How many times have we heard that one . . . and nothing follows? I know my reaction when I don’t get a timely follow-up is to take my business elsewhere. But I’ve never really thought about the cost to that business that my reaction would mean. Not, that is, until my favorite blogger, speaker and audiobooks author, Seth Godin, (www.sethgodin.com) recently wrote in his daily blog “Your call is important to us.”
So, if you’ve never stopped to ponder the real costs to your dealership when there’s a failure to have a fast follow-up culture by team member, no one will wake you to it better than Godin. Here’s how he put it:
The true cost of customer response
“Your call is very important to us.”
If you hear that, it means someone is not just lying, but also isn’t good at arithmetic.
Your company spends $6 on digital ads to get a click, and one in a hundred clicks leads to an inquiry. Which means that every inquiry sitting in the queue cost you $600. Inquiries are a bit like cronuts, in that they go stale quickly. Waiting an extra day to get back to just one person probably costs you more than the entire day’s salary of a customer service salesperson.
Your company spends $2,000 a day on rent for its showroom. And you paid that rent (along with all of those ads) for a month before John walks into the store. The uninterested, undertrained, under-compensated salesperson is finishing up a personal call, John gets bored and leaves. That (non) interaction cost you $20,000.
Jon, the reservationist, is overwhelmed by incoming calls, and he’s snippy when a regular calls for a table this Saturday night. So the patron, rebuffed and feeling disrespected, goes to a different restaurant, loves it, and never returns. Let’s see–10 business dinners a year at $200 including tip and wine – you can do the math.
“You can do the math,” while true, is rarely followed up by, “I did the math.”
CATAWBA ISLAND SHOW OPENING
The Progressive Catawba Island Boat & Yacht Show opens tomorrow for 3 days on Lake Erie at the exclusive Catawba Island Club in Port Clinton, Ohio.
Marking its 15 year, the show will boast more than 125 power and sailboats, nearly all shown in-the-water and available for sea trials, as well as dozens of accessory, service and marina exhibits that ring the picturesque marine basin.
Over the years this show has become widely known as the kick-off party for the opening of boating season in northern Ohio. “It’s as much a celebration of ice-out as it is the display of many new models our dealers have received since our winter show or that were simply too large to truck indoors in January,” explains Michelle Burke, president of the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association that produces the show.
Daily live music on the Entertainment Deck overlooking the show, plus special wine-tasting events and craft beer parties that benefit the Lake Erie Foundation, add to the upbeat atmosphere of the show. It is the only weekend each year the public has access the club and marina adding to its attraction.
