Customer Mistake: When someone wants to do business with you, don’t push him aside.
You run into a friend into the grocery store; a perfectly timed reunion that always makes both parties feel better.
“We need to get together for a coffee; I’d love to hear how you are doing,” you say.
The friend concurs, saying, “Yes, definitely send me a few days that work for you; I look forward to meeting with you.”
You then forgot to follow up. Weeks go by and no coffee appointment gets scheduled. Your friend wonders what happened. You miss an opportunity to connect with your good buddy. Bad move.
This faux pas also happens on a larger scale. Working for a global company, I’ve attended numerous Live Meetings, Go To Meetings, WebExes. If there’s an Internet conferencing software out there, I’ve sampled it. The benefit of viewing colleague presentations, vendor pitches, and quarterly results presented by a colleague without having to board a plane has saved enormous amounts of time, travel headaches, and boosted companies’ bottom lines.
I recently was invited to a vendor demonstration that filled me with excitement. I had been researching this vendor for a few months. I’ve received their newsletter, read their blog, sifted through their white paper – they had me hooked. I went from lead to an extremely qualified lead faster than you can send a tweet. I filled out a ‘Request a Demo’ form and received a quick response from a sales advisor. We exchanged a few e-mails and finalized a few days/times that fit our schedules – rapport was peaking.
And then, they forgot to send the Web conferencing invite.
This meeting FINALLY got scheduled, yet my perception of this firm in the marketplace soured. The demo actually met most of my needs, although I can’t discard the scheduling flub-up.
Will this forgetful firm win business? There’s still a chance, although their chances would have intensified if promises were kept. If the vendor can’t treasure me as a ‘potential client’ now, how might I be treated as a customer?
Keep your commitments with your friends and your business partners; you’ll stand out from the crowd.
Here are some other ways to NOT treat your customers:
Until next time,
Dan Naden
