25 October 2010 | Angeline Albert
Scottish buyers
are the most patient in the UK, according to research by Vodafone.
Out of 1,731 British workers
surveyed, firms in London, Yorkshire and the North West are
the most impatient with 27 per cent expecting suppliers to respond to queries
within an hour, in contrast to firms in Scotland who are happy to wait over a
week.
In Scotland, 15.4 per cent of
businesses are prepared to wait a week and 5.4 per cent are prepared to wait
even longer.
More
businesses in London (22 per cent) expect a response within 30 minutes than in
any other region, while across the south east of England 21.5 per cent of
companies want a response within 24 hours. Businesses in Yorkshire were most
likely to immediately contact another supplier (42 per cent) if they had not
received a response within their preferred timeframe. Firms in
London are also more likely to expect their suppliers to respond within the
hour or they will take their business elsewhere.
Vodafone said the average cost to suppliers of not responding to
potential new business enquiries was £30,000 for the average company this year
- up from £21,993 in 2009.
In the past 12 months, 39 per cent of firms said they had cancelled a
contract with a supplier, did so because of poor communication. Either they had
difficulty contacting key decision makers, got a slow response to an urgent
call or they went elsewhere because a competing supplier was able to provide a
quicker service.
A spokesman for Vodafone
said: “It is no use suppliers thinking they are safe because they have worked
with the same company for a long duration, more than seven in ten businesses
polled (71 per cent) said there is less room for goodwill, personal
relationships and giving suppliers ‘the benefit of the doubt’ in 2010.”
