One of my colleagues needed an apartment. So, I recently e-mailed five real estate brokers from my various networking groups. I left a brief, but detailed message for each of them about what my colleague was looking for, how much she could pay and one of the neighborhoods she’d consider moving to. I also left an alternate email address. I didn’t hear anything back from any of them for the first few days. Finally, one of the brokers responded to my email. The others . . . nothing.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Now I have two other colleagues who are in the market for apartments. Guess which brokers I’m not reaching out to. Why? Because if you are unresponsive with new business, what are you going to be like if my friends become your clients. You are certainly not someone I want to recommend to my contacts. If there is one thing prospective customers will not tolerate, if they can help it, it’s nonresponsive professionals.
Unless there is some circumstance beyond your control (e.g., Hurricane Sandy, a blackout, a dire family emergency), there is a never a reason not to return a prospective customer’s inquiry within 24 hours. For all you know, they could be your next anchor client. They could be the seriously connected business resource you need. Granted, there are many ways to lose prospects, but this recent incident brought the following five to mind.
1. Respond to a prospect’s call or email when you are good and ready. Chances are, your prospect will have already hooked up with your competition.
2. Give prospects only one way to reach you. If a potential customer is an emailer and you only have a phone number, this could be a deal breaker.
3. Commit to meeting a prospect and rely on your memory about the date, time and place of your meeting. If you’re dying to make your client look like they are not a priority, try calling the customer and asking them to remind you of details of your upcoming appointment with them.
4. Don’t take notes during your first meeting, so that you have to ask questions you should already have the answers to at your second meeting. This is a sure-fire way for prospects to immediately lose confidence in your services. They will walk away worrying about “what if?”
5. Tell the potential client you are going to do something and then don’t follow through. Be prepared to spend lot of time doing ongoing damage control if this is your standard way of practicing.
Trust is huge in establishing and growing your business. Being responsible is a big part of the trust factor. Even if you know you can’t help that person, ignoring them could hurt your business; in fact, it does hurt your business reputation. Consistently commit to your business. If not, you won’t be in business for very long.
Stacey
