Jun
18
My old business mentor (rest his soul) used to say to me,
"Businesses only get themselves into trouble when times are good - they only notice they're in trouble when times are bad."
He reckoned that when times were good, managers would invest in things to show off just how good they were - new cars, corporate jets, that sort of thing.
When times become bad, all of a sudden the corporate jet doesn't seem like quite such a good idea.
"But you want to know the biggest problem when times are bad Al?" He said to me one day...
"Businesses only get themselves into trouble when times are good - they only notice they're in trouble when times are bad."
He reckoned that when times were good, managers would invest in things to show off just how good they were - new cars, corporate jets, that sort of thing.
When times become bad, all of a sudden the corporate jet doesn't seem like quite such a good idea.
"But you want to know the biggest problem when times are bad Al?" He said to me one day...
"The biggest problem", he said,
"Is where people look for salvation"
When times are bad, everyone looks at the business for salvation. They slash payroll, cut costs and question the marketing budget. Some halfwits even cut the marketing budget and cut selling prices at the same time.
Very few businesses take the time to look at the customer.
What does the customer want? How much will they pay for it? Can we provide it? Can we persuade them to buy it from us?
Or even more simply - can we respond to enquiries in a coherent manner? What are we like to deal with?
Take a look at your business as though you were a customer: What happens when the phone rings?; how well do you tackle pre-sales questions?; how easy are you to find or contact?
In these tricky economic times, salvation is more often to be found in your customers than it is inside your business. After all, customers are the ones with the money.
--
I'll tell you why I've written this today. I've been trying to place a booking for a service. Having shopped around a bit, I reckon £500 is a reasonable price to pay. It's not the cheapest, but the cheapest looked rubbish. I looked on the company website. Lots of information about how cool and clever they are - no bloody phone number. The enquiry form promises a response within 24 hours. No good to me - I want to place my order NOW.
Eventually I found the telephone number on the website, but I had to hunt for it.
I dialled the number and got one of these automated response systems where you need to listen to the options and press the appropriate number. None of the options were relevant to the product I wanted, but instead of going through to any phone so my call could be answered, they system just sat there, waiting for me to press a button. So I had to call again to hear the irrelevant options so I could learn a number to press to talk to someone about the service they know nothing about.
Sure enough,
"The person who deals with that isn't in today".
...maybe he's been laid off.
"Is where people look for salvation"
When times are bad, everyone looks at the business for salvation. They slash payroll, cut costs and question the marketing budget. Some halfwits even cut the marketing budget and cut selling prices at the same time.
Very few businesses take the time to look at the customer.
What does the customer want? How much will they pay for it? Can we provide it? Can we persuade them to buy it from us?
Or even more simply - can we respond to enquiries in a coherent manner? What are we like to deal with?
Take a look at your business as though you were a customer: What happens when the phone rings?; how well do you tackle pre-sales questions?; how easy are you to find or contact?
In these tricky economic times, salvation is more often to be found in your customers than it is inside your business. After all, customers are the ones with the money.
--
I'll tell you why I've written this today. I've been trying to place a booking for a service. Having shopped around a bit, I reckon £500 is a reasonable price to pay. It's not the cheapest, but the cheapest looked rubbish. I looked on the company website. Lots of information about how cool and clever they are - no bloody phone number. The enquiry form promises a response within 24 hours. No good to me - I want to place my order NOW.
Eventually I found the telephone number on the website, but I had to hunt for it.
I dialled the number and got one of these automated response systems where you need to listen to the options and press the appropriate number. None of the options were relevant to the product I wanted, but instead of going through to any phone so my call could be answered, they system just sat there, waiting for me to press a button. So I had to call again to hear the irrelevant options so I could learn a number to press to talk to someone about the service they know nothing about.
Sure enough,
"The person who deals with that isn't in today".
...maybe he's been laid off.
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