IDEA: How much time does a customer waste trying to give you an order? Test it….constantly.

Hire an outside party to test your company’s sales reaction; how quickly did your company react to a customer’s inquiry? You need to know from a customer’s perspective. How long did it take to get an inside sales person? How long did it take for them to get back with me about my questions?  How long did placing the order take?  How long did it take to ship the products purchased?  How long did it take for customer service answer and respond to send a bad or missing part from the shipment?  All these questions need to fit your firm and be answered regularly in order to address training issues, organization problems and other causes for shipment delay.  Measure it and react.