The sweeping business is a service related industry, and as such, contracts are often won and lost based on first impressions. Our optimized, geo-specific parking lot sweeping and street sweeping landing pages and PPC ads are designed to position 1-800-SWEEPER and, by extension, your company as a market leader when your prospective customers search online for sweeping service companies in their local market. This aggressive positioning has led to an increase in site visits, call volume and online service requests.
We have worked hard to generate more site traffic, but keeping up with this increased volume creates new challenges. Increased quote opportunities are always welcome, but additional leads are only as good as our ability to service the requests. With this in mind, our internal lead handling procedures have evolved over time.
In the early days, online service requests routed first to HQ and then to partners in the field. Our original methodology was appropriate as a start-up, but the rising volume of online service requests increased the potential for delays. The first step in our evolving lead-handling strategy involved creating custom response forms that automatically send service requests to each partner. This direct line of communication not only improved the customer experience but also allowed us to automate the routing of service requests to multiple contacts within your organization.
Our latest evolution in lead-handling involves how we answer incoming phone calls. Since launch, incoming calls have been answered by HQ and depending on your preferences, we either take a message or forward the call to your team in the field. Although this model worked reasonably well with lighter call volume, it was far from perfect.
This month 1-800-SWEEPER will open a new call center staffed by professional operators 24/7/365. Whether your prospects call early in the morning, late at night or during a holiday, they will always be greeted by a live person rather than an answering machine. After fielding the request, operators will either take a message or patch calls through to your staff. The call center will also perform brief follow-up surveys to ensure customer satisfaction. This additional touch point will allow us to thank customers for their business and/or address any concerns.
It is important to remember the short lifespan of online leads. With the click of a mouse, potential customers can search online listings for additional sweeping companies and call your competitors. We also recognize that every site visit and each lead has the potential to make a significant impact on your bottom line. For these reasons, we took the next step by committing to a new 24/7/365 call center. Responding faster to incoming leads is a win-win strategy that will improve the customer experience and create more opportunities for you to generate new business.
