Make It Easy for Me to Buy From You

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by Cheryl Strege October 22, 2009 11:53 AM

Categories: Business

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Last year I was working on a direct mail project for a client. Since the theme was tied to the movies, I had the job of ordering 3,000 boxes of DOTS (movie candy). I needed 3,000 boxes, by a certain date, delivered to a warehouse for assembly into the packaging. So I went straight to the web to find the manufacturer of DOTS. I was puzzled and a bit annoyed that I couldn’t contact them via their website with my inquiry. So I resorted to picking up the phone but that was also a problem. Although I called within “normal working hours”, I was forced to leave a message. Then I waited. And waited. I had clearly identified myself as a customer wanting to place an order. After a couple of days I received a call back from someone clearly not in the sales department. This person was a bit irritated to have to talk to a prospect (me), and upon explaining my request, she gave me a phone number for a district sales person in another state. So I called that person, and again had to leave a message that I wanted 3,000 boxes of candy. Then I waited. And waited. When I did get a call from the district sales person, he referred to me a supplier in another state. So once again, I had to call someone else. Now wouldn’t you think at some point, someone at the Tootsie Roll company would have just said “Let me get Bob at the distribution company to give you a call and we’ll take care of everything…”? If I hadn’t specifically needed DOTS for the mailing, I would have given up and bought something else from someone else. Lesson learned: Prospects don’t have time to work through your processes to place an order. If necessary, “break” the process and just take care of the customer. In the long run they’ll remember your ability to help them in a reasonable amount of time, and you’ll establish yourself as the company that has the best interests of the customer at heart. For more marketing ideas from The Partner Marketing Group, check out the Consultants' Corner at http://www.thepartnermarketinggroup.com/consultants-corner.php and subscribe to our newsletter.

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