Why Ignore Potential Business? (commission, small business, collection, sales)

[burdell]

Is it just me or does anyone else get peeved when they look at a business web site that has a page dedicated to something like 'Please submit any questions you may have about our firm/products/services' so you do, and never receive a reply? More often than not it seems these questions go unanswered. Why don't they just eliminate that page from their site?

[girls_discussing_sharks]

Originally Posted by burdell

Is it just me or does anyone else get peeved when they look at a business web site that has a page dedicated to something like 'Please submit any questions you may have about our firm/products/services' so you do, and never receive a reply? More often than not it seems these questions go unanswered. Why don't they just eliminate that page from their site?

Depends on the size and savviness of the business.

Once upon a time the web form was marketed as a more secure contact method to protect email addresses and phone numbers from spammers. For larger and/or savvier companies, those forms are (ironically) used for data collection.

For smaller and/or less savvy businesses, website design services often provide the contact form within templates. Yet, most businesses that are provided that form don't leverage the data collection, and frequently provide other contact methods. I've seen very small businesses forget they even have one and never check the inbox associated with it.

So, without knowing what websites you visit, my guess is:

1. The company is not interested in giving replies but uses the data for market research/advertising.
2. The company doesn't check their inbox and are not interested in their own website enough to take it down.
3. The company doesn't want to reply to you in particular.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by burdell

Is it just me or does anyone else get peeved when they look at a business web site that has a page dedicated to something like 'Please submit any questions you may have about our firm/products/services' so you do, and never receive a reply? More often than not it seems these questions go unanswered. Why don't they just eliminate that page from their site?

Could be a broken website. Or Doreen, the person in charge of forwarding those inquiries to the right person, is slacking off on the job. Could be that your project/job/request falls outside of either what they're selling or their sweet spot in terms of doing business and they're not bothering to respond. Not a good way to do business, but it happens.

Or it could be like a client I once had who literally had million-dollar leads going cold. Why? Because their sales force was on salary, not commission. If you don't have your sales force making a large portion of their income on commission alone, you will wind up having a lazy sales force.

[Cida]

Originally Posted by burdell

Is it just me or does anyone else get peeved when they look at a business web site that has a page dedicated to something like 'Please submit any questions you may have about our firm/products/services' so you do, and never receive a reply? More often than not it seems these questions go unanswered. Why don't they just eliminate that page from their site?

They don't reply because most people are lazy and most business don't want to bother interacting with the public, and they don't eliminate the page because most websites are poorly designed and the top people often aren't aware of how it appears to the public.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by Cida

They don't reply because most people are lazy and most business don't want to bother interacting with the public, and they don't eliminate the page because most websites are poorly designed and the top people often aren't aware of how it appears to the public.

Seems to me like two good reasons why so many businesses fail.