Section 4.4: Communication: Booking and Information
Even when a customer is booking an activity several months in advance you must consider
the prior information and the booking of the activity as the first and sometimes
the most important part of it. There are several mistakes that can frighten away
you customers or can make you start with the wrong foot.
- Not answering your customer's enquiries: the internet protocol states that a
business e-mail shall be responded the next working day at the latest. This is true
for all your correspondence with customers, whether it is in the form of e-mail,
letters or telephone calls. Unanswered phone calls can make you lose a large percentage
of customers, as it is proved that most of the times when there is no reply, people
make another phone call to a different provider. If you want your business to be
professional you will need an all day working phone number or at least an answering
service that will record the potential customer's enquiries and allow you to
answer back in the shortest time possible. An important fact to remember is that
many people feel uncomfortable when leaving messages to answering services, so try
to recur to that as the last resource and leave a welcoming, clear and warm message
that will invite your customers make their enquiries.
- Not providing clear or enough information: when the customers are enquiring about
your services, they will need clear information and many times they will ask precisely
for what they want. Vague and muddled information or signs of doubt will make your
customers distract from you.
- Not confirming a booking: after you have received a booking, check back all the
details with your customer. Whenever possible, write them down and send them back
to your customer for approval. Oral communication is very tricky and many mistakes
can be avoided by the simple gesture of writing a confirmation e-mail and having
it answered by your customer.
- Not providing honest information: honest information means all the relevant information
without overvaluing. Customers respect honesty and feel cheated when they sense
they have been lied to. Lying to customers or not telling them the whole truth can
never be an option.
