The success of Men With Pens was forged on one valuable secret that consistently earns us respect, lands us new projects, books up our schedule and makes for unbelievably happy clients.
It isn’t mystical voodoo. It’s not rocket science. It’s just plain common sense… and so often overlooked you’d be amazed.
I’m willing to share this secret with you. Why? Because chances are good that the people who aren’t serious about their business success will just skim this article, nod and never actually put the advice into practice. (There are more people like this out there than you’d think, by the way.)
This gives serious people like you the opportunity to scoop up what they leave on the table. And personally, I like helping people like you.
So if you care about your business, if you care about winning more clients and booking yourself solid, keep reading. This secret – and understanding why it works – is crucial to your success.
Ready? Here it is:
Answer all your emails quickly.
That’s it. That’s all. Some people will be disappointed that there’s no magical incantation or wizardly spell involved, but that’s often the case with solid, proven, smart advice:
You have to be willing to apply effort to make magic happen.
You see, when people send you an email, they’re already thinking about working with you. They could’ve chosen not to send you anything, after all, or they could’ve sent an email to your competition instead.
But they didn’t. They sent it to you.
These people took time out of their lives and reached out to your business, giving you full opportunity to show them you’re the best solution for their needs.
All you need to do is reply quickly, with engaging and reassuring words that convey your expertise, and you’ve practically won the project.
If you wait… if you decide to answer tomorrow, if you’ve set up one of those silly “I only check my email twice a day” auto-responders, if you put off answering thinking you’ll get to it later… that decision might cost you everything.
People hate waiting.
Human beings love instant gratification. And we also love ourselves, thinking we’re the most important person in the world, and our needs are top priority. We matter. We want to be seen, heard and acknowledged – the faster, the better.
Make a client wait, and it signals that you don’t think that person is important. He or she isn’t worth your time, isn’t a priority and doesn’t matter to you right now.
So why should this person work with you if you don’t care?
Justify that wait time any way you’d like. Perhaps you think it’s good to train clients you don’t jump at their command. Maybe you’ve decided it’s more efficient to answer email on a set schedule. Maybe you feel people should show patience – after all, you’re not tied to your computer, and they shouldn’t expect you to be.
All those are true. You’re not tied to your computer. You shouldn’t be at anyone’s beck and call. It’s very efficient to schedule time to reply to emails.
But that’s all about you. And good customer service is all about the client.
The faster you answer that email, the more chance you have of winning that client.
It’s proven: at Men with Pens, we fire off emails like shooting stars, and clients consistently tell us they chose us over others because of our lightning-fast response time. It wasn’t our skill levels or qualifications (which were a given). It wasn’t because we were cheaper (we’re not).
It wasn’t even because we sounded smarter, friendlier or had pretty blue eyes (though that does help).
It’s because we acknowledged, respected and demonstrated interest in our clients by responding to their email in short order… while the competition took their sweet time.
We were there.
Where will you be?
