Feb
8
This is - as you might imagine - a rather sweeping generalisation, but in most businesses somebody, somewhere will answer the telephone when it rings.
Sometimes it can take a while. If your switchboard has more than one incoming line, for example, and you expect the person who answers calls at the switchboard to take reservations and handle enquiries. In this case a queue can build up very quickly and callers can let the phone ring, and ring, and ring, and ring,...
Sometimes it can take a while. If your switchboard has more than one incoming line, for example, and you expect the person who answers calls at the switchboard to take reservations and handle enquiries. In this case a queue can build up very quickly and callers can let the phone ring, and ring, and ring, and ring,...
...until somebody eventually answers.
But even so, most businesses - especially hotels - would not dream of leaving the telephone unanswered. It might be a booking. You never know...
Email is a wonderful thing. With email, you DO know.
Email has all the immediacy of the telephone with none of the insistence. Email does not scream,
"Answer me NOW!!!" at you every second or so until you do so.
Instead, email arrives on your computer and says,
"Here I am".
Unlike the telephone call, the email also tells you why it's here. It has a purpose - and it tells you about that purpose using a title, which you can see before you open it.
It also tells you who it is from. Your telephone can only do that if you have an advanced system and it recognises the caller. With email, you can see who sent it even before you open it.
And when you do open it, a whole world of information opens up before you. You don't have to ask any questions, all you need to do is read the content and respond to it.
Email is wonderful: It has power; it has simplicity; it has immediacy; it has information; you can access it anywhere; you can even respond to it automatically; it is a vital communication tool for business in the modern age.
So tell me. Why do hotels still struggle with the concept of responding to emails?
Last week I saw:
- An inbox containing unanswered enquiries dating back months.
- A spam filter folder containing bookings from an Online Travel Agent website (and yes, some of those bookings were for dates that had passed, and yes, the hotel had blamed the OTA website for not telling them about the booking and yes, the guest was not very happy...)
- an entire reception/reservations team who were supposed to use email, but didn't think it was their job (managers hadn't told them...)
Are you using email as a valuable tool in your business?
Your Business Email Audit
1. Does your email address have a domain name that reflects your business? (In other words, does the bit after "@" identify your business? - yourhotel@gmail.com isn't a good look and doesn't inspire confidence)
2. Do you have more than one email address for your business? (Modern web hosting companies offer superb email hosting feaures, the ability to have lots of email addresses is just one of them. For example enquiries@; booking@; manager@. etc)
3. Are all incoming mail boxes checked at least daily?
4. Are all incoming messages acknowledged? (this can be done automatically with a thing called an autoresponder)
5. Are all messages which demand a reply responded to on the day of receipt? (If this is a sales enquiry and you're not doing this, you're leaving the door open for a competitor who is...)
6. Do all your outgoing emails contain a "signature"?
7. Who is responsible for checking and answering email messages?
8. Does everyone in your business who uses email know what kinds of information they should not use in their emails? (for example, credit card numbers or passwords)
9. Do you use antispam software properly, so that messages can actually get through to you reliably? (some antispam software is set so that it can prevent messages from reaching you - have you checked it?)
10. Do you use antivirus software properly? (the free versions are for personal use and often place a note at the foot of each email - this note can tell your customers what a cheapskate you really are...)
11. Do you make sure you don't forward or send emails containing hundreds of other peoples email addresses? (You have a responsibility to be careful how you transmit your messages - we don't need to see the names and addresses of everyone on your contact list).
But even so, most businesses - especially hotels - would not dream of leaving the telephone unanswered. It might be a booking. You never know...
Email is a wonderful thing. With email, you DO know.
Email has all the immediacy of the telephone with none of the insistence. Email does not scream,
"Answer me NOW!!!" at you every second or so until you do so.
Instead, email arrives on your computer and says,
"Here I am".
Unlike the telephone call, the email also tells you why it's here. It has a purpose - and it tells you about that purpose using a title, which you can see before you open it.
It also tells you who it is from. Your telephone can only do that if you have an advanced system and it recognises the caller. With email, you can see who sent it even before you open it.
And when you do open it, a whole world of information opens up before you. You don't have to ask any questions, all you need to do is read the content and respond to it.
Email is wonderful: It has power; it has simplicity; it has immediacy; it has information; you can access it anywhere; you can even respond to it automatically; it is a vital communication tool for business in the modern age.
So tell me. Why do hotels still struggle with the concept of responding to emails?
Last week I saw:
- An inbox containing unanswered enquiries dating back months.
- A spam filter folder containing bookings from an Online Travel Agent website (and yes, some of those bookings were for dates that had passed, and yes, the hotel had blamed the OTA website for not telling them about the booking and yes, the guest was not very happy...)
- an entire reception/reservations team who were supposed to use email, but didn't think it was their job (managers hadn't told them...)
Are you using email as a valuable tool in your business?
Your Business Email Audit
1. Does your email address have a domain name that reflects your business? (In other words, does the bit after "@" identify your business? - yourhotel@gmail.com isn't a good look and doesn't inspire confidence)
2. Do you have more than one email address for your business? (Modern web hosting companies offer superb email hosting feaures, the ability to have lots of email addresses is just one of them. For example enquiries@; booking@; manager@. etc)
3. Are all incoming mail boxes checked at least daily?
4. Are all incoming messages acknowledged? (this can be done automatically with a thing called an autoresponder)
5. Are all messages which demand a reply responded to on the day of receipt? (If this is a sales enquiry and you're not doing this, you're leaving the door open for a competitor who is...)
6. Do all your outgoing emails contain a "signature"?
7. Who is responsible for checking and answering email messages?
8. Does everyone in your business who uses email know what kinds of information they should not use in their emails? (for example, credit card numbers or passwords)
9. Do you use antispam software properly, so that messages can actually get through to you reliably? (some antispam software is set so that it can prevent messages from reaching you - have you checked it?)
10. Do you use antivirus software properly? (the free versions are for personal use and often place a note at the foot of each email - this note can tell your customers what a cheapskate you really are...)
11. Do you make sure you don't forward or send emails containing hundreds of other peoples email addresses? (You have a responsibility to be careful how you transmit your messages - we don't need to see the names and addresses of everyone on your contact list).
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