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Focus Research Insight: How long is too long to wait around for the Vendor?
In our ongoing studies here at Focus, we find some buyers eliminate vendors simply because they never call or never follow up. Others wait around longer for initial or secondary contact. But how long is too long? In a recent study conducted approximately 5 weeks after buyers requested vendor contact, 25% of them had eliminated because the vendor never contacted them, while another 10% were still considering because they were awaiting contact. When do you start giving the benefit of the doubt and when do you stop? A few days? A week? A month?
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4 Answers
With the miriad of CRM packages available these days there is no excuse for not getting back to a buyer in a timely manner. And if the vendor is worth his snuff, he/she knows what the time frame is for a response. On the other side of the coin, customers know stuff happens to cause delays. That said, the vendor needs to communicate what is causing the delay; even if you have to stretch the truth to make it sound plausible.
It really depends upon what you have asked the vendor to do.
If you have submitted a request that they should be able to respond to with 20 minutes of effort, then I would eliminate anyone who does not respond within a week. Some companies are simply dysfunctional and you want to drop them asap - they are likely to be even less responsive after they have got your money.
However, if you spam a lot of vendors with a lengthy RFP, you should expect that many of them will not respond - it is simply not worth their time to spend days responding on a sale that they have little chance of closing. In this case, the best solution is not to eliminate them, but to provide a more reasonable request. This topic is covered in more detail in Step 1 of the white paper: http://www.focus.com/ugr/research/crm/how-pick-right-crm-helpdesk-bpm-vendor
30 calender days maximum for a cold contact response, but only because some vendors run in a monthly cycle and need time to 'research' you. If it is a vendor you have done business with befor, give them maximum 10 business days.
48 hours max, with a single follow-up call.
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