Do you phone enquirers?

[Unibond3]

Excellent point Richard!

[LaVilleauTady]

Try and follow the preference of your customer.

The clues will probably be there if they would prefer a phone response.

[Musetta]

no, no, no. I agree. do not ring. I had an agent ring me when I was trying to book a property the other day and it was very off-putting and made them seem very desperate and pushy.

[la vache!]

Try and follow the preference of your customer.

The clues will probably be there if they would prefer a phone response.

+1. If people ask me to phone I do, otherwise an email enquiry is replied to by email. In the rare case that the email is rejected due to incorrect email address, I will phone. But otherwise, no - far too pushy.

[Elcarmoli]

I sometimes phone if they've asked questions and it would be quicker to discuss than write a lengthy response.

Generally I send an email and as of this year if they leave a mobile I have started sending a text shortly afterwards - simply thanking them for the enquiry and letting them know I've replied by email. I've had a number of people say our email replies have been trapped by spam filters and this seems to have helped with that.

[booboo]

Generally I send an email and as of this year if they leave a mobile I have started sending a text shortly afterwards - simply thanking them for the enquiry and letting them know I've replied by email. I've had a number of people say our email replies have been trapped by spam filters and this seems to have helped with that.

What a good idea Elcarmoli

[Alvaro]

Thank you for your answers. There was quite a good one that made me see phoning is not for me. I´m not even english! Can´t see myself seducing the potential renters into booking.

Apart from that I think sending an sms could be a good idea. When I´ve tried to follow up, some owners didn´t even know what property i was talking about, so maybe an sms helps them focus.

[Beachcondo]

Generally I send an email and as of this year if they leave a mobile

Sounds like a good idea, but generally I don't have a clue to if they have left a home or a mobile number. In many countries they start with the same numbers.

[Nemo]

Generally I send an email and as of this year if they leave a mobile I have started sending a text shortly afterwards - simply thanking them for the enquiry and letting them know I've replied by email. I've had a number of people say our email replies have been trapped by spam filters and this seems to have helped with that.

I have had several bookings that have had problems with this. I replied to one enquiry and heard nothing. Sometimes I do a follow up email, but this time I didn't. Two weeks later she rang me asking if I'd replied! Whilst we were on the phone, she checked her spam and there it was. Thank goodness she had decided to come back to me.

I am now using texts more and more to ensure that people know I have sent something; not all the time by any means, but some work emails in particular have aggressive spam filters and just don't allow my emails through.

[Mozzie]

Just make sure you know the time difference in the area you are phoning - I got a phone call at 1.35 am this morning from an owner who was having trouble getting my email address to go through for him!!!!

[shamac]

Personally I would find it creepy and a bit stalkerish I would feel as if I was either being checked up on or pressurised into booking.

[Zorba]

we have tried phoning and never got even a single booking that way. We have several well made templates to respond by email with. They contain other useful links to the area, plus what we need from the punter to book - full names etc. Conversion rate including the sillies - over occupation requests etc is about 30%

[Annew]

I occasionally phone in response to an email enquiry - particularly if the potential punter (PP) has asked for odd dates, or has a number of questions.

However, I phoned one such PP today and was met with the answer "I've no idea who you are - we've sent off hundreds of enquiries" funny as they were keen for me to provide an access statement for a disabled member of their party and they had gushed and gushed about how wonderful our cottage was in their original email.

But ..... when a PP phones, instead of emailing. I phone back straight away as IME punters who phone in the first instance have already decided they want to book.

[Annew]

I am now using texts more and more to ensure that people know I have sent something;

Brilliant idea Nemo as I have been having major difficulties with Hotmail recently!