The phone just stopped ringing!!! Is it a sign of the times

Sound familiar? It is a common complaint that rings in every state of the country today.
This inspired me to call a few photographers at random to get a feel for what actually would happen if the phone were to ring. A far cry from reality I know, as it really is a thing of the past. People just do not ring any more, or so I am told.

Marketing apparently just does not motivate people to act and physically take action to call or take advantage of even the most appealing offer.

This really does not make sense to me, that if you are marketing, you have a great offer out there, you have fantastic talent, with beautiful product, surely someone would pick up the phone and call you.
Apparently not. The phone just does not ring in 2012 according to many people that I speak to around Australia. I even asked some friends in the US and it has spread there too.

The phone is our window to the world. We spend so much time and money on creating a slick looking web site and promoting our business all focused on getting the phone to ring. Yet we do not get the response we imagine. What is really going on.

I am imagining these poor people sitting there staring at the phone willing it to buzz and light up, but alas it was just a FaceBook notification, that has just come through. Darn it, I meant to turn that feature off months ago. False alarm.

Have we set ourselves up for this? Is it possible that our business could possibly be geared at removing ourselves from facing the phone, because we are actually more comfortable with email and FaceBook than having to face people on the phone?

I did have a client in Brisbane that was suffering from this about six months ago. After looking at her Face Book page and Web Site we discovered that all the language on the page was all about: “email us”. So we simply changed it to “Call on…” and she started getting calls.

Have we become fearful and choose to direct customers to email? Have we become so fearful that we choose not to answer it because it is not convenient right now, and we can get back to them later, yet we have no clients to photograph?

I had to find out. What actually would happen IF someone would actually call? “What IF” our marketing would inspire people to call? What would happen then? Interesting…

I could not help myself. I had seen some Photography companies marketing their services on the “Daily Deals” type advertising, where they give away a lot for a fraction of the cost. The hope is that driving people to their door will allow them to up sell later, and it will all be worthwhile in the end.
Do not get me wrong. I have worked with some studios that have seen some fantastic results with this form of marketing, if these deals are handled with care and expertise. It is possible to make a substantial amount of money from this type of marketing. It has also ruined many others.

I placed my first call to a Photographic Studio whose ad was up a couple of days ago. As I called, I planned in my head exactly what I was going to say, and thought, that if they did a good job, I would actually go in and pay to have some photos done. I was actually excited, because it has been a while since I had some photos done. The phone connects and goes straight to “Please leave a 10 second message and your message will be converted to a text… standard call charges apply…” without even thinking I hung up.

I do not know about you, but I just cannot do the voice to text thing. Then I thought, NO I have not achieved what I wanted to do, so I called again. “Please leave a 10 second message and your message will be converted to text…” I instinctively hung up without even realising and never left a message.
This person is never going to know that I was interested in their service.

I was now determined that I would book in somewhere. I needed another photographer. I chose another one that I had driven past on a busy road and had stuck in my head because it was a pretty impressive shop front. I felt I would have success now.

Nothing like and iPhone to provided me with their web site, address and phone numbers. The photography was beautiful and there were two contact numbers. I rang the landline. One ring, two rings, three rings – ok they are about to answer, I know exactly what type of shoot I want, four ring, five rings – NO this cannot be happening, they will answer, six rings, seven rings – ok maybe they are not the photographers for me, eight rings, nine rings, ten rings – I’m going to hang up just in case someone answers now!!!

Determined that I would not to be beaten, I call the mobile. Yes!!! You guessed it!!! VOICE TO TEXT AGAIN!!! Does no one ever answer their phone or at least have voicemail and/or an answering machine these days?

Does everyone screen their calls to the point that it appears that no one is calling them any more? Why do we list a business number if we do not answer a call and prefer to read the translated text later? Does that even work?

Ok, so now I have to try again. I remembered that when I was in a café last week there was a leaflet on the counter for a photographer. I had put it in my bag. I fished it out and made the call. One call, two calls… “Hello” finally… a person. I explain that I had picked up a brochure off the counter of the café and I would like to have some family photos done.

The photographer launches into how she loves to take photos on the beach and how fantastic it would be for my family to have photos in her favourite location.

I start to tell her that we are not beach people and would prefer…. She then butts in and basically gives me a price list over the phone. Tells me that most people love the beach and the kids will love it. Again, I explain “we are not a beach family”. She then tells me how we can also get photos of us in the water at the end of the shoot because the light will be just right.

Now this was NEVER going to happen, yet I have no opportunity to speak. She now launches into more prices and low res files. I know she told me how much every product that she offers was, but truthfully I did not hear any of it. By the end of the call I could not remember a single price.

Could this be why so many photographers tell me that they tell their clients the price, but claim they had no idea when they came in to order?

To close the call it was suggested that I look at her web site, decide what I want and call back. Thank goodness!!! She opened the gate and I bolted.

There was NO WAY I would ever consider someone that was not willing to listen to what I wanted from a photo shoot. I am sure that she believes that I really was not interested and rudely never called back.

Determined to make this happen I was now obsessed. Surely someone wanted to photograph my family and me.
I decided that I would call the first photographer back again and give them an opportunity to photograph my family. It was now over 2 hours since my first call. Again the call was not answered and I could leave the Voice to Text message. I just could not do it, so I hung up again.

I am now running the risk of appearing like a stalker with so many missed calls on this persons phone.
Despondently I give up and decide to try again later in the day. It is now close to 4pm and I now realise that there was a landline to call. Thank goodness, I can give it one more try and not look like a stalker, because it will not be on their mobile again, they will never know I had been the one that called them a few times.

Happily I make the call to the landline and am anxious about what to say… The phone connects and I am aghast. It has diverted to the mobile and I am faced with the voice to text again. So now I felt like I had become the stalker that I did not want to appear to be.

I needed to find someone new to call, as I am too embarrassed to call that number again.
Another Photographer, another call, another no answer and yet another Voice to Text. Perhaps everyone is preparing for APPA I think to myself, and cannot answer the phone. Surely they would not close their business though?

I make yet another call to someone completely random this time and although there was an answering machine, I was totally over it and just hung up.

Shopping for a Photographer had proven to be hard work!

Suddenly my phone rings and I can see it is one of my Portrait Photography Clients. There was no way I was going to let it go to voice mail after my day.

I tell him my story and he exclaims, “It is true!!! The phone has stopped ringing!!! That is why I am calling and I need you to come out and check why no one is calling any more!!!”

I am on a flight the next day for this “emergency”. The staff meeting results in the confirmation that the phone is not ringing and they have not been able to make bookings.

How can this be? Nothing has changed really. The marketing is in place, the phone system was working (I called to check).

My client had had phone reporting added to his phone system and I asked him for the reports. My client then advises me that he can access them in a minute and that he has never really looked at them before.
According to the reports there were 24 incoming calls the previous day, and I had just had 3 people swear to me that the phone does not ring. The average ring time was 5 seconds – which was fine. The maximum ring time was 14 seconds – which was too long, but overall if the average is 5 seconds they are doing a good job at answering the phone.

No unanswered calls, but I think that if it goes to answering machine it is counted as an answered call.
Suddenly, the team remembers that there were enquiries, but they were not able to book them in for a shoot.

According to the reports the average time spent on a call was only 2 minutes and 4 seconds. This is no where near enough time to find out what the client brief is and inspire them enough to book with us.
The phone was actually ringing. The team just did not believe that the caller was interested and did not follow the booking procedure that should have taken 15 min each to complete over the phone.

Once we identified the problem the next caller was booked.

I am sure that all the photographers that I called the previous day believed that their phone does not ring. It happened to one of my clients. Thank goodness we had reports to tell us how many times it actually did ring and how much time we spent on the phone.

How many other photographers could this be happening to? Who is allocated to answer your business line during business hours?

If you were to call a hairdresser at random, and no matter how many times you tried, you always got voice to text what would be your first impression of the level of service you could expect? It also reflects on the perception of how professional that hairdresser is.

Business these days rely heavily on service. People flock to those businesses that give it willingly and with pleasure. They want instant service and expect answers now.

People hesitate to leave a message and are even less likely to leave a voice to text message. If you are in business, who is opening the door to customers when your phone is off or you are too busy to answer it?