Asainmen
Owner for di first second, no be di first reply
Room dey for most companies where leads dey go think about dem life. Dem dey call am shared inbox, everybody fit see am, and na exactly dat be di problem: thing wey everybody fit answer na thing wey nobody must answer.
Ask team who own new enquiry and you go get di honest answer eventually: whoever reach am first. E sound like healthy initiative but e behave like lottery. Di enquiries wey arrive ten for Tuesday go get answer in four minutes. Di ones wey arrive six for Friday go get answer on Monday, or Tuesday, or heartfelt apology three weeks later wey begin "sorry for di slow reply".
iKonekt dey assign on arrival. Before anybody don read am, before anybody don decide whether e look promising, di contact don get name against am. Wetin change no be di speed of di reply — dat one still na human being with diary. Wetin change be say person dey now wey di silence dey visible for.
Three weys to disaid, and one rul unda-neath
By rule
Source, product, language, value, di words inside di message. German enquiry about installation go go to di person wey dey do German installations, any hour, without anybody need to notice.
By territory
Postcode, region, country. Di classic one, and still di right answer when di work involve person physically arriving somewhere.
By rota
Round robin, weighted if some people carry more. Boring, fair, and impossible to argue with for Monday meeting — three underrated properties.
Underneath all three na one rule wey no bend: every contact get exactly one owner at any moment. No be team. No be queue with team name. One person, wey im name dey on am, wey fit hand am to another person in two clicks — and at dat point, di handover sef dey on record.
Yes, people go re-assign to each other. Dat one no be leak for di design, na di design. Di difference between "I pass dis one to Marta because she know di product" and "I hope say somebody go handle am" na roughly di whole business.
Wetin dis one make possible on a Monday
Di reason to care about assignment no be tidiness. Na say set of questions wey before nobody fit answer don become ordinary:
- Wetin arrive over di weekend, and who get am?
- Which contacts no get reply for more than one day, and whose dem be?
- Anybody dey carry two times wetin everybody else dey carry — and we notice am before dem tell us?
- When person dey sick no come work, whose work need temporary home, and wetin dem don already promise?
None of dat one na report wey anybody suppose build. E just fall out of di fact say ownership don exist from di very first second.
- MWMarekTwo reply on Saturday, without anybody prompt dem, because e fit see say na dem own.
- AZAlicjaAll five answer before nine. One don already book.
- TKTomekDey sick since Friday — dem re-assign both inside one action, and im notes still dey intact.
No owner: 0Nothing dey wait make one person come feel responsible
Di objection wey worth make you take serious
"Automatic assignment dey send work go wrong person." Sometimes, yes. Rule no fit know say one customer na founder friend, or say di enquiry wey mention "roof" na actually warranty claim.
But compare di failure modes well well. Wrong owner: one person go see am, move am, and di whole thing cost eleven seconds. No owner: nobody go see am, nobody go move am, and di cost na di whole enquiry — usually dem go discover am one month later when person dey search di inbox for another reason and find one very polite message from person wey don already buy somewhere else.
We pick di failure wey human being fit fix inside eleven seconds.
“Somebody go pick am up.”
Somebody no be person.
Contact wey belong to everybody, by Friday evening e no belong to anybody. Here, before anybody read one word, name don already dey on top am.
Then wetin di owner see →