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 was a different time. Though the Yellow Pages books still exist in some markets, the internet rendered them obsolete. I also ran print media advertising in local business-oriented magazines. I even dabbled in radio and cable TV ads.
For my consulting business I relied on print media advertising and trade shows, but most of my work came through networking, with some word-of-mouth support.
My periodical sales also occurred through networking and trade shows. Yet the publications themselves became their own marketing tool and the best way to showcase their promotional impact. In recent years my marketing reach has been bolstered by SEO (search engine optimization) and the reputation of my long-standing websites with thousands of pages of valuable, industry-specific content.
Most recently I’ve focused my marketing attention on promoting books. My website is the center of that activity, strengthened by favorable SEO and content marketing posts—I started blogging in 2008. I connect with my fans through my weekly newsletter and enjoy good open rates and meaningful interaction. Social media plays a small but worthwhile role in pointing people to my website. This sets a great foundation for book sales, but I drive additional sales through internet marketing.
The channels you use will differ from mine, but most are worthy of consideration regardless of what business you’re in. We can learn useful lessons from all of them.
Consider some of the common marketing channel options:
Retail
Direct mail
Direct mail followed by a phone call
Print media
Brochures and sales literature
Telephone (inbound and outbound telemarketing)
Broadcast media (television and radio)
Trade shows
Books
Networking
Referrals
Cold calls
Websites
Content marketing
Social media
Social media advertising
Advertising platforms and banner ads
Email and newsletters
Each of these marketing channels has a proven record of producing sales. Unfortunately, these same methods have also been total failures. Campaigns that consistently generate high sales numbers for one company have been colossal flops at others.
The distinguishing factor is not the strategy, but what surrounds it. Remember my ultimate sales and marketing success formula that I covered in the beginning of the book?
Sales and Marketing Success = Personnel + Attitude + Execution + Management Keep this in mind as we move forward.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
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 to promote yourself, your products, or your services. We’ll divide these into traditional marketing and newer online marketing options.
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing options include retail, direct mail, print media, the telephone, broadcast media, and even books.
Retail: Perhaps the oldest marketing option is retail, dating back thousands of years to a farmer or craftsman selling their wares in the town’s marketplace. Physical retail outlets still exist today, though they now face pressure from online retailers.
The goal in retail is simple. Get the prospect into your store and make the sale. Other forms of marketing feed the retail channel to draw people to the store, be it physical or online.
Direct mail: For as long as we’ve had the opportunity to send content to others via mail, we’ve been able to use it for marketing. In its most basic form, direct mail can blanket a geographic area.
More sophisticated direct mail efforts target people by demographic or socio-economic data. And specific mail communication can go to existing customers and prospects.
Print media: The marketing channel of print media includes magazines and newspapers. Though neither has the reach and impact they once had as a marketing tool, we shouldn’t overlook them. This is especially true with magazines, where niche productions that target specific subcategories have replaced general-purpose publications.
For any industry or interest group, there’s assuredly a publication that addresses them. Though most of these are online, some still print and mail their content. Many consumers value and read a tangible product they can hold in their hands and doesn’t force them to go online to access content through their computer or portable device.
Brochures and sales literature: Unlike print media, which goes to an entire subscriber base, brochures and sales literature allow for specific targeting on a direct, one-to-one basis.
Telephone: The phone is another marketing opportunity. Due to rampant misuse in the past, laws now limit how marketers can use the telephone. But it’s still a workable marketing channel.
Marketing by telephone, sometimes called telemarketing, exists in two forms. Inbound telemarketing is when people call you. Outbound telemarketing is where you call customers and prospects.
We further divide outbound telemarketing into calling businesses (business-to-business or B2B marketing) and calling consumers (business-to-consumer or B2C marketing). Both face legal restrictions, especially B2C, that marketers must carefully adhere to or face significant fines.
Businesses can handle both inbound and outbound telephone calls in-house, or they can outsource the work to a call center—called a teleservice company—that specializes in telephone communication.
Though businesses can outsource telephone calls to a company in another country, called offshoring, most outsourcing occurs within the same country. This effectively negates cultural differences and language barriers.
Broadcast media: Next comes broadcast media, such as radio and television. Both options have seen significant changes in the last couple of decades, yet they still are a workable marketing tool to place advertising messages that will blanket an entire audience.
Trade shows: Over the years I’ve been to many trade shows, sometimes as an exhibitor and other times as an attendee. Trade shows provide a wonderful opportunity for in-person networking, as well as to learn more and gain valuable industry insights.
When you go to a trade show—either as an exhibitor or as an attendee—go with a plan and work your plan. Make the most of every minute. Don’t skip sessions or leave early. Stay throughout the entire event and linger if there’s a chance for meaningful interaction with customers or prospects.
Books: You may be surprised to see books on this list of marketing opportunities. This is the most recent development and has two primary applications.
The first use of books as a means of marketing is for a consultant. They publish a book about their area of expertise to position themselves as a subject-matter expert. The book becomes a marketing vehicle and can serve as a most effective business card when given to a prospect.
The other use of books is by CEOs and other high-profile leaders of corporations and nonprofits. Though this can also be of the subject-matter-expert variety, these books more often take the form of a biography or autobiography. By promoting the CEO or leader, the book subtly—and most effectively—highlights the company or organization.
Other traditional marketing: Many other forms of traditional marketing exist. These include networking, referrals, billboards and signs, spotlights and loudspeakers, door-to-door selling, making cold calls, passing out flyers, and so forth.
When use wrongly, the buying public views these as a nuisance, which creates a negative marketing outcome. Yet when used appropriately and smartly, they can produce positive results.
Online Marketing
A newer form of marketing exists online. In general, the impact of online marketing is easier to measure, with the results quantifiable. As such, online marketing is attractive to many.
Here are some forms of online marketing:
Websites: Having an online presence is essential for any business or organization. The ideal solution is a website. When done correctly, you own and control your website. No one (aside from a totalitarian regime) can limit the number of customers and prospects who visit your website.
Use your website to tell others about your organization and its offerings. In addition to company and product information, a website can have an online store or be an entry point into your sales funnel. From your website, collect email addresses for follow-up and ethical email marketing campaigns.
You can tap other forms of traditional and online marketing to drive traffic to your website.
Content marketing: Content marketing is an indirect form of promotion that gives valuable content to your audience. The goal is producing usable information, not selling. By supplying resources that address the needs of prospects, you indirectly promote your organization as a subject-matter expert. This positively predisposes the people who read your content into later doing business with you.
The best place for content marketing is your own website in the form of a professional blog. You can also arrange to post on other sites or even on social media (though I don’t advocate social for this application).
Content marketing also has its place in niche print publications. We’ll cover this in more detail in the “Part 4: Marketing Tactics” section.
Social media:Though some advocate using social media for an online presence, doing so is risky. A social media platform limits its users’ messaging to the very audience who wants to hear from them. The solution to reach this audience is paid advertising.
While social media has its place, consider it as the spokes of a marketing wheel, with your website being its hub.
Social media advertising: As we mentioned, most social media platforms limit your ability to reach your audience. The solution is to advertise on those platforms. These ads can be in the form of text, graphics, or videos.
Currently, the leading social media advertising platforms are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Other options include Reddit, Snapchat, Nextdoor, and Quora.
To find out more about advertising on social media, just search for the platform’s name along with the word advertising. But don’t try to advertise on every platform that offers the option.
Pick the ones where your target audience is, establish a presence there, and understand how the platform works. Then explore advertising on it. Once you’ve mastered that platform, then consider a second one.
Online advertising: Online advertising exists in two forms.
The most common online marketing option is going to ad platforms, such as running Google ads or Microsoft ads.
The second option is placing custom banner ads on curated websites whose traffic demographics align with your target market. Because this is a one-to-one placement effort, this is a time-consuming consideration, yet for the right site it is most cost-effective.
Email marketing: Sending marketing messages by email can be a cost-effective way to reach your prospects and upsell your customers, providing you do it correctly and legally.
Never buy an email list or scrape contact information from the internet. Aside from existing customers, only contact prospects who want to hear from you and have given their permission for you to contact them through email.
When emailing, don’t send the same message to everyone. Segment your list based on their interest level, their status as a customer or prospect, and where they fit in your sales funnel. Make sure every message moves them forward on the customer journey or toward buying from you.
Don’t email too often. And do give readers the option to self-select what messages they want to receive and when.
Summary
Consider this list of marketing channels when developing your strategy and designing a well-rounded promotional plan. We’ll expand on some of these options in upcoming chapters.
Marketing Management Success Tip
All these promotion opportunities offer a wide array of marketing channels for you to consider in getting the word out about your company and offerings. Select them with care and use them responsibly to achieve the best results.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
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 on a poorly produced book with their imprint inside.
At the time I was pursuing a traditional publishing deal and told the rep so. Not deterred, she keyed in on my excuse, telling me why my book publishing strategy was wrong. She spewed forth a well-honed tutorial of why I needed to self-publish my books first. I won’t claim she lied to me, but mixed in with the truth were some half-truths and over-simplifications.
Here’s what she said:
It’s harder than ever to land a traditional publishing contract. (True)
Traditional publishers won’t even look at your book, but they will instead rely on a one-page query. (Over-simplification: If your query grabs their attention, they’ll ask for a proposal, which could lead to them looking at your book. But most likely they’ll only consider your query letter.)
Traditional publishers want you to self-publish first. (Half-truth: If your self-pub book is a breakaway hit, then you’re in a great position to sign a book deal. If you have a well-written, carefully edited, and appropriately laid out self-pub book, they’ll have less work to do should they decide to publish it—but they may also wonder if you’ve already made all the sales you’re going to make.)
She guaranteed their parent company would look at my book if I self-pub with them. (Over-simplification: What they will likely look at is sales numbers of my book, not the book itself. Once a certain threshold is reached then someone may actually look at my writing, but not until then. Of course, I’m speculating on this, but it’s not practical for them to give every self-pub book full consideration.)
The book publishing industry changes continually and fast. What was true last month may not hold true next month. We must be in a continual learning mode, but as we consider new information, we must exercise discernment, because we can’t believe everything we hear.
Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.
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.”
Her eyes brighten. “What kind of magazines?”
“Trade publications for the call center industry.”
Her smile fades. “What?”
Like most people, she’s either stumbling over “trade publications” or “call center,” but she doesn’t say which one.
“I produce specialty magazines for call centers.”
“Why?” she asks. “Are there any call centers left?”
“The call center industry is alive and well,” I explain.
“I thought they all went overseas.”
“Some did, but many have come back.”
“Why?” She’s more confused than curious.
“In some cases the cost savings weren’t as good as projected or offshore management was too difficult. Another reason is to improve quality.”
“They care about quality?”
“Yes, it’s what customers want.”
Her blank look tells me she doesn’t understand, but she has run out of questions. I change the subject. “So, what do you do?”
In another conversation, at the point where I mention call centers, my interviewer asks, “You mean like telemarketing?”
I shake my head. “Some call centers place calls, but most answer calls.”
“Huh?”
“Like calling a company to place an order.” He doesn’t react. “Or calling with a question about a product.” He shakes his head. “How about a nurse advice line?”
There’s a glimmer of recognition. “They’re worthless,” he says. “It’s like they’re just following a protocol.”
“That’s exactly what they’re doing! They’re following a carefully devised, time-proven process to determine a proper course of action.”
“But they always tell me either to take two aspirins or go to the ER.”
Apparently he calls often, but I wonder why since he claims they’re worthless.
Another time the guy knows exactly what I was talking about. He had worked in several call centers during college and for a few years after. This was in the 90s. His experiences weren’t good. He decries the rows of cubicles, the hovering supervisors waiting to pounce on the tiniest of mistakes, the pressure to hit unreachable productivity numbers, and the sweatshop conditions of his environment. He shudders in horror.
“There aren’t too many like that anymore. The focus is now on quality and customer service.”
He looks at me as if I’m delusional.
At the mention of call centers, other people launch into a tirade. “I hate it when they call during dinner,” says one woman.
Apparently she still has a landline and hasn’t heard about the do-not-call list. Instead of explaining, I say, as calmly as possible, “You don’t have to answer the phone.”
She glares at me as if I’ve just suggested that she murder someone. “But it’s ringing!”
“Let your answering machine get it.”
“What if it’s important?”
“Don’t you have caller ID?”
“What’s that?”
Other times people share specific horror stories of calls gone bad: rude agents, poor connections, being disconnected, double orders, delayed shipments, billing errors, and wrong (sometimes harmful) information. They complain about accents they can’t understand, robo calls, and hang-ups. They grumble about the agents’ inability to comprehend what they’re saying or answer simple questions.
The phrase call center evokes many reactions from those outside the industry, none of which are good. The public view of the call center industry – for all its successes and countless positive outcomes – suffers from a public disconnect. Past wrongs and negative press paint a picture of call center incompetence and irritation. All the good we do to help people and contribute to the economy is largely lost.
Next time someone asks what I do, maybe I’ll say, “I’m a writer” and then see where that conversation goes.
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 customers and employees.
When my wife called to cancel the garbage service, the rep took the information with ease and the refund check arrived a couple weeks later. (Curiously, they sent the check to our old address.)
The gas utility was likewise easy: One call and done. Our final bill arrived soon after. The jury is still out on the electric company. The phone call went well, but the subsequent bill doesn’t show the service as cancelled. Another phone call is in order. This means double the work for us and them.
I handled the phone cancellations. A large regional carrier provided our home phone. Since friends and family usually email or text, I’ve long advocated that we cancel it, but my wife disagrees. I think she enjoys receiving illegal telemarketing calls and political robo calls. (Remember the two uncles in Secondhand Lions?)
When I called to cancel this number, the rep took my order and left me with a confident feeling. They disconnected it within an hour, but the new-number recording wasn’t activated. A second rep told me that the first one placed the order incorrectly; it would take twelve hours for the change to go through.
By the weekend, there was still no recording. After a third call, customer service said the order was still wrong, but they couldn’t fix it because I was no longer a customer; the fourth call, this one to the repair department, resulted in the same story.
A fifth call on Monday produced only frustration. This took too many repeat calls. After repeated begging, the rep transferred me to a supervisor. A few minutes later, the recording was working. (Not that it mattered – after three weeks the only calls we’ve received on the new number are my test calls.)
That left my business line, which was bundled with Internet access and video, courtesy of a local telco. A small company, these folks know how to service customers. Though their methods aren’t always ideal, they are effective.
Placing the cancellation was easy, but they didn’t offer new-number recordings. When I insisted, the rep put me on hold to consult with their head engineer. His response shocked me: Their switch couldn’t do a new-number recording.
The solution I eventually settled for was to keep the phone number active and remote call-forward it to my new number until I could notify everyone. This solution took multiple calls, callbacks, and consultations, consuming way too much of my time and theirs.
I could have ported both numbers over to temporary cell phones and then ported the cell phones over to Google Voice, thereby keeping the numbers and saving money. But the process seemed too cumbersome; plus, this would entail another round of customer service calls, which I feared would go poorly.
Changing our address has been the easiest. With most individuals and companies, I just emailed them. Changing magazine subscriptions was a time-consuming online process, not always straightforward, so a couple of cases might result in duplicate subscriptions.
For credit card companies, I’m using the “new address” section on their bills. With our credit union, I updated our address online, but our bank didn’t allow that.
A call to their main office left me frustrated. I have to go to their nearest branch, now sixty miles away, to fill out a form. (I’m headed there this afternoon.) This isn’t customer service; it’s customer disservice. Needing to drive to a business to complete a simple task is even worse then needing to make repeat calls.
In your contact center, look for ways to prevent repeat calls and customer frustrations like those I encountered. Doing so will delight callers, save your staff from extra work and angry follow-up calls, and make everyone happy.
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, arriving in the form of frequent mailed communications and email messages that spanned several months. It escalated into a telemarketing failure.
Throughout all this, the phone company repeatedly promised that there would be no rate increases—all that would change was their name. These marketing messages also made hazy hints of new services but withheld helpful details.
My first sign that something was amiss came with my first bill under the new company name. Contrary to their repeated promises, their charges went up, almost doubling. When I called to complain, evoking their pledge, the rep informed me that my past bills had been incorrect.
Therefore, they were not bound by their no-increase promise but had the legal requirement to correct the errors. At least the increase was not retroactive.
This should have been sufficient warning to be wary of what they said, but I was slow to master that lesson. When they called me a few months later—a different marketing tactic—to “lower my monthly rate,” I was quite excited.
With this new plan, I could recover much of what I had lost when they had “corrected” my bill. The rep’s mastery of English was questionable, so at each step I repeated back to her everything I understood her to say.
“You’re going to lower my monthly base rate for local service to $17.95,” I concluded.
“Yes!” she confirmed and then transferred me for third party verification.
Excited, I listened to a recap of my order. “You’re signing up for our unlimited long distance calling package at $17.95 a month; this requires—”
“No,” I interrupted. “That’s not what I want at all.” Fortunately, the verification rep’s communication was clear and effective, saving me from buying something I didn’t want and rescuing me from their telemarketing failure.
So began an all-too-frequent barrage of solicitation calls from my new local phone company. Realizing that I couldn’t rely on what they told me, I’d end each interruption as fast as possible and return to work.
When my irritation over their incessant interruptions became intolerable, I begged them to stop calling me. This proved unsuccessful, so I resorted to hanging up on them. That didn’t stop the calls, but it gave me a small degree of vindication.
When their most recent incursion breached my normally idyllic workspace, I listened to their spiel with a more critical ear. To recap: they called a business line about residential service, they didn’t know my name, and they had no access to what services I used.
At that point, I doubted the call was even from my phone company. Perhaps they had outsourced calling to a shoddy telemarketing firm instead of a reputable one. Or was the call a phone scam? Regardless, it was a telemarketing failure.
When a poorly executed telemarketing effort is indistinguishable from a scam, something is terribly wrong. Intervention is needed.
Marketing Management Success Tip
When pursuing a telemarketing strategy, whether in-house or outsourced, make sure the firm represents your company well and respects your customers and prospects
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
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 name.
I’m still not sure if this was the result of new ownership or merely a rebranding effort. Of course, these missives also made hazy hints of new services, but withheld helpful details.
My first indication that something was amiss came with my first bill. Contrary to their repeated promises, their charges went up, almost doubling. When I called to complain, evoking their pledge, I was informed that my past bills had been incorrect.
Therefore, they were not bound by their aforementioned assurances and were actually under legal compulsion to correct the errors. Fortunately, it would not be adjusted retroactively.
This should have been sufficient warning to be wary of what they said, but I was bit slow to master that lesson. When they called me a few months later – a new marketing tactic – to “lower my monthly rate,” I was quite excited.
With this new plan, I could recover much of what I had lost when they had previously “corrected” my bill. The rep’s mastery of English was questionable, so at each step I repeated back to her everything I understood her to say.
“You are going to lower my monthly base rate for local service to $17.95,” I concluded.
“Yes!” she confirmed and then transferred me for third party verification.
Giddy with excitement, I listened to a recapitulation of my order. “You’re signing up for our unlimited long distance calling package at $17.95 a month; this requires…”
“No,” I quickly interrupted. “That’s not what I want at all.” Fortunately, the verification rep’s communication was clear and effective, saving me from something that I did not want.
So began an all-too-frequent barrage of solicitation calls from my “new” local phone company. Realizing that I could not rely on what they told me, I would extricate myself from each intrusion as quickly as possible and return to work.
When my irritation over their incessant interruptions became intolerable, I began begging them to stop calling me. This proved unsuccessful, so I resorted to hanging up as soon as I heard mention of their name. That hasn’t stopped the calls, but it has provided a small degree of vindication.
When their most recent incursion breached my normally idyllic workspace, I listened to their spiel with a more critical ear. To recap: they called a business line about residential service, they did not use my name, and they did not know what services they were currently providing me.
At that point, I wondered if the call was even from my phone company. Was it a scam?
When telemarketing is so poorly executed that it is indistinguishable from a scam, things have gone terribly awry. Intervention is clearly in order.
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 only making existing business relationship calls, you may think you have nothing to worry about, right? Not so fast. Just because it’s legal to dial that number doesn’t mean you should.
Simply put, calling too often or for the wrong reasons could turn an EBR into a former EBR. This happened when I retaliated against a company that was overcalling me—and others could do it to you.
I used to have a subscription to the local paper. Since I only had time to read it on the weekends, those were the only days I received it. This was an ideal arrangement, one which I would have gladly continued if not for overzealous telemarketing.
One evening, during dinner, I received a call from an enthusiastic employee of the paper. They had a special upgrade price so that I could enjoy the paper all week long. When would I like to start?
I explained that I only wanted the paper on the weekends. Receiving it when I didn’t have time to read it would only serve to make me feel guilty—either for wasting time by reading it or for wasting money by not reading it. The agent laughed and said she understood.
A few months later, I received another call with the same offer from a different rep.
I assumed turnover had occurred and no one recorded my preference for weekend-only delivery. (So much for an effective customer relationship management system—CRM). I repeated my explanation and again stated my desire for weekend-only delivery.
These calls became a regular occurrence, and I grew increasingly annoyed. Sometimes the interval was two or three months, other times only a couple of weeks, and once it was two days. They always came at an inopportune time.
No one seemed to realize that no matter how often they offered it, I wasn’t going to upgrade my subscription. Even when they offered it at no added cost, I declined, citing my concern over landfills.
I even asked them to stop calling, but they ignored me.
My frustration with their continued phone calls grew to where it exceeded my satisfaction from reading their paper. I realized that by canceling my subscription, the EBR provision would soon cease to be a factor, and I would have legal recourse should they continue to harass me.
I expected that the ploy to cancel my subscription would give me one final opportunity to stop the phone calls—and continue receiving the paper, without telemarketing. I was wrong.
Incredibly, when I called to cancel my subscription, no one asked why or gave me a chance to explain that their incessant calls irritated me.
Most surprising of all—especially given their proclivity for phoning me—no one made a follow-up call, even though there was a window of opportunity for them to phone and win me back. They never tried.
But the unwelcomed calls stopped.
I do miss the paper—at least a bit. Though I’ve switched to other national and regional news sources, I’m out of the loop on local happenings. But it’s a small price to pay to avoid the incessant dinnertime interruptions to sell me something I’ve repeatedly declined.
The paper thought they were safe by placing calls that met all legal requirements, but they were wrong. Their unbridled calling turned a happy reader into an irritated former reader.
I wonder how many other subscriptions they lost because of their legal, but unrestrained, calling practices to people where they had an existing business relationship ?
Marketing Tactics Success Tip
When it comes to contacting customers, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
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 refrain was, “I’m sick of all political commercials—and especially the phone calls.”
Here are some of my observations:
Unlike in the past, I did not receive one live call. Not even a “don’t forget to vote” reminder.
The number of recorded messages I received this year, far outpaced the total number of automated and live calls during past campaigns.
My mother, part of the senior citizen demographic, received about three times the number of automated political calls that I received.
People do not understand why they receive these calls when they are on the “Do Not Call” (DNC) list—and they are angry about it. (Our self-serving elected officials conveniently exempted themselves from the DNC legislation.)
My wife’s common response is to lay the receiver down (or put the call on hold) and walk away. It’s her small way of retaliation.
I never listened to more than a few seconds of a single robo call I received.
Therefore, our politicians calls should consider:
Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it right. Check numbers against the DNC list when making political calls. Those who signed up did so for a reason. Calling them will only make them mad, cause them to assume you or your client are breaking the law, or both.
Don’t overcall people. Even if you have them donations to call the same number multiple times, don’t do it—especially not on the same day!
Don’t mislead people and do provide responsible discloser. Email messages must contain legitimate subject lines; print and broadcast ads must state who paid for the ad; and mailed messages have their own content requirements. Apply these reasonable and accepted practices to recorded messages—people have grown to expect this from other channels, provide it on calls as well.
Given the electorate’s outcry over robo calls, specifically, and political calling, in general, we can expect the practice will come under greater scrutiny.
To address this, our elected officials will adopt a more regulatory attitude towards telemarketing and robo calling, even though they, in part, contributed to the problem, causing some of the exact voter angst they are seeking to appease.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
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 of jobs. There have also been “Do-Not-Mail” efforts, prompting me to somewhat facetiously write an article called “The Impending Do-Not-Market Threat.”)
The details of how a “Do-Not-Track” regulation would be accomplished are lacking at this time. But I can’t imagine how this could be effectively implemented, tracked, and enforced. It seems that it would be rife with abuse—and essentially ignored.
As a consumer, I see value in allowing advertisers access to this information, as it theoretically presents me with ads in which I might have interest, as opposed to ads that I find offensive or which have no interest.
However, I do see the privacy aspect of this. It seems to me that a simple solution resides in Web Browser software—not in more regulation—adding an option to suppress this information.
Even now, one can manually clear browsing history from their browser and some can automatically clear it each time the browser is opened. It would be one small incremental step to completely suppress this information.
Of course, the other solution is to not surf the Web.
One thing that I do know is that if the FTC’s trial balloon garners widespread interest, our elected officials will get involved, creating a bill of their own. If they do, you can be sure that they will exempt themselves—just as they have done on other legislation in the past, such as with the Do-Not-Call bill!
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
He shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.
