A couple of weeks ago, the fan on our home’s 30 year-old furnace began having problems starting. It would buzz and whine, and when I’d hear it doing so, I’d have to run downstairs and give it a “jump” with a flathead screwdriver. The thought of having the fan’s motor burn out while we were sleeping or out of the house was a drag. It was high-time for a new furnace, especially since the weather is beginning to feel winter-y. We narrowed down the list of applicable companies in Kitchener to three to get quotes on a new furnace.
One quoted us over the phone a couple of hours after we called them. The second company sent a sales person to our house to look at our laundry room (where our furnace is) and discuss various furnaces the very next day. The second company, Boehmers, is who we decided on and scheduled the installation to happen two days later. Dena and I are now nice ‘n’ toasty with our brand new high-efficiency furnace, and I’ve since put the screwdriver away.
Oddly enough, the third company that we contacted didn’t get a hold of me until today – 10 business days after we first contacted them! Ten days are a lot and I can only imagine what their sales process is at said company. Did they use something low-tech like PostIt notes to track leads and schedule follow-ups? Do they have a CRM system? Even the smallest of companies should be able to setup and maintain something simple like Act! or Maximizer, let alone offerings from Siebel, SalesForce.com or even Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Any CRM system, properly used, should be able to “tickle” sales people when a lead or a customer should be contacted. Even Outlook or gCal can do that at a basic level. It boggles the mind that it’s still possible for businesses to let opportunities slip when there’s technology that can help – simple and affordable technology at that.
