Different Approach, better results…
Every forward thinking business has found that targeted customer research has proved to have a positive effect on new business and profitability.
Customer research does not only relate to current customers but also the competitive environment – those customers that you are still to win over.Indeed it is these future customers that may well have the best intelligence on where you as a company need to be to maximise profitability.
Social Media,New Media and profitability
Brands are spending considerable time and effort to leverage every communications channel, especially Social Media platforms.This effort to engage has been taken up by consumers and business alike, we are surfing the edge of the wave in technology terms.
We exist in a Social Selling environment. .We need to utilise techniques that are in essence social and interactive. Telemarketing by definition is the use the phone, which has always been an instrument of social interaction,an obvious comment, but often the phone is not used in a social manner.
Why then are so many telemarketing campaigns cold and in personal? Why is it never a conversation and always a stream of questions that never take the two minutes that is promised at the start?
Telemarketing
Telemarketing has proved to be a successful part of the marketing mix. It has many variants but is rarely seen as a prime research tool in its own right which is a shame.Most would see telemarketing as an appointment setting function, a follow up to say a direct marketing campaign.A customer research perception does not immediately spring to mind.
Within business there exists negative views on its use.It is relatively low cost compared with other options,it can be monitored and does get results.There are many very good,professional exponents of the art of Telemarketing and may they carry on the good work.
Weapon of Mass Assumptions
Sadly telephones are weapons of mass assumptions – namely that the caller can bombard you with questions or can try to get through to your boss and book an appointment, all this without any thought to what your day is looking like.Basically that any time might be the right time to call.There has to be some pre call qualification and justification for the call.
Telephones should be used to engage with people who ever they are, C2C or B2B and used for Research and not only for selling or setting up a sale.
Electronic Surveys
An evolving sector and rising above the SPAM issues that have dogged its effectiveness. There are now a myriad of credible companies out there that can help with emailing in numbers and in providing email mailing lists.
There must be research out there that says how many electronic messages we receive every day.It must run into the hundreds so targeted use of E Marketing has to be everyone’s watchword.
Used effectively Electronic marketing can produce great results. The danger is that we are avalanched by email and it is difficult to know which are good and which bad.
Twitter,Linkedin,Facebook and Myspace all play a part in this electronic soup.There must be an effective way of using all of these components to form a solid research base.
Tel-E-Market
The marketing mix should include customer feed back mechanisms that utilise new formats.Market research that looks at customers, markets or niches should embrace a Tel-E-Market approach.
Customeyes feel that companies and organistaions of all sizes should be encouraged to Tel-E-Market.
Fusion
Our Tel-E-Market research services are a fusion of Telemarketing and Electronic approaches..We use combinations of telephone and web based surveys as tools to get feed back from customers and on competitors.A back to basics approach to research that allows the social elements of the tools available to be used in a manner that cost effectively benefits clients.
How can Customeyes help you to Tel-E-Market?
- Use the telephone as an effective tool to research and discover – Social Interaction, people respond to people
- We can do the appointment setting along with the research,new business and interviewing – lets leave old perceptions behind and soften the approach
- Use web based surveys to learn more about what customers and competitors think
- Integrate and not Separate – Link the phone and web to bring you a better spread of responses that reflect media usage
- Use Social Media platforms to engage with research universe – Linkedin and Twitter are ideal bases from which to conduct research.
Why bother you may ask? Well we might just be able to do some or all of the following -
- Prevent customer churn and defection – pro active research may prevent the loss of a valuable income stream and cement a better relationship
- Introduce clients to services you offer that they were unaware of
- Benchmark products at the point of service delivery
- Regain business from lost or lapsed customers – often customers leave for the simplest of reasons that can be put right, you just have to know what the reasons are..
- Find out what your competitors are up to – competitive intelligence to see what the market is up to and your rivals
- Highlight potential New Product or Service areas previously not thought about – customers are full of good ideas on what other companies should be doing…
- Provide some brilliant PR that will help with marketing, success stories generate success..
Customeyes Research,helping you to Tel-E-Market effectively to gain added customer intelligence.
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