Waiting

What is going to set you apart from your competitors is a positive customer experience. When someone is buying your services or product, the client experience starts the minute they get in touch with you for the first time and continues throughout the relationship. It is important for your client to get prompt and timely service at all times, be it from a help desk or from someone they are collaborating with.

When a client reaches out to your company with a question or a meeting request, they don't want to wait days for an answer.

Lagging response times will propel your client or customer to look elsewhere for another supplier because a smart client knows that this behavior:

• Is an indication of the attitude and work ethic of the company, as a whole.

• Will only get worse as the relationship grows and no one looks for that in a supplier.

You don't have to wait for a client to complain to see if this is a problem in your company. Look no further than how your employees treat each other. Who is the bottleneck? Is someone always slow to answer their colleagues, never responds to meeting requests? I guarantee that this behavior impacts your clients, either directly or indirectly.

Managing your communications overflow and building a productive workflow is easier than you think. Look inside the company for administrative help, bring in an email and calendar management specialist to help manage the work or to provide training to help your staff perform to the best of their abilities. Productivity can be learned. Make sure that people are getting the answers they need when they need them. Time wasted is money wasted.

Nothing kills the bottom line like lost customers.