Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Marketing On Hold

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What do your customers hear when they are put on hold? 

If your on-hold messaging is tuned to a radio station, your customers may hear static (when the tuning isn’t right), programming or ads that are offensive to some customers, or even ads for your competitors.

If you use radio programming, check from time to time to make sure the sound quality is good. Choose a radio station that plays music your customers will like. Avoid controversial programming that will offend or annoy many of your customers.

There are services that can provide custom on-hold programming for your business, designed to promote your products and services.Do a search for “on hold marketing” or “on hold messages” to find them. Or, you may choose to script and record your own messages. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone to create your on-hold messaging, make it effective.

Include a few short messages, instead of one long one. You should make an effort to keep customers on hold only a short time, and you want them to get the full effect of the messages they hear.

Keep the language simple. Customers are probably only listening halfway. Don’t use a lot of jargon or numbers that will confuse them. Instead, suggest a few powerful benefits that will grab customers’ attention and get them to listen to the rest of your message.

Some of the information you might want to mention in your message would be your hours, locations, web site URL, credit cards accepted and other payment options, and your slogan. If there are questions your customers often call to ask, answer them in your on-hold messaging.

Find a reason for customers to ask to be put on your mailing list. Remind customers to ask for a catalog or tell them about your free newsletter.

Give tips and advice of interest to your customers. Teaching them how to use your products and services more effectively will increase their satisfaction.

Offer a special available only to callers, such as a discount on a specified product: “Be sure to ask your representative for this special telephone discount.”

Tell a customer success story. This not only is a powerful testimonial, it promotes your customers.

Use customer testimonials. Consider using testimonials in the customers’ own voices. Have customers record brief messages (you can do this over the telephone or in person) about how your business has helped them, then rotate them in your on-hold messaging.

Introduce a staff member. Give a name and brief biographical sketch about one of your employees.

How many times have you heard a message saying, “Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold.”? Do you scream back, “If my call is so important, why am I still holding?” If you use such a message, phrase it better. At least let customers know that you understand their time is valuable, and you will be with them as soon as possible to provide the service they need.

Change your message regularly, perhaps monthly, to include mentions of new products, sales and specials, and seasonal information.

A Little Something Extra

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We’ve all heard the expression, “under promise and over deliver.” It means that giving customers more than they expect is a way to increase satisfaction and loyalty. 

One way to “over deliver” is to give customers something extra—an unadvertised bonus. If the product they bought requires batteries, drop a package of batteries into the box. Upgrade shipping at no extra charge. Give a one-time discount to a repeat customer. Could you provide priority service and faster handling to regular customers, in effect moving them to the front of the line?

Upgrade customers to a higher-priced product or service, at no charge. Hotels, airlines and car rental companies do this all the time.

The best extras are items that cost you little or nothing, but have value to your customers. It doesn’t cost the hotel any more to put you in a suite than a regular room. If it is not going to be used by a customer willing to pay the price for the suite, why not upgrade a good customer to that room?

A booklet or CD with information they can use could cost well under $1, but have a much higher perceived value. A product you buy in bulk may be inexpensive at wholesale. Check out the wholesalers who specialize in selling overstock merchandise to dollar stores and other discounters. You may find high-quality items at low prices.

When you give customers an extra product or service, make sure there is a price attached to it. For example, you might invoice for the entire cost of a service, then apply a credit to the invoice for the value of the giveaway. This is a vivid reminder to them that there is an associated cost, but they didn’t have to pay it! The point of the price is not to create an artificial value, but to demonstrate that the customer got something worthwhile without paying the price.

Put a few samples of other products in with customer orders. Not only will they be happy they got some freebies, they may add the products they sample to their next orders.

Customers appreciate convenience. The Parking Spot, an airport parking service, hands out bottles of water to returning travelers. They know that their customers have been on airplanes, probably for hours, and may be dehydrated. A cold bottle of water is not an expensive extra, but it is just what customers want. And, they will remember that little extra the next time they are deciding where to park at the airport.

One of the best ways you can over-deliver is by listening to your customers. Call after the sale to ask how the purchase is working out for them. How was their interaction with your staff? Does the product work as expected? Are they satisfied? If there is a problem, this gives you the opportunity to fix it. Even if everything is perfect, customers will be surprised and delighted that you followed up with them.

What can you do to surprise and delight your customers?

Just the FAQs

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Do your customers ask many of the same questions? Do you and your staff spend time on the phone answering the same questions, over and over? Giving your customers access to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at your Web site can save time and money and increase customer satisfaction. FAQs can also lead to increased sales. After all, if a customer is confused or doesn’t have enough information to make a positive buy decision, they will say no. FAQs give them the answers they need.

FAQs may cover general information about your company, such as location, hours, contacts, etc. You may also have FAQs covering what customers need before a purchase, such as the features and benefits of each product, specifications, shipping options and costs, and other details customers need in order to make a decision. Other FAQs may assist customers after the sale. These topics might include troubleshooting common problems, maintenance, upgrades, available accessories and supplies, etc.

A good place to start when developing a FAQ is with the questions customers ask most often. Talk to your customer service and sales staff. Ask what questions they hear most often. And, what questions customers should ask, but often don’t. New users may not know what they don’t know, and may not ask about advanced features that could help them better use your product.

Once you have the questions, compose the answers. Each answer should be short and to the point. Next, group the questions and answers into categories. It is better to have several hyperlinked FAQs than one large one. Have a main FAQs page where you list each category and link to the FAQ. Include a brief description of the contents of each FAQ, such as: General FAQ: hours, locations, how to contact us.

Take a look at some of your favorite Web sites to see how they format FAQs. You can see a good example at http://www.google.com/help/faq.html. Each question is listed at the top of the page, with a hyperlink that takes you directly to the answer. The page also includes links to Google’s user support forum and to contact information for Google, in case you don’t find the answer you need. Note what you like best about the FAQs you encounter, and what you would do differently.

You can see the format I used for a FAQ about mystery shopping on my Web site. A feature I added to make navigating the FAQ easier is a “Back to top of page” link after about every third question. Many users prefer to click on that link than to scroll through a few screens of text to get back to the top of the page.

Keep the page simple, without a lot of graphics that make the page load slowly. People want their answers quickly, and they won’t wait for a graphics-heavy or Flash page.

FAQs are an effective way to anticipate customer questions and provide the answers at the customer’s convenience, 24 hours a day.

The Power of the Personal Touch

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Most customers appreciate a personal touch in their business dealings. Provide it, and they will love doing business with you.

The personal touch may mean personalizing a product. The Lillian Vernon Corporation built a successful catalog business based on prompt, free personalization of items. Their first products were leather belts and purses stamped with customers’ names or initials. Now, the catalog includes an extensive selection of personalized items such as leather goods, towels, pencils, jewelry and key rings.

In these days of increasing automation and online dealings, customers appreciate human contact more than ever. The personal touch you offer may be as simple as answering your own phone. Although I have an automated voice mail system to take calls when I am unavailable, if I am in my office, I answer my own phone. Callers are often shocked when they reach me directly.

Several years ago, my father had an issue with his Internet service provider. He called tech support, and they resolved the problem. The next day, the president of the company called him to see if everything was working properly and if he was satisfied with the service. Dad is savvy enough to know that this was a very small company, and the president was probably the same tech who helped him earlier. Nonetheless, he was impressed that the company cared enough about keeping his business that they called to follow up.

Following up a purchase, service issue or complaint with a phone call or note makes customers feel valued. It takes very little of your time, and you may get valuable feedback in the process.

There is another old-fashioned but effective way to add a personal touch: Sign your work. I encourage customers to buy books directly from me by saying that the books are personally signed by the author. Another author said that, although she didn’t mean to offend me, she didn’t know why anyone would want my signature. After all, I’m not famous.

Well, I didn’t take offense at her observation. I was actually a little surprised by the phenomenon, too. The fact is that people like the personal touch that comes with a signed item. Maybe they are hoping that I will become famous (or infamous!) one day, and they will be able to sell the book on eBay for a huge profit.

However, I think it is even simpler. Customers like to know that the author took a moment to sign a copy of the book for them. It gives them a connection to a famous (or almost-famous) author.

Craftsmen and artists often sign their work. Do you produce a product you could sign? Even if your business is installing air conditioners, would saying that “all of our installers sign their work,” be a powerful message to customers about the pride your installers put in to everything they do?

Putting your name to something means that you have pride in it. Backing that up with a signature adds a personal touch to which customers will respond. 

Choose Your Customers Wisely

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dancing-pigIn my office, there is a sign that says, “Do not try to teach a pig to dance. It doesn’t work, and it annoys the pig.” That is a reminder to me that there are some customers that are not good for my business. Trying to work with them will be frustrating for both of us.

I had to learn this the hard way. In the early days of my business I took on any client willing to hire me. Doing so meant that I spent a lot of time trying to make things work– time that I could have invested in cultivating relationships with more appropriate clients.

Your business will be most profitable, and you will find your work most satisfying, when you are working with clients who are compatible with your vision and values. Consider what makes a client a good fit with your organization, then actively seek compatible clients and avoid those who are not good matches.

You might focus on serving a niche market. Targeting that niche can make your marketing more efficient and effective. Specialization can also make your work more enjoyable.

As you think about your clients, you will discover patterns among your favorites (as well as the not-so-favored clients). What makes your favorite clients a joy? It may be the kind of work you do for them, the culture of their organizations, their work styles or their personalities. And what was it about other clients that made working with them a challenge?

Chances are you knew that the problem clients would be difficult before you took them on, but you ignored your instincts because you thought you needed the work. Next time, trust that “little voice” that told you to run, not walk, away from this client.

It may be that there is nothing wrong with you or the client, but the combination just doesn’t work. Someone who seems like a toxic client to you because your styles clash may be a perfect fit with one of your competitors, so make a referral. Your competitor can do the same for you when they come across a client who isn’t a good match for them.