From the CEO - That’s just rude! (Or is it just life?)
I recently went to a trade show and so many of you came up to me to thank us for our service. First, thank you! We love the comments and suggestions, so please keep them coming. There were also a few specialists that came up to me to say they’re disappointed to see that some consumers don’t always get back in touch with them after they’ve given them a quotation. I understand and appreciate how you feel. We do our best to regularly tell consumers to get back in touch with you, even if they’ve decided to book with one of the other travel specialists. Since you asked for it, we are also adding text to all email communication to the consumers. But I’ve been thinking about this and I do have some personal experience with something similar.
A couple of months ago I went shopping for a car (okay, a minivan to accommodate my growing family). I went to eight (yes, eight) dealerships. Eight car sales people did a lot of work to get me quotes and to earn my business. The one that got my business was not only the most knowledgeable but polite, friendly, timely and honestly, a tinge pushy. He had kids and didn’t spend much time on features of the car but the value of the features with real-life examples. He got my business. The other seven? They didn’t even get a phone call. I’m sorry, I know it was rude, but I’m busy. The few that managed to get me on the phone or into my email box did get a “Thanks but no thanks” communication from me but honestly, that’s about it. I really did appreciate their time, but I’ve got a 20-month old and a 2-month old. I’ve got a long commute to a job that’s taking a lot of my time. I’m tired. I’m busy. That’s life.
An interesting point is that our other car lease is up for renewal in a couple of months. One of the seven sales people that didn’t get my original business sent me a “special offer” on another vehicle and is likely getting my business the next time around. Why? Because she sent me an offer that is timely (she had asked about my other vehicles the first time we spoke and wrote it down) and packed with value-added options. The other six? I haven’t heard anything from them. They gave up on me so I’m giving up on them. Having said all this, we HAVE made improvements to remind consumers they should let you know if they booked someplace else or have changed their mind. We’re doing what we can. Do I expect every consumer to start sending notes to agents now saying how much they value your time and appreciate all the hard work and tireless hours you put into their quote? No. I would ask you; did walk-in customers do that for you? Not as far as I can remember. Online customers are no different. Also, for what it’s worth, when I owned Zeus Tours, we were sending hundreds of quotations a day. We only worked with travel agents. I don’t remember many calls from travel agents advising us “The Smiths have decided not to travel, but hey, thanks so much for all the time you put into the quotation.” I knew that we gave the quote to you, the agent, and you either got the business or didn’t and you either booked with Zeus or another company. If you didn’t get back to us, you were busy. We would do our best to reach out to you but that’s all we could do. That’s business. It was up to us to A) help you get the business and B) earn your business.
Moral of the story? Don’t take things personally. Be politely persistent. Don’t give up. Think outside the box. Try new things. When you get a lead, follow up. Follow up again. When you’re done with that? Yep, follow up again. How do you feel about this topic?
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8 Responses to “From the CEO - That’s just rude! (Or is it just life?)”
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We have to agree with you that people are busy and often do not have the time to thank you for your time. As to the poll, we are in the middle on this. As we are a non-US company, if people don’t book with us, it is highly unlike they will be a client in the future. China is more-often-than not a once-in-a-lifetime destination. We do, however, follow-up a quote with another email asking if they need any further information or assistance. The Internet is a cold place, unlike the store-front building of the past. We want our potential clients to feel we are human, so we do reach out to them in that way. We understand they decided to use a different company. We just doubt that we can market to them in the future.
It is not a big deal
Some do
Some dont
owell, NEXT…
If you are a professional, you understand sometimes it is the way the cards fall when they don’t get back to you - even after you’ve listened carefully to what they were looking for and tried hard to fill their need. Sure it can be frustrating -
And if you have integrity, you will make sure that all clients receive excellent service from you - every time. And never waste your precious energy dwelling. Wish them your sincere best wishes in your final contact attempts. It’s the right thing to do. Besides - what goes around, comes around.
PS - Hi John - Congrats on this new gig -I’m happy to give it a whirl! (Gina formerly from Liberty Travel in Boston)
You try to do the best you can. Yes, being politely persistent is a good way to put it when trying to communicate with prospective clinets.
I often send a “wish you well” message when I do not get a sale and move on to the next client waiting in the wings.
I am convinced that personal contact is very important. If they do not take what you offer this time around, make them want to return to you for further travel planning.
Hello John,
You’re right on, it’s business, not personal and we need to do our best, then move on. Thanks for your comments.
One thing I have learned from my Tripology experience though is that when I contact an agency for a quote for a client, I get back to that agency if the client doesn’t want the trip. Even though I’m busy I no longer ignore the folks who took time to send quotes. Until I started using Tripology I didn’t realize how important it is to get feedback on quotes for clients.
We may have a different mindset because the lead cost us not just research time, but actual money and we want value for that money.
We are giving out offers all the time — and we follow up of course by phone and by email. And that is how we know that they don’t want it. But it’s also how we find out what they WOULD want. We are delighted to get new people who know about our great deluxe rail journeys, our wonderful, award-winning magazine and our fabulous service. Once they know about us, they tend to want to buy from us, if not this time, then next time. And then they tend to be lifelong clients. Many are friends. Selling “fun” is really fun. But I agree with you — don’t waste time whining! Get on to the next great client and journey. Sincerely, Eleanor Hardy, President, The Society of International Railway Travelers
yep, I’m always up for the challenge. I’m new to the industry so hope to combine some PR skills and internet savvy to not only wins customers but repeat ones.
I realize it is just life and people are not as socially schooled as we were in the “good old days” but, it is rude. After all they are not getting inundated with responses it is just 3 agents, and Tripology makes it easy to respond, just a click and a no thanks will come back to the agent.
I face the same situation in my other service business, everyone has a cell phone these days, but do you think they can call and cancel an appointment? I am left sitting after turning down other appointment requests more often then I like to think of.
The internet has bread a society of faceless people that feel it is ok to just ignore anything they do not want to deal with. It is rude, yes, can we change that I sincerely doubt it. As professionals we understand but, we do not have to like it.
I love Tripology, I have refined my search and bid process along with my follow up and after a very few months am getting a good response from my leads.
I do applude the service and product that Tripology has offered and am sure that they will continue to refine the process to help all of us grow our business.