When I started working Tescos (yes, I’m not that old, there were Tescos even then) would slam the door in your face at 5.30pm, they had a half day on Wednesday, begrudgingly opened Saturday and would have been committing an offence if they opened on a Sunday. Today we expect to be able to ring our bank 24/7 and shop 7 days a week.
Are we heading the same way in the business to business (B2B) world?
Maybe.
Simon Milner, one of our new business guys, forwarded me an article about website data from One Business Insurance revealing that the peak time for online enquiries is between 9pm -2am on a weekday closely followed by between 5-7pm on a Sunday.
In one month alone 62 per cent of those enquiring about business insurance did so outside normal working hours
“These figures really do highlight the fact that those running small businesses are never off duty,’’ said One Business Insurance Solutions operations director Darren Box.
He said enquiries ranged from shop owners looking at dedicated retail insurance through to those wanting to know more about van insurance, public liability and business interruption insurance.
Research highlights:
•62 per cent of online requests for insurance were made outside normal working hours
•46 per cent of these out of hours requests were at weekends
•The peak time for out of hours requests was between 9pm and 2am on a weekday
These numbers back up our own in that we take 40% of all of our calls outside of traditional office hours.
So if you are B2B what hours should you be answering your calls?
Martin Blain
Sales Director
To be honest, I never shut down! As long as I’m awake and conscious enough to make an intelligent conversation, I will take the calls. As far as I’m concerned, I have to do what other aren’t doing if I wish to stand out from the rest of the crowd. I’ve given more pricing information and quotes in the middle of night-clubbing that normal work hours. Anything goes for me!
Leslie,
An old sage once said to me “some people work full time, some part time, then there’s the self employed, they work all of the time”
I agree that to get ahead you need to go the extra mile however as a father of three and devoted husband (my opinion) I also know there’s a need to have a balance giving quality time to work, family and self.
Martin Blain
Good post Martin – thought provoking. As a freelancer with the same mobile phone for all calls, yes I am taking (and making) enquiries at any hours that would be considered social, e.g. when calling friends or family.
And if you want evidence that small businesses are switched on from dawn til dusk, just look at Twitter……
Mark,
The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Yes we’ve all got to graft to get ahead but a queston for you to consider is if you’re trying to make £100k a year whilst spending your time doing a £7 an hour job?
Is answering your own phone calls the best way for you to spend your time?
An advantage of our service for freelancers is that by acting as your receptionist you are able to prioritise how important your calls are to you before you decide when you want to deal with them (or indeed if the call deserves your time at all).
Obviously I don’t know how your business works so perhaps the issue I describe does not apply to you.
Best of luck to you.