As many businesses deal with inventory and staffing issues, its important to create a clear plan for communication between managers, employees, and customers.
Some of you may already have this in place, but there is always room for improvement, especially as we head into the new year.
Uncertainty is driving a lot of what dealers are doing right now. With the Pandemic still hanging around, many businesses are finding it tough to create plans for the future, even a few months ahead.
This uncertainty also trickles down to customers. If your employees are confused about what’s going on, then likely any potential buyers are feeling that same confusion.
Creating a Communication Plan.
One of the best ways to avoid this confusion is to create a plan within your business that everyone knows about. As we kick off 2022, it’s a good starting point to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Streamline your business by offering text messaging instead of just phone calls and voicemails.
Some of the confusion comes with the amount of time employees need to be on the phone. With texting, you can streamline this process, allowing employees to send customers texts about service updates, sales, and any issues that may come up.
This may not seem like a big deal, but customers are expecting businesses to text them. Nearly 90% of customers say they would prefer to interact with businesses via texting. This started just before the pandemic, and its not going away in 2022.
Setting Communication Boundaries.
Once there is a plan in place, make sure you are setting communication boundaries with both your employees and your customers.
For employees, make sure they know what your business model is when it comes to texting customers. Let them know what to say, how to approach certain situations, and basic interactions with customers.
For customers, make sure you are letting them know what they can expect from you. How often can they expect a text from you, and what they should be aware of if you are dealing with staffing or inventory shortages?
Dealers sometimes struggle with setting communication boundaries, often giving out their personal information to close a deal. This leaves the door open to customers contacting you at home, and even while you are asleep.
Stop giving out your personal number!
There is no need to take calls from customers after hours. If you have a texting platform in place, you can set up automated responses to catch any leads, and to make sure customers know you are on top of things, even if you can’t respond just then.
Kenect’s platform also takes this one step further, by setting up the texting system through your existing business line. This means you will never have to give out your personal cell numbers but will still get the benefits of normal communication with customers.
This will also benefit employees because it will allow everyone to text through the same number. Everyone will see the messages coming in, but every outgoing text will be from the existing business line.
The key to all of this is balance. Make sure you are balancing responsiveness to customers with boundaries you set up.
Whether you are starting a new communication plan, or improving on an old one, make sure you are ready for 2022.