Categories
Call Center

Harvesting Data From Websites

I’m used to people harvesting contact information from my websites to send me messages, most of which are spam. I have a dozen or so sites, with each containing links to many of the others. So it’s not uncommon for them to harvest an email from one site, jump to the next to harvest a […]

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Business

Click-Through-Rate

Most of my Websites include ads from Google. If you’re not familiar with how Google ads work, here’s a brief overview. I put some special software code (html code) on my websites, which goes and gets ads from Google each time someone views that page. The content of the ad (generally) relates to the content of that […]

Categories
Call Center

Want More Sales? Check Your Email

If it’s your job to obtain clients for your call center, I have a secret technique to increase your closing ratio and success rate: check your email. Seriously. I suspect that there’s a better than even chance that you are missing leads, spurning prospects, and losing sales – all because of email. If you don’t […]

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Business

Free Stuff from PR Firms

PR firms often want to send me books. Their hope is that I will review them in one my magazines or blogs. Sometimes the books directly relate to the magazines’ focus, other times they cover a parallel topic, and occasionally there is no connection whatsoever.  (If you hire a PR firm, make sure that they don’t […]

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Business

The Threat of “Do-Not-Mail”

Five years ago, the call center industry was confronted head on with the DNC (Do-Not-Call) legislation. As millions signed up to block most telemarketing calls to their home, the pool of prospect numbers shrank dramatically. Since then, the face of outbound calling in the United States has been unalterably changed. DNC registration has surged past […]

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Business

I Need to Get Smart About Snickers Nougatocity

My bride and I recently watched the movie Get Smart. As a long-time fan of the 60s TV series, I was greatly anticipating this flick—and was not disappointed. There were a good number of subtle tie-ins and allusions to the show, but not so many as to be excessive or alienate new fans. Overall, I […]

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Business

Is it a Scam, Bad Marketing, or Ineptitude?

I recently received a perplexing postcard. In exchange for taking a two-minute survey, they promised me some substantial rewards—free lodging and gas. Here is the front and back of the postcard: I called the number on the card and entered my twelve-digit code, as instructed, into their automated system. The system looked up my name and […]

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Business

Email Marketing and Responding to Internet Inquiries

For AnswerStat magazine, I have posted on directories of medical call centers (call centers that provide services to the medical community). This information has been compiled from information provided by the companies listed. As such, they made a choice to be listed; they want to be there—ostensibly to gain new clients and grow their call […]

Categories
Business

Wasteful Packaging

I continue to be amazed at the way certain products are packaged. There is often waste and much more packaging material than is needed or justified. The black hose fitting below is accompanied by the blue holder. Both made of plastic, the holder, or packaging, is about 25 to 33% of the size if the […]

Categories
Call Center

Hiding Behind the EBR

If your call center is only making EBR (existing business relationship) calls, you may think you have nothing to worry about, right? No. Just because it is legal to dial a number, doesn’t mean you should. Calling too often or for the wrong reasons could turn an EBR into a former EBR. This happened when […]