My wife and I are In the middle of purchasing a new home. Since we had to arrange for insurance coverage on the house, I thought this would be a good time to re-evaluate our auto policy. About three weeks ago I called four local agents, including our current agent, for quotes and completed an on-line questionnaire to see if quotes from agents who compete for business generated by an internet site would be more competitive.
I completed the on-line questionnaire on a Thursday and almost as soon as I submitted it I received calls from two agents—one local, the other out of Austin. I didn’t receive any other calls from the on-line form until Tuesday of the following week when I received one. I was contacted by another insurance agent on Wednesday and then two more on Thursday—fully a week after submitting the questionnaire. They were way too late as I had decided by Tuesday to stay with my current insurance company.
But the calls from agents haven’t stopped.
I received calls from nine agents the following week and by seven more agents the third week.
To date, I’ve received calls from 22 agents–which should have given me every opportunity to acquire the best policy/rate combination possible. Except only two agents responded to my inquiry in a timely manner. Twenty agents or marketing departments had no sense of urgency in following up with my inquiry and consequently had no chance of acquiring my business.
Only two out of twenty-two agents had a strong enough desire to make a sale that they found a way to contact me quickly. That’s pathetic.
But that’s hardly the only case of lethargy I’ve encountered lately.
We’re getting the carpets cleaned in our current residence when we move. As with insurance, I called multiple carpet cleaning companies to get quotes. I called six companies on a Tuesday and immediately spoke to one and had my voice mail returned the same day by another. Another company called me Wednesday. I heard from the fourth on Friday and the fifth the following Tuesday. I have yet to hear from the sixth company. I had made my mind up by Wednesday afternoon on which company to hire. Fully 50% of the companies I called never had a chance to get the business because they did not respond quickly enough to be in the running.
Should I give a third or even fourth example? I experienced the same issues hiring a home inspector and trying to arrange for a paint contractor. In both cases over 50% of the companies I contacted either have not responded or responded after I had hired one of their competitors.
In all four cases I believe I’ve acted as most consumers would—I made the inquiry and made my decision within two to five days. Those who reacted promptly competed for my business; those who either because of a lack of a sense of urgency or because their marketing department or sales manager didn’t get them the lead in a timely manner lost the opportunity to make a sale and squandered their marketing dollars.
A quality lead has a very short shelf-life—whether we’re talking about the retail situations above or a long sales cycle, sophisticated product or service. Someone–you or your company–has paid good money to get the phone to ring, to get a lead card mailed back, or get a form filled out on the internet. Every minute you wait to contact a prospect is a minute you’re giving the competition to close the deal before you even get there.
If leads come to you directly, discipline yourself to respond to them immediately. If they come through your sales manager or marketing department and you know that they are slow to distribute them, light a fire under their butts.
There is simply no excuse to lose sales because a lead wasn’t contacted in a timely manner; nevertheless, there are a large number of sellers and companies who have no sense of urgency, giving those who are quick to respond a significant—and likely decisive–advantage.
What about you? Where is your sense of urgency?
Paul,
I don’t get it Paul. I can add stories ranging from furniture purchases to (and fasten your seat belt) a sales training guru failing to get back to me for help training my sales force of 650! Talk about failing to practice what they preach.
And to think we are all selling in what experts call a “crappy economy”
Go figure!
Thanks for the fantastic article Paul!
Respectfully,
Paul Castain
Comment by Paul Castain — May 12, 2010 @ 1:14 pm |
Paul,
Ouch, a sales trainer, that’s bad (although I must confess that I’m not without sin myself). Like you, I just can’t understand why sellers and companies are so slow in responding–based on what thy’re telling me in the field, it isn’t like they have anything else to do.
Paul
Comment by Paul McCord — May 12, 2010 @ 2:53 pm |
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Paul,
You situation is all too common. I experienced the same thing when I was looking for a hotel room to book a training seminar. I contacted 4 hotels and only two of them got back to me quickly.
There are so many sales opportunities out there..if only people realized that timeliness is critical.
Cheers!
Kelley
Comment by Kelley Robertson — May 12, 2010 @ 5:28 pm |
Paul,
This is a wake up call for every company (even those of us who think we do well in this regard).
I forwarded this to each of my sales and marketing teams it was so good.
Thanks for the metaphorical punch in the face – we all need one every now and again.
Dan
Comment by Dan Collins — May 12, 2010 @ 5:38 pm |
Kelley,
Funny you mention hotels as my experience has been that the sales departments of hotels are among the worst offenders. And you’re right, despite the poor economy, there are opportunities out there and we can’t afford to waste a single one.
Dan,
Thank you for your very kind words. I hope your teams take the gentle punch for what its intended purpose–to remind all of us of the competitive advantage we have by simply responding quickly to leads. We strive hard to differentiate as we should–but sometimes all it takes is a sense of urgency.
Paul
Comment by Paul McCord — May 12, 2010 @ 6:21 pm |
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Great article, Paul.
I’m curious as to when (if) your existing agent got back to you.
I recently had a similar situation, except my agent NEVER got back to me (despite several urgent voice messages from me)… until they got the cancelation notice. Then they had the nerve to say that they were upset that I left them, as they were having trouble keeping clients in this economy!!!
Lack of urgency is not an issue when we, as sales professionals, focus on the potential client instead of ourselves.
Comment by John Patrick, Profit Doctor — May 13, 2010 @ 10:20 am |
I called my agent late on the Thursday I filled out the on-line form. He connected with me the next morning and had a comprehenisve proposal on both the house, including a roof inspection, and autos on Monday morning. I wouldn’t say he was quick–but he was timely.
Paul
Comment by Paul McCord — May 13, 2010 @ 10:35 am |
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Hi Paul,
Solid article, One thing that should be pointed out is that many online lead companies sell and Re-Sell their leads. So unfortunatley when the agent gets the lead many times they are expecting it to be fresh when in reality it is old.
Speaking as a Health Insurance agent of 7 years, I can say that anyone who buys online leads should ask whenever possible exactly when the person put in the request. This way they can judge whether or not they are getting out of date leads.
Also for the consumer who is barraged by many “late calls” one way to elimintae the time taken by these is to do this:
temporarily use this voicemail message: “Hi this is Bob, for personal calls please leave a message, if you are calling about the (Whatever Product or service) quote, I made the inital inqury on (Date) and have already taken care of this need and have no further interest in additional quotes. thank you”
Not only will that eliminate the annoyance of repeatedly discussing the situation, but maybe late comers will learn to act more quickly, and those who paid for leads that were supposed to be fresh can make a legitimate argument to recieve a refund from their leads comapny before dropping them.
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