Rapid Response Requested

In our last exciting episode of Stampless MAILbytes, we discussed how a speedy response to a customer’s email inquiry can send a powerful non-verbal message to the customer. But sometimes it takes a real-life, personal experience to drive the point home.

So this time, I’ll prove it to you…with my own bank account as evidence.

Last week, my wife was browsing through the Bed, Bath & Beyond web site. She had a question on a product she was interested in, so she sent them a quick email.

Within 4 minutes, she received a response.

Pleasantly surprised and truly impressed, she emailed a follow-up question. Three minutes later, poof, up popped the response. Knowing that I’d be interested, my wife forwarded me the exchange. She does a fair amount of shopping online, but never had she experienced such a high level of quality online customer service.

To be honest, I’m really not sure if this rapid response prompted her to actually buy that particular product. But boy – it sure left her feeling really darn good about Bed, Bath & Beyond. And as a result, I’m really scared to see what my credit card bill will look like next month…

The Internet is a big place. Email goes unanswered much more than it should. So, in the mind of a potential customer, a quick…no…immediate response goes a very long way.

In new home sales, we speak quite a bit about maintaining an upscale image for our homes and companies as a whole. We make sure our Sales Centers are clean and neat. We double-check our models to ensure all light bulbs are working properly. We’re careful to portray a “classy” image from the moment a customer drives into a community.

All of this to impress our potential customer every step of the way.

But now you have the chance to do even better. Show ‘em what your company stands for right off the bat, before they come to visit. My wife was truly “wowed” by the service she received from BB&B. She’s even told her friends about it. Wouldn’t you like to delight your customers the same way…long before they visit you in person?

A Failure To Communicate?

Remember the “Seinfeld” episode about the “close talker”?

In the episode, Elaine’s new boyfriend (played by Judge Reinhold) had a tendency to stand WAY too close to people when speaking with them. Of course, his weird behavior made everyone feel uncomfortable, and hilarity ensued. It was episode #82, in case you care.

Have you ever stopped to think about the important role of nonverbal communication in our everyday conversations? You know – gestures, facial expressions, “close talking,” physical appearance, etc. Whether we realize it or not, we often make judgments about people based not only on the words they say, but also on the “supplemental” information provided via non-verbal communication.

OK, so you probably knew that already. But when you speak to another person, I’ll bet you never realized just how important nonverbal communication really can be in the way your message is received. Consider these statistics:

For every spoken message:

• 8% of the recipient’s total “experience” comes from the actual WORDS you use.
• 37% of the recipient’s total “experience” comes from the WAY you say the words (volume, tone of voice, how the words are pronounced, level of excitement, etc.)
• 55% of the total “experience” comes from nonverbal communication.

Amazing! You can spend all day crafting the perfect message – but the recipient will miss out on 55% of your message if he/she thinks your breath stinks of the garlic from the pizza you ate an hour ago.

So – knowing what you now know, you would think that communication over the Internet is practically worthless, right? If Internet communication strips things like tone of voice, and there’s no nonverbal communication, then all our customers receive is a measly 8% of what we REALLY want to say! Why do we even BOTHER with this Internet garbage? How can you possibly live with yourself, Josh, telling us that the Internet is a valuable sales tool?

You could think all that, but you’d be wrong.

The Internet offers an interesting way to reclaim the lost 55% of communication. How? With a quick reply to customers’ email.

A speedy reply sends a powerful nonverbal message to a customer! Think about it: if you were on a web site and emailed a question to a great big corporation (or even a small business), and then someone returned your email within minutes, wouldn’t you be impressed? (For proof, don’t miss the next edition of MAILbytes.)

When a customer believes that someone is literally waiting for their email on the other end, they’ve received a powerful, nonverbal message. So rescue your 55% - and start sending your own power-packed messages today!

Just make sure not to stand too close to your computer when typing the email.