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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Telemarketing it

In spite of the increasing use of the internet, particularly emails in marketing, telemarketing is still relevant. Telemarketing is simply marketing over the telephone. Most telemarketing calls are "cold calls," that is, calls made to a prospect when he/she has not requested for it. Due to its often out-the-blue approach of people who may not find it pleasant, telemarketing is one of the most controversial types of marketing. However, its main purpose to make a sale or at least introduce the product or service.
Though, it can quite effective, telemarketing is mainly used as a component of an integrated marketing campaign. It supplements advertising and direct marketing campaigns. It can be used to handle a number of different tasks:
- Direct sales to prospect over the phone
- Maintain contact with current customer
- Generating leads from unqualified mailing lists
- Following up direct marketing programmes
- carrying out market research, using surveys to establish consumer response to products or side incentives
- Winning back lapsed customers by introducing them to new products that may be of greater interest following up leads generated through advertising or direct marketing or via intermediaries
- maintaining contact with customers as part of a relationship marketing programme
Telemarketing also can provide a point of response for queries generated through advertising or direct marketing campaigns or to obtain information from respondent as a basis for future database marketing.
But if it is done unprofessionally, telemarketing can ruin the gains of advertising and every other marketing effort. This is because experience is always more powerful, and is engraved in the memory, more than information. So a telemarketer must be grounded in professional telephone etiquettes.


Tuesday, March 30, 2010

24 Tips on Business Telephone Etiquettes

Telephone has become a vital tool in business. You really cannot do much without it. More and more business communications are now done on the phone. So, just as you strive to be at your best during business presentations, you must ensure that you are at your best during business-related telephone conversations.

The following are tips on telephone etiquettes that will help individuals and organisations succeed in their business communications:

1. Every staff or member of the organisation should be taught the right procedures for making and receiving business calls. This is to ensure that anyone who makes or answers calls on behalf of the organisation properly represents its brand.

2. When you pick up the phone, greet the caller depending on the time of the day.

3. While calling, it is proper to introduce yourself and give the name of your organization. This helps the person you are calling to make decisions on time.

4. While receiving calls for your company, go like this, “Good morning, XYZ Company, Johnson speaking. How may I help you?" this helps the caller to ascertain whether he/she has called the right organisation or not.

5. Use simple words and short phrases while making business phone calls.

6. Go straight to the point. It is courtesy, your message, then a courteous ending. Don’t go round the point.

7. No casual words or slangs during business phone conversations.

8. It is good business telephone ethic for both the caller and receiver to write down information when necessary. So when preparing to make or take a call, ensure that you have something to write on.

9. If you dial a wrong number, apologize immediately and disconnect. Dial carefully.

10. As much as possible, do not put a caller on hold. But if you have to, ensure that you ask for their permission and check back with them every minute or so and ask if they would like to continue to hold. This is to assure them that they have not been forgotten.

11. Never eat food or chew gum while talking on the phone, especially for a business call. It causes unpleasant sounds that can disgust your caller or receiver.

12. Do not make or take business phone calls while driving. This is not only dangerous but divides your attention.
13. Do away with every form of distraction while making or taking business calls. Turn-off the TV or radio, move away from a noise area and concentrate. Your next business deal may be totally dependent on that call.

14. Speak softly but audibly and clearly. Make sure the volume of your telephone is optimal not too high and not too low.

15. Keep your business telephone calls brief and friendly.

16. Be mindful of differences in time zones. So that you call at appropriate times, preferable in the day; not earlier than 9am and not later than 9pm.

17. Also be mindful of cultural differences. Complimentary words and phrases in one culture may be considered insulting in another culture.

18. Speak clearly and slowly. Don’t not mumble, stammer or slur. Vary your pitch and tone to stress important words.

19. Never be rude to a caller no matter what. Always conduct yourself in a professional business-like manner. That is what is expected from the staff a professional organisation.

20. Incoming calls should be answered on time. Allowing it ring for a long time speaks ill your organisation.

21. Be very attentive. Don’t make the caller repeat every word. If his or her voice is not audible, politely ask him or her to speak louder and clearer.

22. Don't interrupt the caller when he or she is speaking.

23. Put the receiver down gently. Never slam the phone. It is rude.

24. Finally, before initiating a call, spend some time preparing yourself mentally. Carefully outline all that needs to be discussed.

Communicating for life

“The one factor that will determine how much money you will make is your ability to communicate”. I heard the statement for the first time from Marshawn Evans, the CEO of Communication Counts, and it made a lot of sense to me.
This is the information age. Everything is revolving around information and how it is transferred from one place to another; from the sender to the receiver and back to the sender. The main fact is that this trend will continue. Information will become more essential. It has been predicted that in the next few years the ability to use the Internet will become a basic necessity. It’s either you are in it or you loose out in every other thing.
In spite of the proliferation of digital communication, the most basic form of communication such as speaking, writing, and gesturing are still relevant. So even if you don’t have access to a computer, may be you have a phone. If you don’t, at least you can speak. If you can’t, may be you can write. If you can’t, may be you give show gestures. Whichever way, ensure that you communicate.
No matter how great your idea is, you cannot grow it alone; you must learn skills from other people; you must seek fund from other people; you must work with other people and when you succeed at turning it into marketable products, you must sell it to other people.
I consciously used the word ‘must’ and that is because we really do not have a choice in this matter. The things that we need to progress are always with other people, around us or far away, and we must communicate to access them.
Communicating is as important as living. Great communicators are usually seen as wealthy, influential and relevant, and they usually are. So thrive to become one.

The Power of One Customer

There was this shop in a small community. It sold everything from grocery to stationery to tools and clothing too. It offered a one stop shopping experience, everybody in the community patronized it; competition was minimal. But that was until it got it wrong.

As their monopoly became more established, the attendants of this super shop grew less and less courteous. They became obviously unwilling make extra effort to ensure that the hundreds of people that visit their shop daily get good service. They began having arguments with customers more often and were always unwilling to concede.

One day, a man who was known in that community as an honest gentleman, went to the shop at one those busy moments. He was kept waiting for about 10 minutes unattended to. When he complained to one of the attendant, she shouted at him, “Wait. Are you the only one?”

That moment the rowdy shop went quiet. All eyes were on the scene. The man walked away. In solidarity, a good number of other customers there walked away too. That was the beginning of the end for that shop.
The news of the incident spread round the town, eliciting more reactions. Without any consensus, people stopped patronizing the big shop. They went to the smaller shops instead.

Sooner than later, the customer base of the big shop thinned down to less than 20 percent of what it used to be. The advertising campaigns and promotion they employed did not yield much result because majority of the community – their target market – were still unhappy with them. The business eventually closed. They lost the market right when they had it. One impolite treatment of one customer cost them the whole market.

About the most important aspect of branding is establishing a very good customer service and relations. Sales are made on the lines of good relationships. You must show the customer that you are in business for his/her own good. He/she must see that you care. People are more likely to believe what they have experienced than what they see or hear.

So do your advertising well but don't forget that one satisfied customer is worth more than a million prospects.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Making Your Brand Name Stick

Some restaurants have funny names; but none, that I know, has a funnier name than one that I visited months ago near Airport Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria. Its name is ‘Mine Thing Hot Restaurant’. The name stuck. I told it as a joke to many of friends; I shared it on facebook; I wrote a story about it titled ‘What’s in a name’ that was published on www.234next.com and I recommended the restaurant to friends, at least for them to verify the bizarre name. All that advertisement were neither solicited nor paid for. That is the advantage of naming your business right.
When choosing a name for your brand, these things should be consider:

1. Your brand name should be distinct: This means that it stands out, especially from the lot of competitors in the same market with you. Giving a name like ‘Panasony Electronics’ to your new electronics producing firm will reduce its value. The name will essentially portray your firm as a ‘Panasonic and Sony wannabe’. With that alone, the integrity of your brand will be in doubt and that will result to low acceptance in the market and of course low or no profit.

2. Your brand name should reflect you unique selling point: People, including your would-be customers are busy. They will be even busier in the future. So the faster you can come across to them, the better. Don’t make your prospect go through the trouble of figuring out what they will gain from patronizing you and not your competitor. While interviewing the owner of Mine Thing Hot Restaurant, a middle-aged woman who runs the restaurant alongside her two daughters, she said, “...my food is always hot, that’s why my customers come here.”

3. Your brand name should be witty: You have to play with words until you get something catchy. Get all the words that individually portray essential aspects of what your firm is offering, particularly the ones that make you different. Work with them until you get the one word or combination of words that is memorable enough to that a person who sees it once can remember it unconsciously. The name has to appeal to the emotion of your target customers. Making them rhyme helps.
With all these in place, you definitely have a name to run with. The next step is making it known to as many people as possibly. “Just put it in our faces.” On flyer; on billboards; on TV; on radio; and very importantly on the internet.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Notice my brand?

A brand is unique; easily identifiable even within a pool of varying individuals, groups, firms, products or services. It is communicated through names, campaigns, signs, symbols or designs, or a combination of them. The intention is to be different.

In no other time in history has branding been this important. There are now about 7 million individuals on earth all seeking attention and millions of products and services making strong marketing presence on all spheres of the media. So to be noticed these days is difficult.

How do I get noticed?

Simply communicate. The lady that catwalks down the aisle in busy mall wearing a tight blouse on a mini skirt, with a heavily painted face; gets noticed. Whether you like the sight or not, she got your attention.

That is brand communication. Her expression through her appearance and her gait created an impression in your mind. That impression determines whether you will be willing to do business with her or not.

How do I gain?

Brand communication is the bedrock of all marketing campaign. A product or service is never meant for everybody. There must be a target market to whom the brand communication is directed with the intent to influence them into making buying decisions.

To succeed at branding an individual, product or service, the needs and wants of the customers and prospects must be understood and put into consideration. That's where branding begins; studying the psychology of the target market.

This is essential because your brand is in the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot.

So branding is not cheap but it is worth every dime and effort. Once well built and communicated, a brand is then well positioned to make profit, provided it is well managed.