There you sit.  You’ve got credit card in hand, visions of a new widget burning in your mind, and you can’t get anyone to answer the phone at the store where you’re trying to place your order.  Are you a bit annoyed?  Frustrated?  Downright angry?  Are you considering calling another store – or even forgetting the purchase altogether?

That’s how your customers feel when they call your business and don’t get an answer.

So, what do you do?

I’m glad you asked.  Let me share this story from a friend of mine who is a marketing consultant and then you decide.

A few months back a large auto parts company hired my friend to help them build sales in the weakening economy.  On his first visit to the flagship store, the general manager gave him the grand tour.  He showed my friend the neatly arranged shelves stacked with every part an ailing auto could ever need.  He introduced his “spit and polished” and highly trained staff.  And he proudly announced that he ran the best store in the company.

While my friend listened to the rather lengthy presentation, he said he couldn’t help but notice that the phone rang incessantly. In some cases, it would finally be answered after over a half-dozen rings.  Other times it would just stop ringing before anyone got to it.

At the end of the tour, my friend told the general manager that he would be providing a list of recommendations to the corporate office after visiting other stores.  But, he suggested that in the meantime, the general manager should have his staff answer all phone calls before the fourth ring.

After thirty days, my friend stopped by to see the general manager and asked how sales were going.  He was told that, as suggested, the staff had begun answering the phone before the fourth ring – and that the store had just had the best sales month in its history!

Now, I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that it’s worth a bit more effort to answer the phones if it can produce sales like that.  So take a look at your business.  If your staff is too busy to answer the phone, then hire someone to do it.  It’ll make all the difference to your sales numbers.  And, it’ll make your bottom line very happy.