I’m an idiot. I tend to leave things to the last minute. So it should come as no surprise that I’m getting on a plane to speak in Fiji tomorrow & don’t have any business cards to take with me to the conference! Told you – idiot!
So I do what any normal Aussie does in this situation: call in a favour & jump on Google.
The favour was to an excellent graphic designer (if you need a website designed, artwork done etc let me know & I’ll put you in touch with Karl – he doesn’t want me to link to him here).
Google was to find a 24 hour business card printing service. What follows are two examples of how to sell & how not to sell online. And once again the winner is the little business not the big corporate.
I know there’s a Kinkos around the corner from me, so I jump on there site & fill in the online quote form. It’s not specific to a store – but I figure with my postcode they can figure it out.
Imagine my surprise when I get this email back:
I am currently on annual leave from the 22 – 25th of August, please leave me an email & i’ll get back to you.
Quote requests have been redirected to Leonie to distribute to sales rep.
Thank you
Sendy
I kid you not. When Sendy goes on holiday, all online quoting appears to stop! Unbelievable. But true.
A better way to get customers:
Now compare that to the guys at ePlot
- instant online quote – that changes as I change my specification. Transparency wins online!
- a local address & phone number that gives me the assurance I need that I can walk around the corner & see them if I have to – or in my case cycle round there tonight to pick up my finished cards!
- quick & easy upload of artwork (thanks again Karl!)
- quick & easy payment. OK so PayPal was the only option, but at least it was an option (see Yaro’s take on PayPal here)
The lesson? Make it easy for your prospects to start the process – and make sure the process works all the way through to delivery. Oh & maybe a vacation autoresponder isn’t the best method to use (anyone at FedEx Kinkos reading this – feel free to get in touch & we’ll talk about how we can help ;)
Sendy – I hope you had a great vacation.. there’s probably a fair bit of email awaiting your return!
