Are You a First Responder?

Selling anything today is difficult.   There is so much competition in the marketplace and it comes from every corner of the globe.   How do you set yourself apart from your competitors?

It’s not going to be due to your superior product or superior product knowledge.   In today’s fast paced digital world, the people who respond quickly and efficiently will close the deal and out perform their competitors 9 times out of 10.

So how does one become a “First Responder”?   To start,  you have to be able to use all of the latest technologies to your advantage.  Email, Instant messaging and automated voice mail companies like Youmail.com or Phone Fusion are great ways to be able to control your first contact.  But the simplest and most effective tool at your disposal is a PDA.   If you aren’t using a Blackberry-iPhone-Palm or Windows Mobile device, you are at a serious disadvantage.

Is there anything better than being able to answer a clients question within 5-10 minutes of receiving it?  How much trust and rapport is built between your clients and potential customers when they feel your chief concern is also their own?

Think about it for a second.  You get an email from a frustrated client or a potential customer on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday evening out with your family/friends enjoying your weekend.   Contemplate the wonder on their face when you fire a rapid –professional reply addressing and identifying their concern and promising to solve their issue first thing Monday morning?   If you aren’t using a PDA, there is no way you could build this kind of trust with your clients and  potential customers.   Being a ‘First Responder’ will always set you apart from the competition.