1. They don’t get enough inbound calls.
   This is a marketing problem. Opt-in lead generation is the single most important marketing function for any small or mid-sized business. And on average a telephone lead is more valuable than an internet lead.  Research show that 65% of all sales that begin online are converted offline. So many businesses are focusing a lot on web lead generation, but neglect inbound phone lead gen.
   
   
2. They don’t know which advertising or marketing sources generate phone calls and they don't know how to improve call response rate.
   It seems obvious that tracking your marketing is critical, but most businesses don't.  They blindly spend money on marketing and hope it works.  And they don't have a competitive analysis on things like direct mail, yellow page ads, newspaper ads or websites to compare lead generation and call volume from each source. If your idea of tracking your marketing is having a receptionist ask inquiring callers " where they heard about you" you're missing big opportunities.



3. They’re losing money on advertising and squandering inquiry calls because of mishandled calls.
   So let's assume a business is doing a great job of marketing and generating phone leads, the receptionists, call center or salespeople MUST handle those calls effectively, otherwise the lead gen system and marketing becomes irrelevant.  Salespeople and call centers need to be trained and held accountable for consistently converting inquiring callers into appointments or sales.
   
   
4. They’re not able to consistently and accurately capture caller information.
   This is closely related to mishandled calls because in many cases the people handling phone calls simply forget to collect relevant contact information from inquiring callers.  And many times the information collected is inaccurate.
   
   
5. They don’t have a way of following up with callers.
   Capture the name, mailing address and phone number of every person who calls your office and put that information into a database.  Every person who calls your office should get some kind of follow up correspondence from you.  This correspondence should be initiated immediately after the call.  A database allows you to automate this process for direct mail, voice messaging or live calls.
   
   
6. They don’t know when peak call times occur to staff their phones properly.
   Because most businesses aren't tracking their calls they don't have data indicating when they get the highest call volume.  They don't know when during the day most people call their office. What days of the week are most popular? Having this information will dramatically improve your ability to manage calls effectively.

If you have a specific challenge that I haven't listed here let us know...

The solution for these problems is to track phone calls.  Tracking your phone calls is an essential part of any smart marketing and customer acquisition process.  For those businesses spending money on marketing and advertising to make their phones ring, this solution should take priority over web analytics.

Best,

Ryan Pitz