Customer conversations scattered across phones and inboxes
Nobody can see the whole conversation.
A customer talks to three different people by text, email, and phone, and nobody has the whole conversation.
Not every business has this problem, and some should leave it alone.
Most of these can be handled better. Whether it's worth doing is a separate question. What follows is one common form of the problem, described in general terms, because your version will differ. These are possible challenges, not a description of your business, and some should be left exactly as they are. If it sounds like your week, that's worth a conversation.
Sound familiar?
- The important text is on somebody's personal phone.
- A customer says they already told someone, and nobody can find it.
- Two people answer the same customer differently.
- When a person leaves, their conversations leave with them.
What it looks like
A customer calls the office, texts the crew lead, and emails the person who sent the quote. Each conversation is fine on its own. Each lives in a different place.
When something needs to be checked — what was promised, what was agreed, when they said to come — somebody has to ask around and piece it together.
What it costs
Promises get lost. Something agreed in a text never reaches the office.
Customers repeat themselves. Each person they talk to starts fresh.
Conversations leave with people. A personal phone holds business history.
Where it goes wrong
- Every channel is separate. Phone, text, and email do not meet.
- Personal phones carry business. Crews text customers from their own numbers.
- Nothing is attached to the job. Conversations are not linked to the customer's record.
- Important parts are not copied. Nobody forwards the key text to the office.
What a better version looks like
Customer conversations reach a shared place tied to the customer and the job, whichever channel they came in on. Anybody picking up the conversation can see what was said before. Anything that sounds like a promise or a change is flagged for the office.
What still needs a person
A person talks to the customer. A person decides what a message means when it is unclear, and whether something said in passing was an agreement.
Questions worth asking about your own operation
- Where do customer texts to your crews go?
- Could you see everything said to one customer last month?
- What happens to those conversations when somebody leaves?
- Has a customer ever said they already told someone?
If this sounds familiar
Bring me the version you actually have. I'll learn how the process really works before I suggest anything. If it isn't worth changing, or isn't a fit for me, I'll say so. Talk through a problem