Speaking Their Language
Here’s a quick example of customer focus that paid off 100% of the time within a 24-hour period. Did it lead to a higher success rate? Would we be blogging about it if it didn’t?
A colleague and I were having dinner one night and the topic of customer response rates came up. He employs a number of tools for inbound lead generation, but found that he wasn’t converting leads into prospects, or clients, at nearly the rate that he believed to be achievable.
Leads arrived at his office in the form of brief texts from potential clients and his team responded promptly with detailed e-mails that described such things as the deals being offered, how his firm could help, etc. He explained e-mails are the best way to deliver this information. Texting doesn’t accommodate thorough responses readily, and it’s important to demonstrate that his team is thorough.
Except, of course, that this proactive and thorough response was not generating a conversation with the prospects. He was paying to generate leads, but couldn’t entice enough of these potential customers to engage with his team.
Perhaps, I suggested, he was not speaking their language. If the leads were coming in via text, why was he responding with e-mails? Text is the preferred language of his client base, even if it is too clunky for all types of conversations. I agreed with my friend that e-mail is the superior option for delivering information, but I offered the idea that his first response should utilize the same technology as the initial inquiries.
The next day, he put that idea to the test. His firm received 17 inquiries via text and the team responded immediately, not with e-mails but with texts. Of the 17 leads, all 17 converted to clients.
In hindsight, this simple fix can seem obvious. In practice, we all miss some of the signals that customers are sending. At a minimum, we should make sure we’re speaking the same language.
About Michael Rosenbaum
Quadrant Five founder Michael Rosenbaum has walked the walk when it comes to building a business, so he can be a confidant and compatriot—not just an advisor—for clients. Rosenbaum worked his way up to president of a $35 million company with 300 people and 600 clients. Along the way, he managed operations, HR, IT, and marketing, and advised CEOS and CFOs at more than 200 companies.
Beginning as a newspaper reporter, he developed a specialization in business journalism and earned an MBA on his way to a 30-year consulting career. Representing both angel-backed startups and Fortune 100 giants, Rosenbaum identified the patterns and processes that drive success across a wide range of industries and business cycles.
He is well regarded for designing each performance-improvement process around specific client needs, capabilities, and culture, rather than pushing a pre-fab set of rules for clients to follow. He brings a unique set of skills to each engagement, including experiences as a company president, financial journalist, marketer, IR advisor, non-profit founder, author, and public speaker. Items of note include:
• Received the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in 2015 for non-profit work
• Honored for the Best Business Biography of 2012 for his fifth book, Six Tires, No Plan
• Frequent speaker on customer relationship value
• Sales instructor for Certified Value Growth Advisor certification program.
• Regional Communications Chair, YPO Gold
• Marketing Chair, AMAA’s Mid-Market Alliance
• Former Chicago Chapter Chair, National Association of Corporate Directors
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