Imagine you get a call from an angry customer explaining that the Fire or Security product you sold them has malfunctioned in some way. You send an engineer to fix it. Sorted.
But what happens if the same customer rings back with the same problem?
It might not happen often but, if it does, that customer is going to be understandably frustrated.
And how much worse when the call handler has no recollection of the previous incident. They might be a different employee or they may have dealt with hundreds of enquiries since the last incident. It’s not surprising if the caller gets even more annoyed.
It doesn’t look good.
Even though it stands for customer relationship management, many Fire and Security companies don’t understand what a CRM does. They think it’s just a ‘job management’ tool. Not a way to give their existing customers a fabulous experience that will make them recommend you to their friends.
Improve your customer service with a CRM
A good small business CRM allows you to record calls from new leads AND any problems that existing customers might be having. A CRM gives you a place on each contact card to take notes about your conversation. So any employee can read through them and know the customer’s past history and current situation.
The customer then doesn’t have to keep repeating the problem and quickly learns that your Fire and Security company really does care!
The engineer you send round can also read through the notes so they understand the customer’s problem before they even set foot in the house or premises.
The conversation your employee has can be built around the customer’s previous experiences. This means a personalised approach to conflict resolution that clearly demonstrates how much your company values its customers.
It’s not just about existing customers
What about the leads you have that are calling you for a bit more information about your products or services?
The same process for recording these interactions can do wonders for your sales team and the experience your leads have when communicating with your business.
Here’s an example of how this can stop you from looking… well, stupid:
Imagine you’re selling Fire & Security systems.
One of your top leads visits your website. They want some information about your commercial fire alarms, so they fill out a contact form asking you if you can fit a system for a 12 storey building.
Your office staff receive this and call the lead to say that this won’t be a problem. The lead thanks your employee and says he’ll have a think about it and call back.
Great, matter resolved! The employee makes a note of the call on a spreadsheet and thinks no more of it.
Except, one of your sales team also got the same email that your office staff did and doesn’t have access to the note on the spreadsheet.
So, 10 minutes after putting down the phone to your office staff, this lead gets another call about the enquiry from sales. It makes your business looks unorganised and your chances of closing that lead into a customer are significantly reduced…
In this situation, an online Customer Relationship Management tool could have prevented your employees from pestering a potential customer.
When your CRM doesn’t work
Sadly, any CRM or Job Management tool is only as good as the information being put in.
Crap in, crap out… as they say.
The best way to CLOSE Fire and Security Leads
Lollipop specialise in helping Fire and Security companies to generate more leads AND TO CLOSE THEM!
We have some powerful new approaches and tools which make a huge difference to companies whose sales teams have a poor close rate. Read more about sales acceleration training here
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