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Why not just say: "For sales, press 1. For support, go to mysite.com/help". If they ignore that and hit the sales #, say, "Sorry, I'm in sales. You need to h

Why not just say: "For sales, press 1. For support, go to mysite.com/help". If they ignore that and hit the sales #, say, "Sorry, I'm in sales. You need to head to the support page-- those guys are generally really responsive!"

SwellJoe 18y ago
Because your customers will hate you. By the time you have a dozen customers, at least one will have said, publicly, something along the lines of, "I had no trouble talking to them when I wanted to buy, but as soon as I needed help, they were nowhere to be found." There are industries and products where it's possible to get away with telephone sales, but not support. But, it's not the business I'm in, and it's probably not the business most of the folks here are in. I don't know what makes it workable, exactly, and certainly larger companies get away with it all the time...and when you and I have hundreds of thousands of customers, we can discuss the possibilities. It probably is possible to differentiate somehow on your website; making available far more expensive versions that include telephone support. I kinda suspect that will engender animosity in the non-premium customers who feel like they're getting second class treatment, but at least they'll all know where they stand. But, beware that no matter what you do, you will get phone calls for support, if you offer a number for sales. And your suggested solution will piss some customers off. Anyway, I think everyone is just dramatically underestimating the cost of answering a phone.
- webwright 18y ago
  "There are industries and products where it's possible to get away with telephone sales, but not support. But, it's not the business I'm in, and it's probably not the business most of the folks here are in." I think it's a matter of how you set expectations around the number and whether you have a PBX. I ran a web dev / hosting company. Contact page read: "To keep our prices low, we currently only offer support via email unless you have a dedicated server with a support contract." Or something to that effect. Phone maze said: "For sales, press 1" (that went to a person, when we wanted to be available). For Support, press 2" (that went to a message that said "To keep our prices low, we don't offer telephone support. Head over to www..." If someone circumvented it and got us on the line somehow, we'd say it verbally. You're right, it probably pissed off the people who read the clear verbiage around the phone number on the site and chose to ignore it... But I was happy to live with that. And the phone number landed me plenty of high profit customers that I was glad to have. Of course, this only makes sense if you have SOME premium offering and a generous margin. Most real businesses WANT to talk to a salesperson rather than buy online. If we didn't have dedicated server hosting (thousands per year in revenue), that number never woulda seen the light of day. ;-)

SwellJoe 18y ago

Because your customers will hate you. By the time you have a dozen customers, at least one will have said, publicly, something along the lines of, "I had no trouble talking to them when I wanted to buy, but as soon as I needed help, they were nowhere to be found." There are industries and products where it's possible to get away with telephone sales, but not support. But, it's not the business I'm in, and it's probably not the business most of the folks here are in. I don't know what makes it workable, exactly, and certainly larger companies get away with it all the time...and when you and I have hundreds of thousands of customers, we can discuss the possibilities. It probably is possible to differentiate somehow on your website; making available far more expensive versions that include telephone support. I kinda suspect that will engender animosity in the non-premium customers who feel like they're getting second class treatment, but at least they'll all know where they stand. But, beware that no matter what you do, you will get phone calls for support, if you offer a number for sales. And your suggested solution will piss some customers off. Anyway, I think everyone is just dramatically underestimating the cost of answering a phone.

webwright 18y ago
"There are industries and products where it's possible to get away with telephone sales, but not support. But, it's not the business I'm in, and it's probably not the business most of the folks here are in." I think it's a matter of how you set expectations around the number and whether you have a PBX. I ran a web dev / hosting company. Contact page read: "To keep our prices low, we currently only offer support via email unless you have a dedicated server with a support contract." Or something to that effect. Phone maze said: "For sales, press 1" (that went to a person, when we wanted to be available). For Support, press 2" (that went to a message that said "To keep our prices low, we don't offer telephone support. Head over to www..." If someone circumvented it and got us on the line somehow, we'd say it verbally. You're right, it probably pissed off the people who read the clear verbiage around the phone number on the site and chose to ignore it... But I was happy to live with that. And the phone number landed me plenty of high profit customers that I was glad to have. Of course, this only makes sense if you have SOME premium offering and a generous margin. Most real businesses WANT to talk to a salesperson rather than buy online. If we didn't have dedicated server hosting (thousands per year in revenue), that number never woulda seen the light of day. ;-)