How long does a customer wait for a simple answer?

Three questions arrive constantly in every business.

Where has my order reached. What rate did we agree. Did my payment reach you.

All three are questions about the customer's own dealings with you. He is not asking for anything new. He is asking you to tell him something you already know.

And in most businesses the answer takes somewhere between two hours and two days, because the person who picked up the phone has to find somebody who knows.

What the delay signals

The customer does not think your systems are weak. He thinks you are not bothered, or that his order is not important enough to be at anybody's fingertips.

And he judges your whole business on it, because this is one of the very few things about you that he can actually measure. He cannot assess your workshop or your quality control. He can measure how long he waited for a simple answer.

It is also the thing he will mention when somebody asks him about you. Not your rates. How easy you were to deal with.

The small version of the fix

Take those three questions and make sure anybody who answers the phone can answer all three without leaving their chair.

That is it. Not a portal, not an app, not a project. One screen with order status, rate history and payment position, available to whoever picks up.

Most businesses already have all three facts. They are just held by three different people, which is why the customer waits.

Do that one thing and you will be noticeably better to deal with than most of your competitors, for a surprisingly small amount of work.

Call your own office and ask where an order has reached. Time it. How long did you wait?

Putting those three answers in front of whoever picks up the phone is a small job with an outsized effect. Ask us what it would take in your business.