The competition for training providers to attract and lock in customers is continuing to grow in the UK. With so many providers offering similar courses, it is essential that you stand out and prove as soon as possible that you are the right choice for a potential candidate. But how do you do that?
Every year at findcourses.co.uk, we hold an annual mystery shopper exercise. In order to maintain the quality of our service to training buyers, we send information requests to training providers to gain insight into how fast users are being responded to and in what manner.
In this article we will cover some best practices for improving customer enquiry follow-ups based on surveys to some of our over 1.5 million annual visitors around their expectations of service. Learn how to improve your responses, increase replies and make more bookings!
1. Respond first
When potential customers are browsing around and shopping for training on findcourses.co.uk, chances are they are considering multiple providers and sending more than one information request to determine who the best fit would be.
When individuals are searching for training, according to an on-site October poll, they’re most commonly searching for dates held in the next two weeks.
Since enquirers usually consist of busy professionals who are looking to book training right away, a great way to stand out is by replying first. By being the first training provider to reply, you can begin your client relationship by being reliable and trustworthy.
In addition, this gives you the chance to start answering any follow-up questions that a potential client may have before they start hearing from other options.
Curious how you compare?
Our Mystery Shopper Survey revealed that when receiving a course enquiry, 41.28% of training providers responded in 1 hour, 79.35% responded in 1 business day, 80.73% responded in 2 business days and 83% responded in 5 business days.
If you want to improve your response rate, then make sure you stay on top of information requests and respond first.
2. Keep it personal
The second way to increase replies is to ensure that you personalise your responses. Automatic responses may be easy and a time-saver, but they lack the personal touch that interested candidates are looking for.
Most of the time when someone enquires about a course they are not ready to book it right away. Usually they have some questions that they want answered first to make sure it is a good fit.
Enquirers who get a personalised response from training providers are more likely to trust them and as a result work with them. Clients want to feel valued and would like to know that the people they are investing in are there to help.
3. Follow up
According to our exercise, one of the main problems that training providers have with information requests is that after they reply to a lead, they would not get a response back.
The best way to deal with this problem is to follow up again with either a phone call or email. Just like you, enquirers are busy. It is easy for emails to get missed, thrown away or placed in the spam folder by accident.
By following up, not only can you make sure that users receive your response, you can show potential clients that you take their request and time seriously. Even if they don’t end up booking with you, this can help set a foundation if they need training in the future.
Ensure that you are getting the best results from our platform by using these three simple tips. Show clients that you care and that their time is your priority by responding quickly, personalizing your messages and performing follow-ups and you will start to see results.
