False Leads !

[hereticus]

Another subject to share experiences and whinge about !

Not only have many of you sufferred the 4 for £ 99 farce, with the prospect of 3 for £ 99 to follow soon - oh, joy !

Not only are leads scarce in some areas (I have consistently achieved average sales of £ 20k/month for the last four years, and would normally expect 20+ leads a week - I have been getting five leads / week recently, and only two this week).

We also have the problem that Central Leads are giving out misleading information to customers, presumably in order to book a lead and move on to the next call, regardless of the fact that our time is wasted and we also look foolish in the eyes of the customer. Two examples :

- a customer today had asked specifically whether we could supply a blind for her Living Room which could be electrically operated by remote control from her wheelchair. Do we make such a product - not to my knowledge ! Was the lead booked - oh, yes ! Another waste of time. (Mellisa...if you want to follow this up, the lead number is 3473438).

- another customer a couple of weeks ago had been assured quite emphatically that we could supply a wood venetian blind 8ft wide. Again...a total waste of time and egg on face. (Mellisa...3455779)

Is there no technical training or supervision in Central Leads ? Oh, well....at least I've got another lead on Thursday.

[phugly]

I have also had in the recent past, a lead to a customer who was assured that we could supply and fit an electronically operated vertical blind and also an electronic roller blind. needless to say I was shown the door when I explained that the company makes neither of these products. what a waste of my time and fuel.

[lukan61]

Ive heard central leads are on some bonus scheme for the number of leads they book. This could explain the quality of leads we get, I had leads where the conservatory wasnt even constructed. Even tho the customer had explained this to the agent at the time

[russell]

tis true and hot off the press absolutly no leads will be canceled off us under any circumstancies eg cust not in conserv not up!!!!!!!!!!

[RED]

lukan61 said:

Ive heard central leads are on some bonus scheme for the number of leads they book. This could explain the quality of leads we get, I had leads where the conservatory wasnt even constructed. Even tho the customer had explained this to the agent at the time

I have been told by a good source that they are on a small bonus for every lead so it is this reason you go out to every single thing they can book in whether it is built yet or not.
I have had my fair share of these bookings and the customers tell me they did explain that windows were not in yet or conservatory not yet built but get told it wont matter the agent will still come out. So they get there 20p 0r 50p or whatever it is and we waste £2 and our time and the customers time.
If they do get a bonus then it should be on succesful sales so they only benefit if we do and not waste our time.
Red

[miss measure]

red its only us that ever suffer they only care about their salleries we dont matter if it costs us it only costs us madness

[heriticus]

lets do something about it we are nearly 300 strong safety in numbers if we stick together

[RED]

After reading most of the posts there seems to be four underlying elements that everybody is complaining about.

1/ Diary booking

2/ Sam, (interlinked with above)

3/ 3 for £99 offers

4/ DORs

I really do think Hillarys should start to tackle these 4 problems. Sort out the diary booking and Sam may well become a joy to use at the moment it is let down by Diary booking and the restraints to not be able to personalize it to your own needs. For example, how many times have you gone out to the first late PM booking only to find nobody home and unknown to you is on a school run, so why dont they use the method I use and ask the first one if 3.00pm is ok and all the others in that slot become 3 to 6. You can easily plan your rout around that first one.
There seem to be very few advisors that are happy with the way things are going so why do Hillarys not listen, I bet the fsms are totaly cheesed off listening to us all moaning.
Red

[uptonparker]

Agree with what has been said about false leads,but what I find just as frustrating is central leads giving the customer a quote.They always quote dead basic blind(clouds,35mm ven.,etc)and qoute from a midlands/northern price list,somewhat cheaper than for us mugs down south.So when they've qouted £45(their favourite price it would seem)and my cheapest qoute is about double that,it's goodnight and home I go,with the customer convinced I was trying to pull a fast one.

[russell]

remember our old phone quote sheets when we answered our own lines I NEVER had a problem with pricing as i would explain the pricing STARTS AT c\leads do a good job and i get few problems think the price quote lproblem is not their fault more like POLICY small print get my drift ............ ;)get in the door etc etc

[BEZBOZNY]

We quote from the quote list supplied by Marketing. We ask the county they live in first and explain that this is a basic price using basic fabrics and the price will vary depending on the fabric the customer chooses. We can only do what we are told to do.

Any problems then email the customer number and fault with the appointment or quote to [e-mail] where they deal with the problem.

[blinder]

dunkmeister said:

We quote from the quote list supplied by Marketing. We ask the county they live in first and explain that this is a basic price using basic fabrics and the price will vary depending on the fabric the customer chooses. We can only do what we are told to do.

Any problems then email the customer number and fault with the appointment or quote to [e-mail] where they deal with the problem.

How do they deal with the problem?

Does that mean we can invoice Hillarys for our wasted time and fuel? Probably not, eh?

Not having a go Bez, but look at it from our point of view.

Not funny to do a 20 mile round trip at night on a wild goose chase. Customers think we are mad, and actually they are not far off the mark!!!

Anothe rpoint is that it is not always best to be there next day for a sales app. as there have been soooo many cases of, well, i've got three more people to give me quotes so I will let you know next week when the third co. has been.

In my experience, often it's 'He who quotes last, wins.'

Not just because you can go in cheap, but rather that by then the cust is bored and just does it with you 'cos you are there..

[greenpesto]

Blinder! You are correct ... last in usually gets the biz!!!!!!
The only other times they come back it's because of good old 'personality' ... as I always say 'People buy People'.