Telephone techniques to enhance your marketing campaigns

Crazy as this may sound, I have witnessed so many instances of businesses shooting themselves in the foot with their own telephone.

I saw an ad (4 color, magazine - VERY expensive!) for something I was interested in. I call their phone number & was greeted (well, barely) with a surly, rather annoyed voice who gave off the impression that she'd rather be anywhere else on earth than there, doing her job.

Not a good start.

I asked some questions to which I received one & two word, clipped responses with a few "I don't knows" sprinkled in.

What the heck happened here?

Well, I can guess one of several things:

1. The business owner did not keep their employees in the loop about this new ad campaign & therefore they were not trained how to answer potential inquiries;
2. The employee was aware & didn't care;
3. The business owner doesn't have thorough hiring practices.

OK, so let's tackle them one by one:

1. If the business owner didn't tell their employees, then this must change. Your front line employees can make or break you - be sure it's the right one. Give your employees the tools they need to do their job on your behalf. Tell them about the ad, give them a copy to keep by the phone, tell them to expect more calls when the ad comes out. Go through mock phone calls to identify potential questions so you can create the responses. Finally, write an inbound phone script for them to keep by the phone. Believe me, it will pay off.
2. If the employee was aware & didn't care, this is an easy problem to solve. A heart to heart may be necessary to get the employee on board. If this doesn't work, show them the door. This is your business! There are many, many thousands of great workers out there who are now unemployed.
3. If this last possibility is the answer here then consult with a human resources professional so that you can put good hiring practices in place that will enhance the image of your business and will support your marketing efforts.

As they say on "Millionaire", the phone is your life line to your prospects and customers. Make sure it doesn't kill your business.

The outcome for me? I will not be giving them my business. Too bad too because the ad was great. Probably even cost them a thousand dollars or so. It's sad to waste an opportunity like this.

Perhaps Affordable Marketing Solutions can help. We offer on-site marketing training for employees and communication scripting to make the most of your telephone opportunities.

Conact us today at http://www.myaffordablemarketing.com to see how.

Is your back end up to par?

The other day I received a direct mail offer from a local paint/design store chain here in Connecticut. In the envelope was a letter from the President and a plastic wallet card that I should keep and use to redeem my special offers.



The letter congratulated me on becoming a new homeowner (thx very much) and said I am entitled to a special offer which includes a 10% discount on all paint purchases PLUS an at-home consultation with an interior designer for just $100. Great - sign me up!



I stopped by the store where I was ignored by the paint department staff and encountered many unfriendly "DO NOT TOUCH" hand made signs on various items on the shelves. Hmmmm....



Then I wander over to the decorating area where a friendly (yet non-design staff) woman explained to me how the service worked. She took my business card and said a designer would call me to set up my in-home consultation. That was 4 days ago. Hmmmm....



As I write this I am looking around at my new space which due to various demo projects looks sort of like a living room having a really bad day. I have paint trays, rollers and blue tape all ready to go but NO PAINT.



They completely blew it. I was ready (in fact, eager) to buy right then & there (had my swatches with me) and they lost me. Their marketing took me from a name on a new homeowners list as a lead, to a prospect, to an "I want to buy from you" [almost] customer.



So, in the end (pun intended) the moral of the story is be absolutely sure your back end supports your front end marketing dollars. After all, isn't that why you're spending lots of money on creative, print, graphics, postage, etc.? If your employess don't support your marketing efforts you're wasting your money, but more importantly, your customers time. Perhaps I should send the President an invoice for my time along with a proposal for my marketing training services?



What are your thoughts?