As a company, you often receive calls from potential customers. You receive requests for information, appointments, or quotes, for example. The lead is interested in your company and wants a response as soon as possible! Many companies make this mistake… That is a shame! You are missing out on leads (and therefore revenue)!
I can imagine you are wondering how you could possibly handle this incorrectly. Often, the reason is that responses are too slow. Leads may then forget that they submitted a request. It is best to contact the lead within a few hours. Even better: limit it to half an hour. One tip is to send a welcome email, for example. This way, you can inform the lead that you will be contacting them by phone today to make an appointment (for instance). Furthermore, this gives the lead 'confirmation' that you have received and read the request! Of course, responding so quickly reflects well on your company too!
Call us
If you want to schedule an appointment with the lead, it is best to contact them by phone. Why? You get an immediate response. If you send an email, people forget to reply or consider it spam. Before you call the customer, find out exactly what they want from you. Do they want an appointment? Then check the general calendar to see when that is possible! If you know this in advance, you won't have to think about it for long during the call.
The customer doesn't want… So what now?
Of course, you don't always get customers on the phone who want an appointment immediately. They might want information first. If this is the case, don't be disappointed! Offer to send them some information about exactly what they want! If the customer has no interest in your company at all, ask why. Perhaps there are areas where you can improve your business. Then thank them for their interest in your company and wish them a pleasant day.
Take note!
“Make a note?” you might be thinking. What should I make a note of? If you have called a customer and they indicate that they want to be called back in a few months, make a note of it! If you don’t make a note of something, you are guaranteed to forget to call the customer back. Perhaps there are multiple people at your company who make phone calls. It is therefore useful to use a general program for this. That way, everyone can see who has been called and who still needs to be called.
How further?
If you have made an appointment, for example, then you are 'done' at that moment. Unless you do the appointments yourself, of course ;).
In short… Be customer-focused! What exactly does the customer want? Be critical of yourself as well. Are you responding to the request quickly enough? Are you enthusiastic enough? These are all points the lead will respond to! If you come across as spontaneous, the lead will get a good feeling too!