Following up on email inquiries that appear to be dead

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Tim_Toad_HLB

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This is something we've been doing from day one and every once in a while it ends up in a reservation. Wondering how other folks handle emails they get, the inquirer never follows through on a reservation, but you have time invested in responding to and answering their original questions and inquiry about availability.
Every couple of months I go and delete tons of emails but the ones that we had at least one or more email interaction with get this sent to them:
Dear Mr. xxxx,
I was just going through old emails and either deleting irrelevant stuff or following up on inquiries we responded to earlier about rooms and availability. We still have availability for the dates you inquired about in case your plans are still going forward.
Best regards,
Tim xyz
 
That's a good plan. We've not followed thru on email inquiries that have no reply back. Except today when someone said they would book online and no rez came thru. I emailed and said if she was having trouble to call us. Instead she said she 'resent' the rez and it came thru.
On all the tons of other inquiries, I wonder if my original email got stuck in their spam folder and they chalked us up as one of those places that never responded.
 
That's a good plan. We've not followed thru on email inquiries that have no reply back. Except today when someone said they would book online and no rez came thru. I emailed and said if she was having trouble to call us. Instead she said she 'resent' the rez and it came thru.
On all the tons of other inquiries, I wonder if my original email got stuck in their spam folder and they chalked us up as one of those places that never responded..
The spam filter thing was a big reason I'd try to give them at least one more shot at it. In the dead of winter when we're really hurting and we've traded at least a couple emails with someone who has also left a phone number in their signature, I'll even give them a phone call.
Just because someone sent you an email outward doesn't mean that their spam filters won't trip on your replies.
The other reason is that I always assumed they would be sending similar emails to several B&Bs and waiting to see who seemed the most determined to follow up.
We get frequent comments that folks were impressed that we took the time to follow up with them and that some of the other B&Bs they contacted never even bothered responding to the original inquiry.
Weird, I'm usually totally sober when here and my typing is full of errors.
Amazing what a cookout with friends and several cocktails will do to your spelling.
cheers.gif

 
Very good idea, and what really is the harm? Many times our replies fall into their spam folders which never get looked at just deleted every once in a while. Some call asking if we got their email and when we say yes we emailed you right back, you may want to check your spam folder...Oh, there it is!!! Just as Bree stated...they chalked us up as one of those places that never responded..
 
We do a follow up on all emails as well. A few have resulted in bookings and a few had made other plans, or "things came up".
 
That's a good plan. We've not followed thru on email inquiries that have no reply back. Except today when someone said they would book online and no rez came thru. I emailed and said if she was having trouble to call us. Instead she said she 'resent' the rez and it came thru.
On all the tons of other inquiries, I wonder if my original email got stuck in their spam folder and they chalked us up as one of those places that never responded..
The spam filter thing was a big reason I'd try to give them at least one more shot at it. In the dead of winter when we're really hurting and we've traded at least a couple emails with someone who has also left a phone number in their signature, I'll even give them a phone call.
Just because someone sent you an email outward doesn't mean that their spam filters won't trip on your replies.
The other reason is that I always assumed they would be sending similar emails to several B&Bs and waiting to see who seemed the most determined to follow up.
We get frequent comments that folks were impressed that we took the time to follow up with them and that some of the other B&Bs they contacted never even bothered responding to the original inquiry.
Weird, I'm usually totally sober when here and my typing is full of errors.
Amazing what a cookout with friends and several cocktails will do to your spelling.
cheers.gif

.
I've got the windows open listening to a concert down the street and waiting for the fireworks to start. Actual fireworks, not a guest blowing up! Altho, the guest who decided NOT to listen to my advice and who drove to the concert may be part of the fireworks when he finds out how long it takes to drive the 1/4 mile.
 
that is an awesome idea, tim! thank you for that. it makes total sense and other than checking the most recent emails that went nowhere, i never thought to go back through old ones.
 
Most of our email inquiries have requests that we usually can't meet. I answer all of them but nothing comes of them because we're not really the place for them. (Very young children, super large groups or events.) I have followed up on a couple where they replied back and said they were still looking. One gentleman thought that our rates were too high, even with our corporate rate. I replied that I hoped he found the accommodations he was looking for but we'd be happy to have him stay here. He ended up booking with us after all! yay!
Great idea, Tim!
 
What made me think of asking about it was both a memory I had of a short term inside sales job I had where the company categorized leads by temperature and date receivd. There were red hot, hot, warm, lukewarm, whatever and the otehr was getting a phone call the other day from a car salesmen I had met almost TWO years ago when shopping for my current pickup truck.
Now that's some follow up work. What's kind of sad on that one was that the salesmen barely wanted to give us the time of day two years ago because we weren't interested in a $30,000 monster rig, but now he's tripping over himself to look up a lead that is two years old.
 
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