Seriously. You are losing business by not picking up your phone. It blows my mind the amount of people that are willing to spend an entire day optimizing their website so it loads a half second faster to try to lower their bounce rate, but avoid picking up the phone when a client or potential client is calling.
I get it – we live in a text/IM/email world now and very few people actually pick up the phone to call someone anymore. Heck, I rarely call a store to ask for their business hours, instead I’ll spend 5 minutes trying to navigate their crappy website to find if they are open or not. It’s not the most convenient thing, but it gets me out of making a phone call, right?
If you run any sort of business you should be so pumped when the phone rings. Phone calls = money. I’ve worked with companies that have paid me per phone call that I can generate from their website – do you know how pissed I’d be if they weren’t picking up their cell because they didn’t recognize the number? Many business owners get this, but there are a surprising number of them that don’t. Know how I know? I used to be one of them.
Why people don’t answer their phones
You’ve been there. Looking down at your caller ID and wondering, who the heck is that? Or thinking, I really don’t want to talk to them right now. I bet there are few people who haven’t experienced that on multiple occasions.
It’s my opinion that for the most part people don’t answer their phones because they are afraid. What if it’s an unwanted phone call? What if it’s an awkward phone call? What if I don’t have the solution? What if they yell at me? Who cares, answer your phone. I’m willing to bet that 99% of the time it’s a great conversation.
Don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from answering your phone and making more money.
You don’t have to waste the day on the phone, just pick it up
I’m not saying spend the entire day on the phone – there are definitely more effective and efficient ways of getting things done. A prime example of this happens to me and my business quite often. We don’t typically offer tech support via the phone. That is, we don’t breath in your ear while we fix your issue and give you second-by-second updates of what we’re doing. It’s way more efficient for us to handle support via email whenever possible. That said, we answer the call, take the info and follow up when the issue or request is fixed or completed.
If you want to be successful, answer your phone. It’s that simple.
Every phone call is a potential sale. It’s an opportunity to connect with someone again, to touch base, schedule a meeting or cup of coffee to catch up. It’s a chance to strengthen a relationship or start a new one. Every phone call is more money in your pocket – stop throwing it away.
I remember my phone ringing on a Friday evening while I was waiting to board a plane to go to Toronto back in March. I didn’t recognize the number (or the area code for that matter), was two beer in at the airport bar, and had every reason not to answer. I picked it up and talked for 6 minutes and I’ve been earning $30 per month from that person since March. Six minutes, and two quick check-up emails for $240, so far.
If you don’t answer your phone, I’m going to call someone else and they will. Then I’ll be doing business with them instead of you.
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