The 5th
principle we're going to cover is a little more traditional than the last one
we covered. I am of course talking about the telephone, and using it more
effectively.
The telephone is
actually one of the most powerful, yet under-used, marketing methods at your
disposal. Now, we're going to talk about you calling customers in a moment, but
first, ask yourself this question; What more could you be doing to encourage
more people to call you? Is your phone number not only on every page of your
website, but every other bit of marketing material you've created? Do you put a
call to action to call you on every bit of marketing? Do you reinforce how easy
it is for people to do business with you? Have you tried direct mail, adverts
or something like that specifically to inspire the reader to pick up the phone?
These are all
great ways that you can use to get more people contacting you on the phone, and
that's the first step to using the phone effectively; without even going near
the phone!
Now, once you've
maximised your incoming calls, you want to seriously consider making the
telephone a major part of your marketing.
A lot of people
look with distain upon telemarketing, so let me explain; I'm not talking about
high-pressure sales calls, I'm talking about calls to customers and potential
customers that have the sole purpose of gathering information and making sure
that all their needs are being met.
Remember; if our
highest purpose is to add value to our customers lives, the purpose of our call
is going to be just that; to find ways that we can add value.
So, when it comes
to using the phone, the first place to start is with your existing customers,
or your past customers who've stopped doing business with you. I can pretty
much guarantee you that if you start calling them, you will be pleasantly
surprised at the results. What few people realise is that your customers are
crying out to be communicated with effectively. We all crave for someone to
come along, solve our problems, offer us great products, or a quality service.
It's so rare and infrequent, that when it does happen, we're taken aback. The
secret is to forget about making sales calls and instead have them as genuine
customer service and information gathering calls. Phone your customers, see if
they're happy with what you did for them, how they're doing generally, and if
they have any needs that you can look after. If they don't, have a little chat
and say goodbye.
If they do have something they want from you, do you and them
a favour, and suggest they buy from you. It's not hard selling; it's actually
incredible service. So few businesses do this, but those that do get really
great results. Let me add that if you don't like making phone calls, then don't
make them! To use the phone effectively, you must be comfortable and enjoy
talking on the phone to customers. Perhaps try out-sourcing your telemarketing
to a telemarketing company? There are two types of people in the world; those
who love spending all day on the phone speaking to people, and those who don't.
If you are in the latter category, don't worry about it; just go find someone
who does love spending all day on the phone, because for not much investment,
they can really create miracles for your business.
It's also worth
testing telemarketing for getting new customers. Now, there are several ways
of doing this, but one of the most effective is to use the phone to set
appointments so that you or a colleague can go meet potential customers. Now
obviously this depends on the type of business you're in, but I'm really
surprised continually by the number of fairly large and successful businesses
who've got where they are by having maybe one of their staff members spend a
few hours a week setting some appointments.
I can think of several companies
who make millions doing this. Test it. For example, how long would it take
someone on the phone to set you, say, 20 appointments? How much does that cost?
And how much does it cost you to get to these appointments? And how many of
these appointments result in new business? What's that worth for you?
That's a pretty
low-cost test for you to try out, and if you find it works for you, the
potential for growth and profits are absolutely huge.
So your action
step is this;
At the very least,
test using the phone for a week; either with existing customers, or to create
new business, measure the results, and you may be in for a big, and highly
profitable, surprise.
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