By Peter Lyle DeHaan Marketing drives sales. You can’t hope to have the latter without the former. Over the years I’ve tapped many marketing channels. Some were successful and others not so much. At the call center where we specialized in telephone answering service, I made extensive use of Yellow Pages ads. Remember them? It […]
Know Your Options to Craft an Informed Promotion Strategy By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD We’ve never had more marketing options available to us than we do now. It’s an exciting time to be a marketer. It’s also a confusing time. There are so many options it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Each channel provides an opportunity […]
Several years ago, I received a telemarketing call from a well-known self-publishing operation, a division of a well-known traditional publisher. She wanted to talk about book publishing. Although unwelcomed, the interruption didn’t surprise me, because a few years ago I had contacted them. Their business model intrigued me, but I dismissed them when I stumbled […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I’ve been in many situations lately where people ask me what I do for a living. It’s a query I dread, not because I’m embarrassed but because I find the follow-up questions exhausting. Here’s an example: “What do you do?” the woman asks. “I’m a writer, and I publish magazines.” […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD My wife and I recently moved. Some aspects went smoothly, and others were not so good. Part of moving is canceling services and changing mailing addresses. Each one is a customer service opportunity. Some companies excel at this, while others struggle, which produces repeat calls. This causes ramifications for both […]
Use Customer Communications to Strengthen the Business Relationship, Not Ruin It By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Back in the days when I had a physical phone line, my provider changed names. I’m still not sure if this was the result of new ownership or merely a rebranding effort. Regardless, there was much hype surrounding this news, […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Last year my local phone company changed. There was much to-do surrounding this news, arriving in the form of frequent mailed communications and email messages and spanning several months. Throughout this, the phone company repeatedly promised that there would be no rate increases – all that would change was their […]
Unrestrained Marketing Can Drive Business Away By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In most cases, businesses face legal restrictions when it comes to calling residential phone numbers. Aside from some carved-out exemptions, the one key exception is if there is an existing business relationship (EBR) between the company and the person they’re calling. So, if you’re […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD With the fall elections in the United States now in our rear-view mirror, we can now take a calmer look at what happened. In the days preceding the election, more than one person shared with me their eagerness for the voting to come to a conclusion. Quite succinctly, their common […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD As if marketers don’t have enough to worry about, the FTC is reportedly considering a “Do-Not-Track” registry. This would allow consumers to sign up to have their Web browsing activity hidden from advertisers. (This effort comes after the consumer favorite “Do-Not-Call” bill, which decimated the telemarketing industry and reportedly cost millions […]