Virtual first impressions count

Posted by: Krishna De | Posted on: December 18th, 2006 | 1 Comments | Posted in: Communication, Customer service

Last week I connected with two potential new business partners to refer my clients to to support them in building their online brand.

The experience I had did make me reflect on the experience potential new clients receive from me – what’s their first impression?

Both of the providers were based in the US as I am looking to source vendors for my US and Canadian clients.

Stage one – connecting by email

The first connection with both of them was by email:

• the first took 3 days to reply to me – they did however apologise for the delay in replying
• the second replied almost immediately with some options for when we could speak but then changed our appointment as they had a client now contacting them at the time we had agreed.  I have to say I wasn’t sure whether to like this because if I became a client I would be treated with high priority or if I was put out by the fact that they wanted to change our prior agreement to talk and therefore did not feel respected as a potential client.

Stage two – the telephone conversation

Then it came to the telephone conversations:

• the first vendor I spoke to was rather cold on the phone initally – in fact I’d go so far to say that they might be a relative of Frosty the Snowman but without the smile they were so cold.  Didn’t they want any new clients?
• the second was not much better.

As the conversation progressed, the conversations warmed up.

I was interested to know if they had taken the time to look me up on the web – they had been given my details and since they both worked in online branding I fully expected them to at least have a cursory look at my presence online.

Neither had.

Now if the meeting had been one where it had been face to face and they had come to meet me at my office, their lack of interest in researching my business would have been an immediate warning bell.

Stage three – after the phone call

What happens after the phone goes down?

• The first vendor dropped me an email note thanking me for an enjoyable conversation and infact took the time to tell me something that was important for me to know about by website
• the second – well five days on I’ve heard nothing from them in terms of what they propose as next steps.

Perhaps I am old fashioned, but whenever i have a conversation with a potential new client, I always follow up in an email summarising what we talked about and covering next steps.

My conclusions

Suffice to say, the first vendor is someone I will be investing time in getting to know and working with them – I’ve checked their technical capability, their references and their pricing and they are someone I will be recommending to clients in the future.

The second vendor – thet’s just say …. move on!

Reflections

I was left wondering, as we now have moved into the world of working virtually, are we missing out on some of the basics of how we go about making a positive first impression with clients and potential clients? For example:

• How do we greet people on the phone?
• How do we respond to their emails?
• Do we respect their calendars and try to keep meetings to time?
• Do we demonstrate and interest in them as a client and research their business before even meeting them so we can engaged in a more informed and relevant conversation?
• How do we leave the client feeling and what do they think of our business following our email and phone contact?
• What added value do they give even in the furst connection?

Or has the digital and virtual age made us less concious about business etiquette?

What impression will you leave with the potential clients you meet this week?