On short notice I convinced my Mom to come to NC for Christmas. I arranged her flight and then needed to set up transportation to get her to the airport from her home. I went online and saw many car services in her area. I emailed three of them for a quote. This was on Saturday Dec 20th. I didn’t hear from any of them over the weekend. Not a big deal but the internet is a 24/7 thing so I was a bit surprised. Finally, on Monday afternoon ONE of the firms replied to my email. I wrote back and by Tuesday AM (Dec 23) I still had only heard from that one company. In addition to my initial quote to get Mom to the airport, I added on the pickup when she got back home. Easy money for the guy who responded to my inquiry.

I sometimes joke that my business is successful because I return phone calls. I not only return them, I return them quickly. I love booking business. It not only means I make some money, it means I get to speak, which I love to do. I am often greeted with surprise when I respond quickly to an inquiry. I like that.

I contacted 3 car services, 1 replied. He got the work. Better yet, he did a fine job and all went well with Mom. Thanks, Robert, at Colonial Transportation (631-589-3500) on Long Island for being a good businesman.

When a customer or potential customer makes an inquiry of you how do you respond? I know what you think the answer is and what you want the answer to be but what is it really?

Want to be more successful in business? Answer the phone (or email) when someone calls.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 1:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.