| In today's world it seems as if everybody is | | | | did not happen but at least we had a better |
| on the phone, mostly cell, almost all day | | | | car rental company reputation. |
| long. I would suspect that most of these | | | | |
| calls are social and in some rare instances | | | | Whether I owned the business or worked in the |
| business calls but I can assure you that very | | | | corporate world returning phone calls was |
| few of them are vendors or suppliers | | | | good business. It was an excellent way of |
| returning your call. This article does not | | | | retaining business that you worked hard to |
| deal with social calls nor sales calls | | | | obtain. In retrospect this practice improved |
| soliciting business. I will discuss the | | | | my standard of living. |
| unpleasant task of returning a customer's | | | | |
| phone call that you suspect might be a | | | | Since I return phone calls I can only guess |
| serious problem. | | | | why others don't do the same. I imagine it is |
| | | | because aggravation is implied. Perhaps even |
| First a few examples and please keep in mind | | | | the fear of loosing the account. I would |
| that if you called me you would either speak | | | | estimate that about 50% of the time there is |
| to me or I would return your call if I was | | | | a problem. And the other half of the time is |
| unavailable. Returning from lunch one day I | | | | additional business opportunities. Responding |
| had a call from a very significant Canadian | | | | promptly to the problems only encourages the |
| charter operator. After exchanging amenities | | | | continued support of the customer. On a very |
| I ask how can I help her. Her question, "We | | | | rare occasion the phone was used by my |
| had a few problems this past Christmas and I | | | | customer to terminate the business. It never |
| am wondering if we are going to have any more | | | | dawned on me when I was returning a call that |
| problems this winter?" | | | | there was the possibility that I would loose |
| | | | the business. And the rare time I lost the |
| With their tremendous volume of business the | | | | business at least I was on the phone and had |
| answer was obvious, "Of course we'll have | | | | an opportunity of attempting to save the |
| problems. Look Joanne, no one calls me to | | | | business. |
| give me business so when I have a message it | | | | |
| usually means that there is either a question | | | | When I was in the office I always answered |
| or a problem. I did return your call and I | | | | and never fielded my calls. If I was |
| will do the same in the future to resolve any | | | | available I took the call. If I was on the |
| problem." The customer needs to know and you | | | | phone or not available a message was taken. I |
| have proved it, that you will be there to | | | | returned the call immediately upon receipt of |
| service their business. | | | | the message. People who were not familiar |
| | | | with my habit were surprised by the |
| On another occasion I am told that Uri called | | | | promptness of the returned call. I know |
| and he was very angry. Uri was a secular | | | | because they told me so. |
| Israeli working in the tour department for a | | | | |
| now defunct airline. He answered my call with | | | | When I was out of town on business, usually |
| his last name and in a deep monotone I said, | | | | for a week at a time, I would check my office |
| "This is the Messiah." With spontaneous | | | | for messages daily. It was a slow day if I |
| humor Uri remained calm and I pleasantly | | | | only had two messages and the count averaged |
| resolved his concern. | | | | about five messages. I always made it a habit |
| | | | to return the call that I thought was the |
| As a testament for the importance of | | | | biggest problem first. After this call was |
| returning calls I'll mention a visit to a | | | | concluded the rest of the calls were down |
| major mid-western tour operator. He had four | | | | hill. |
| programs and Alamo served only one of these. | | | | |
| It was an Orlando package with airfare, hotel | | | | In summary this is not a sales primer. It is |
| and our car rental. After the preliminary | | | | intended to stress the importance of |
| "how's business" he said, "All of you car | | | | returning phone calls. You will be miles |
| rental companies are garbage [descriptive | | | | ahead of your competition and this is |
| substitute word] but you are the only one | | | | certainly a consideration when a prospective |
| that returns phone calls." That was good news | | | | customer compares you with your competition. |
| and an opportunity for me to say, "Then you | | | | While at Alamo, an up and comer asked me the |
| can include Alamo in your other three | | | | secret of my success. I told him. "There is |
| programs, put me first on your speed dial and | | | | no secret. Just do two things. See enough |
| call me every day." The bad news was that it | | | | people and return phone calls. |