First Contact Digital Responses DO Matter
In a very digital world, our interactions, particularly first contact ones, are more and more without a face to face approach. Even phone calls have been replaced with first contact emails, texts, or social media messaging. But, are these experiences positive?
Recently, we were actively assisting a client with obtaining an important new vendor. Much of the initial contact was via texting, private messaging, or email. The responses from the contacted firms were surprising. Since this would result in new business for the chosen vendor, we thought there would have been more excitement, more appreciation, and more positive responses than we received. In fact, a few responses were curt, and almost rude.
New business prospecting is an important aspect for any business owner, particularly small businesses. There are many ways to approach it, but whatever the chosen method, it should be positive and informative and helpful to the target profile. At a minimum, professionalism and respectful etiquette should govern the behavior.
In our efforts, we experienced everything from no response to a few word responses. We had several of these. In contrast, there were two (2) responses that stood out positively.
One firm responded that the did not offer the particular service we needed. The response began with a ‘Hello, thank you for reaching out to us.’ It was warm and welcoming, even though the message delivered was not what we hoped, but they were timely and considerate.
The second firm also responded with appreciation and positive gratitude for contacting them. They were excited about the opportunity to work with us and asked several questions, again, all positive.
In contrast, there were several firms that responded without salutations, and their responses were limited to ‘Yes’, ‘Not taking new clients’, or just ‘Not interested’. The most interesting commentary included days of the week the owner does not respond to clients or new clients due to the need for life/work balance. We appreciated the honesty but we’re just surprised at how limiting access to this business truly was. Nearly a week later, this business did not follow up the way they said they would post their ‘closed contact’ days.
Needless to say, we went with the positive response and excited business owner. The various responses really evoked many feelings from us, many not so positive. It did remind us that if we are ever in the position of electronically responding to new business inquiries, the response needs a friendly salutation, appreciation needs to be articulated for considering us, and a timely response, as soon as possible, makes a difference.
Many lessons were learned from this effort. We are hopeful the actual first service event goes as well as the contact has with our chosen provider.
Be well.
