about that risk of dropping the ball on excellent customer service which is surely supposed to be one of the major strengths of a small to medium sized business.
A deeply worrying 89% of consumers say that they have felt compelled to seek out other businesses following a disappointing experience in customer service.
Speed of service is one of the key factors here.
Consumers like to have their queries and issues dealt with as quickly as possible, and a real-time telephone conversation with a business representative is often seen to be the ideal route.
If this traditional communication option doesn’t appear to be readily accessible, the consumer is more likely to look elsewhere.
It’s also worth remembering that 96% of unhappy customers will not make their complaints known to the business, leaving you completely in the dark as to why they have defected to your rivals.
With that in mind, it’s important to put your perfect business contact plan in place as early as possible instead of waiting around for your unhappy customers to give you a call with their constructive feedback and detailed critiques!
You’re unlikely to receive such calls anyway if your business is hardly ever answering the telephone…
So, is it time to turn our back on digital communications and go back to manning the telephones full-time?
Of course not.
Despite these statistics, I know plenty of people who prefer to communicate by digital means.
They find it easier, quicker, and a bit less hassle.
I often wish Old Bert would communicate to me digitally as I’m sure it would reduce my headaches, but he’s still afraid of anything more advanced than an electronic calculator.
The winning solution is to offer a wide range of contact options so that your clients can always choose the most convenient method for them rather than the most convenient option for you.
And a crucial element of this strategy is remembering the huge attraction of the telephone conversation.
Far too many modern businesses seem to casually push this traditional contact option down the list of priorities in favour of quicker and cheaper online alternatives.
But overlooking a consumer’s preference for the telephone could be a very costly call to make…
Here at the Martin Print design studio, we offer a healthy mix of different contact options including a Toll Free telephone number, email, and a live online chat service.
The team are equally dedicated to each and every one of our contact services, and I strongly believe that dropping any one of those options would result in lost business.
The telephone is still just as relevant to good business as the email inbox and the online contact forms and the Social Media messages.
If you’re keen to avoid putting a big chunk of your potential future custom on hold, it’s still as crucial as ever to ensure that your business telephones are answered by people with access to all the right information who can resolve issues quickly.
So, is your business making the right call?
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