This old thing still works well

Rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated..

A recent article in B2B Marketing highlighted just how popular the channel still is and that it is et to grow.

Recent research shows the main uses for Telemarketing appear to be for “generating new leads” and for booking “sales appointments” closely followed by “lead qualification”.

These primary demand generation factors,whilst important,are not the only use that Telemarketing can be put to.

It’s interesting that this Telemarketing survey was conducted via Email…Customeyes have been saying for some time that Tel-E-Marketing is the way forward where both elements are combined.

An interesting finding from the research was that customer feedback and research were also cited as uses of Telemarketing.

As a research tool the telephone is vastly underrated and can deliver some amazing results.People love to tell you things and “conversations” not calls allow you to explore and dig more than any email or social media campaign can.

Social media is a great marketing and research channel when used in conjunction with the telephone.

We are becoming more used to punching out emails as a first means of communication than getting on the phone and building rapport.

Maybe it’s time that the phone was dusted off and used more often.

If you need some help with your Telemarketing then please do email us….or push the boat out and call…

Full survey results available at www.b2bm.biz/telemarketing

It's never snowed before has it?

Passengers are very angry at being ignored and not helped…customer care and statisfaction is at an all time low.

We all know that the snow has taken it’s toll on us in recent weeks and in particular in the last few days for us Southerners…other areas in the country have been harder hit but it’s only now that the BBC has decided that it’s an issue….it’s having an impact on BBC heartland so it’s news worthy…

The issue remains that the snow was not unexpected, it had been forecast yet there has been little or no contingency plans put in place to deal with the associated problems.

Airlines have not been anything like as pro active on the customer care front as they could have.In fact this BBC video seems to imply that there has been zero customer care from the major airlines who have totally failed it seems to manage customer expectations.

When the going gets tough companies should get going and pull all the stops out to make sure that customers/passengers get looked after and are made to feel part of the brand.

If there better provision was made for stranded passengers then those passengers would be telling the world how a bad experience was made into a better one by great customer care.Some of the people who have been let down will doubtless think twice before flying with particular carriers….

You can beat the big boys....keep trying

A great article in the FT on 23rd November  -”The Value of Being an Underdog” gives hope to those of us who are up against industry Leviathans.

At times all effort seems futile until cracks appear that allow us smaller,leaner outfits to steal an advantage.

Steve Jobs once said “why join the navy when you can be a pirate?”…this approach has allowed Apple to still be seen as a challenger brand,a maverick that delivers great products.

4 key areas were identified as crucial to the challenger approach.

1.Decide what you stand for and stick to it..retain your core principles

2.Craft a compelling story….make sure that you have a consistent bio that grabs attention

3.Build a Lighthouse Identity….Adam Morgans phrase relates to being a thought leader and instigator – don’t navigate by the consumer let them navigate by you..

4.Be Brave…stick with what you believe to be the right way…

There is of course another factor and that is confidence… be supremely confident in the image that you portray and in story you build your company on.

To challenge successfully takes determination and steely nerves and a dose of basic research awareness…

Steve Jobs may think focus groups are a waste of time but the average company can only benefit when undertaking some straight forward business intelligence ground work.

Who is doing what and where?

What does the market place customer have to say about who is in and who is out?

Any nugget can be turned to your advantage…it was after all a small stone that felled Goliath…a small stone that was delivered effectively…

Go get ‘em

Research can reveal some interesting things if you look

Not just a tree....let me know what you see

It is sometimes difficult to see what is in front of you,sometimes even harder to act upon what you’ve seen.

It is easier to ignore or sideline issues until we are ready to face them,that normally means we never will really deal with the issue.

This can have very serious consequences, a leaky pipe often becomes a burst pipe which means gallons of expensive water all over your new Axminster.

The same is true when considering research and cost effective approachs to listening to your customers.

Factoring in a regular customer research budget needn’t be expensive or a drain on resources.Would companies rather spend a small amount of money regularly or lose valuable customers?

The answer seems obvious but very few companies seem to follow this simple maxim.

The 1-10-100 rule applies here.

Every pound that you have spent on research is well invested.If you had to correct a problem then it would cost you ten times the amount to adjust had you not have spent the early amount.

Should an issue go totally unnoticed until very late in your  customer experience cycle then you may end up paying 100 times what you could have paid in the research phase to put it right.At this point you would have lost valuable customers and the viral impact could well escalate out of all proportion.

In any recession or turbulent trading conditions the three must haves are Training,Customer Research and Marketing…and customer research is a crucial element.

The full Buisness Week Editors  quote went along these lines

“The customer has become a bloody nuisance whose unpredictable behaviour damages carefully made strategic plans,whose activities mess up computer operations and who stubbornly insists that purchased products should work”

Managing that unpredictability is what makes some companies great and others no so.

Research has shown on numerous occasions that customers don’t always complain, when they do they tell more people than would a customer who has a positive story to tell.

In some ways its good to have complaints as it can engender loyalty.If the issue is put right then waves of positive comments will spread form the once disgruntled customer.It’s important to recognise that no complaints can mean the opposite of good news…customers are unhappy but you just hear about it, they’ve voted with their wallets and gone to a rival.

Theodore Levitt said “Absence of complaints is the surest sign of a bad relationship with customers”.

So how can you have a better relationship with your customers?Get more complaints….

Not exactly…you need to make sure that better is a mechanism for complaints and that you make sure that complaints are discovered when they are niggles and not full blown anger tinged issues…

The easiest way to do this is of course to make sure that you have systems in place that regularly checks the customer experience and that you are in touch with your customers and the market in which you operate.

Research,Listen, Learn and benefit from good feedback…can anyone afford not to?

This mobile is just a bit too big...

Monday has been a phone day and it’s been surprisingly successfull.

No huge global, trans-national or even minor companies have elected to use Customeyes….so far…

There has been no major rush that I can detect to browse my web site and discover more about us.

The plan was to instigate all contact by phone first and then follow up with email or letter.Too often I think that my electronic effort gets lost some where between my keyboard and intended inbox. The sense of frustration that a great message is being sat on and not used can be too much to deal with.

Why haven’t they got back to me yet? Are they there? Did I send it to the right person? All these questions can ruin your day.Often the wrong person who gets your email will not forward it to the right person.

Email is not perfect nor is the phone, but, the phone allows a good rapport to be developed and is a useful intelligence device.

I discovered today that the named person on my contact list was not always the person who has responsibility or decision making sign off.I learnt from many calls of future plans that I can now factor into my new business drive.

Information was imparted from some calls that allowed me there and then to change tack and mould my offering to their needs.

I achieved more in half an hour on the phone with one prospect than I could have achieved in weeks had I have gone the email route to begin the relationship building.. The call allowed me to move the contact from my “suspect” list to my “prospect” list straight away.My lists are now better and more organised thanks to calling.

Go on, set aside a morning,grab your phone and get calling…you can get some new customers and maybe if you’re brave call some lapsed ones…

Listening may force companies to act…

Customeyes have always maintained that companies and brands should listen to their customers before someone else does…after all customers have spent their money on your products and services, and you want to hold on to them. At any price?

Daleks that won't rule the world....

Look what happened to Coca Cola when they didn’t listen to their customers…

Recently there have been some great examples of when listening to those customers may not result in agreement and lead the company down a different route than was orginally intended.

Lucy Kellaway in Monday’s FT tells the saga of GAP’s logo and how customers forced the company into changing the redesign back to the old logo.Interesting debate will follow I’m sure as to the power and impact of social media and ownership issues concerning corporate governance.

The other story relates to the BBC backing down on the new Daleks. Fans of Doctor Who rose to complain that the new red, blue and yellow models were not in keeping and the BBC caved in and have decided not to use them.Fans complained that the new Daleks looked like Teletubbies.

Do the majority make it right?Should companies cave in to all customer demands? Does this mean that Social Media now has a negative influence on corporate direction?

Having visited a couple of these fine restaurants  at lunch time it was apparent that one size does not fit all…

Being part of a chain you would expect similarities.There were.

The menu was the same the décor was consistent and the atmosphere was similar.

On both occasions there was a distinct lack of other customers which was a shame because La Tasca has a lot to offer.The lunch time menu is very good with a brilliant offer of Tapas for two for just £10. Good food at a good price.

The down side was that the two experiences were so different from a customer service perspective.

On the one hand we had a chatty waiter who could not do enough for us and gave some good advice on which dishes to choose.He was 12 out of 10 and will definitely be going though to the next round of waiter of the year…

On the other hand we had very good service and were heading for another next round finalist when the bill arrived…when we asked for a glass of white wine we had been given the most expensive option on the wine list which made the whole point of a quick and affordable lunch a nonsense.

When asked about this we were told with a cheeky grin that the restaurant needed to make money and that the wine charge went some way to making our lunch more cost effective….

Surely it would have been a courtesy to give us the options on wine before assuming we would not say anything? Surely there was the realisation that we would feel slightly cheated by not being told? Surely if we were going out grumpy there was little chance that we would ever come back in smiling?Will we go back? Not sure to be honest.

Customer service is on the whole very good at La Tasca, it’s a shame that one little instance has left a slightly sour and expensive taste in the mouth.

This week has not been a good one for sales people…

On a couple of occasions I have picked up the phone without checking the caller display and have been caught in the open with nowhere to hide.Well that’s what it felt like.

Hardly had I finished saying my name when the onslaught began..a torrent of words that were poor attempts to get me to buy their products.

The first one was a telecoms sales pitch.Would I like to save huge amounts of money on all my business lines and effectively get massively discounted call costs with the money I save?

Even though I had mentioned straight away that the office does not have multiple lines this didn’t put the person off from giving me all the benefits of using his company.

I was never asked a direct question that sought to discover what issues I might have with my telecom service and which would have opened up the way for him to offer solutions that I would benefit from.

The second call took on the same characteristics but surpassed the first in as much that my early interjection that I didn’t need his service was simply ignored and even questioned in a very pressing manner.

All the traffic was one way,loads of benefits and why wouldn’t anyone in their right minds etc take up his offer.

Every purchase decision solves a problem. No amount of sales benefits or objection blocking is going to resolve the sale in a positive outcome if you as potential buyer do not have a problem that can be solved by the product/service being offered.

Sales should be about dialogue and not about the selling of the benefits.It’s about exploring the possibilities and not about bombarding you with benefits.

Next week sales people either leave me alone or start by asking me some gentle questions to map out my needs.

Understanding customers and how they spend is the nut to crack. If it could be achieved on a consistent basis then retailers and brand owners would be in heaven.

Huge sums are invested to harvest customer information to learn what that customer represents in terms of value to the retailer, value here being a monetary value.It’s about customer profitability.

Single View is the new marketing buzz word and it looks like it’s going to play an increasing role in the marketing mix.Analysts predict that those retailers not embracing the new vibe will be the ones that get left behind.

Customer experience feedback is a vital part of how the single view is arrived at and highlights the need to ensure that the whole process of the customer journey is evaluated not just a few well worn KPI’s.

How many other sectors could embrace this single view concept? There is certainly scope for most companies to get to grips with this approach.

All companies know who their customers are, most companies know the frequency their customers engage with them and the average transaction.Customer research can drive sales opportunities if undertaken on a regular basis.

Research doesn’t need to be massively complicated to deliver results.Attracting back lapsed or lost customers could make a significant impact on incremental revenue and self fund the research.