For marketing to achieve great things the marketing plan must include a mixture of channels.
You would only have a Facebook page in your marketing plan, just as you wouldn’t have only grapes in a fruit salad. Different channels increase the chances of reaching more people while creating a cohesive brand. And branding is big news when it comes to customer loyalty and perception of what your business is all about.
Customer care used to be pretty straight forward. You phoned the business number, spoke to the right department who hopefully resolved the problem over the phone or had someone visit your home or business to settle the issue.
These days, the competition is fierce, customers are wanting (and expecting) an ‘instant’ result. And, instead of waiting for the train or bus and talking to the person next to them, everyone is steering down at their phones, trying to fit in as many tasks as possible.
The modern consumer has multiple channels in which to seek help – this isn’t front-page news. So why are so many businesses stuck with old-world customer care practices? Fear perhaps? Or simply not knowing where to start?
Typically, Christmas is a time when your permanent staff are slowing down and planning their summer holiday. However, Christmas is also infamous for customer care centres to be at their busiest! Last minutes demands or scheduling appointments while retailers dealing with product returns due to the wrong size, wrong colour or wrong delivery.
To retain those loyal customers and stay on top of things here are a few tips to keep your business ticking along nicely so you can think about winding down.
We could build suspense and not give you the answer until the end of this article but you know what we are going to say, don’t you? Cold calling may not be completely dead yet, but it has become an increasingly unproductive and unsuccessful marketing approach.
Telemarketing and telesales sometimes come with negative perceptions. They conjure up visions of large, impersonal call centres in far-away countries which feel more like factories than anything else. While this type of operations exists, there is a way to conduct quality telemarketing campaigns which will help grow business without alienating prospects.
While sales and marketing are different processes, because they are two sides of the same coin, the boundaries between them often get blurred. Telemarketing and telesales don’t escape this confusion – all the more so that telesales is, in effect, a component of telemarketing. Telemarketing is often used even by industry experts as a blanket term for all phone activities related to establishing contact with potential customers. However, telemarketing and telesales have different objectives and outcomes, so it is crucial to understand how they differ to get the most out of your phone campaign.