My wife bagged her first deer last week.
We were driving south on Rt 61 just north of Muscatine, Iowa. Julie was going 65mph in my Grand Cherokee when all of the sudden BLAM!
A 300-pound doe ran into the side of the car!
After the initial shock, we pulled around to a safe spot in the median and called our insurance company, Country Insurance. Our new agent was great - she has a background in customer service. We called the claim hotline and got the ball rolling. We called the sheriff and he filled out an accident report quickly.
The car was drivable and we returned home after the weekend. The adjuster responded to calls immediately, showed up within 20 minutes of when he said he would and issued a check on the spot!
He even circled the name and number of the woman to call to arrange the rental car while my Jeep was in the shop; Audrey Krug at Country Insurance.
I called her on Friday. Her voicemail said she works Sunday-Thursday. I asked her to call me Sunday to arrange a rental car for when I dropped off the Jeep on Monday. I only had time Monday morning to drop off the car.
She didn't call Sunday.
I called her Monday morning. Her voicemail said she was on another line. I left a message to call my cell as I was going to drop off the car in an hour or so.
Audrey didn't call.
My insurance has a provision for reimbursement, so I arranged a car at the repair shop and went on my way. An hour later, I get a call from Enterprise saying that they had a car for me. "Too late." I said. "I've been calling Audrey since Thursday. I had to drop the car off this morning."
He persisted, saying that I'll have to front the money for the car before getting reimbursed. With them, Country Insurance would pay the bill for me.
Which just irritated me even more. Audrey Krug is sleeping in some cubicle at Country Insurance and her failure to pick up the phone is costing me the aggravation of paying for the rental car in advance until I can be reimbursed.
I would have hoped that someone from Country Insurance would have called to follow up or apologize.
Audrey still hasn't called.
She must be a sound sleeper.
This isolated case isn't enough for me to switch carriers, but it comes on the heels of a bad experience with our former Country Insurance agent, Liz, who seemed more intent on promoting her side business (bookkeeping) than in sending quotes we had requested.
We waited months for those.
Liz must be a sound sleeper.
Or maybe she was hybernating.
So our brand loyalty to Country Company is not particularly strong.
Our new Country agent, Kelli, got us the quotes within 24 hours. If we stay with Country, it will be because of her efforts. She rocks.
But the lesson here is to constantly monitor your customer service and the impressions you leave with prospects and customers. Occasionally, test your systems. Sign up for stuff on your website, check your links, make sure your content is fresh. Order something from yourself. Test your customer service, if you have it.
Little stuff can kill a sale or even a callout like newsletter subscriptions, which might ultimately lead to a sale.
It's one of the first things we do when we begin a website audit or assessment for our Web Asylum clients. We fill out the 'request more information' links, sign up for e-zines, etc. Hopefully, your web site callouts work flawlessly.
It's all part of your brand!
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I try not to be too salesy here, but if you'd like a complimentary website assessment or a report on search engine rankings for your chosen keywords or help with your site strategy, content, callouts or marketing, please email me or call (630) 482-9323.
You can also sign up for our free course on the "5 Biggest Mistakes Most People Make With Their Website." We'll send you a chapter a day via email. Do you know the common mistakes people make that reduces website traffic and kills conversion rates? You will learn how to acheive a better web site ROI.
-- Kurt Scholle, the Website ROI Guy.
Web Asylum, Inc. founder