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A Quickly Returned Call Won the Business
By Art Sobczak on Apr 10, 2009 in Closing, Following Up, Voice Mail
Speaking of the little things and returning phone calls, I had a little drain issue before I left Omaha a couple of weeks ago and had to call a plumber. It reminded of a great contrast in sales experiences I had two years ago with plumbers.
I arrived at my lake house I had at the time to discover the water pump had fried. No water, and therefore no air conditioning–with blistering temps nearing the high 90’s–because I had a heat pump. Called my regular plumber there. He didn’t work on pumps, but gave me the numbers of the only two guys within 20 miles who did.
With the first, the guy’s wife answered and said he could get back to me “maybe tomorrow.” Left a message on the other guy’s voice mail. He called within the hour, but said he was swamped the rest of the week. I told him the other guy would be calling back tomorrow but that whoever could get it done the quickest would get the business.
He said he was about 10 miles away and could stop by when he was done with that job. He did, analyzed the damage which wasn’t as bad as thought, and fixed it right then and there. He made a couple extra hundred bucks for just a few minutes work that day because he returned a call quickly and got a shot at the business.
What is your experience as a buyer or seller and returning phone calls?
1 Comment(s)
By Tim on Apr 17, 2009 | Reply
I called to speak with a COO of a very large military contractor. An executive assistant politely took my name and number as usual and quickly hung up. No email, no voicemail allowed. A couple days later, I get a call from a divisional director to set up a meeting with the COO, another EVP and this director. He said my email had been going around the offices and gotten pulled by the EVP who was not even on my radar. So it pays to politely comply with the Executive Assitants and leave a name and number. I didn’t have to send the email. It was her email that got distributed around the executive offices.
Art Sobczak Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Exactly right, Tim. Too many people feel they need to treat the assistant as an adversary or someone to go around. I suggest taking it further: ask them questions to gather more intelligence about the department, company, decision maker, and any initiatives regarding your product/service.