Give 'Em a Call
Using telemarketing in your business
When the day comes that you
retire from your business, there will be several changes to your
daily routine. One will probably be that you are on the telephone
a considerably less amount of time. While they seem to run in
cycles, our business experienced repeated calls from companies
wanting to sell alarm systems, stocks and bonds, wanting to write
our insurance policies, or groups wanting donations to their particular charity.
These were the telemarketers.
And for the most part they were annoying. Most times you could easily
detect that the person on the other end of the line was sitting
in a cubicle, reading word for word from a script. You would often
hear in the background several others performing the same task.
And if you decided to get rid of the caller by asking for written
material, there was rarely anything in the mail from them. They
simply went to the next call.
During a seminar that we attended
several years ago, we heard Jack Rice, a leading retail consultant
and speaker, tell about a business that had a unique way of bringing
in business -they created their own version of telemarketing and
called their existing customers on the phone. There were some interesting
statistics to explain why this dealer was successful.
In the traditional
dealership, when the business is experiencing a slow sales day,
the sales staff, and mechanics are given instructions to help clean
up the store. What if you could put that time to better use by checking
up on your customers?
Or, have a new sales person
go through all of your sales tickets for the past three years and
list the names and phone numbers of all customers that purchased
equipment from one of your employees that is no longer a part of
your store. The conversation could go something like this:
"Hello Mr. Smith, My name is Bob Jones. I work
at Bill's Mower Shop over on Broadway Street. I see where you purchased a new lawn mower from us two years ago. Do you still
own that mower? How is it working for you? Our records show that
Steve was the salesman that sold you that mower. Steve is no longer
working here, but I wanted to call to give you my name and our
phone number so that you would have someone to contact here at
Bill's Mower Shop if you needed service or were ready to trade
that unit in." If your mechanics or sales staff are on commission,
and you ask then to do this in a down time, you can provide an incentive to them by having them address a post card to the customer.
Put the employee's initials on the card, and you have a basis
for tracking the incentive bonus.
If the person comes in for service,
just make sure that the customer tells your service ticket writer
so that you credit the proper person.
If your caller engages
the customer in conversation, there is an appropriate time to
ask, "Is there any reason why you haven't shopped here lately?" One
in 30 customers will give you a complaint about your business.
Here is an excellent opportunity to retrieve a lost customer.
Twenty six of the 30 will explain that they have not been there
because they haven't needed anything. But, six of these twenty
six, will be in your store within 2 weeks because you called.
This means that if you have three people in your shop, each making only 10 phone calls per day, then you can expect to see additional
6 people walking in the door, every day, within the next two weeks.
These are 6 people that have shopped in your store before, but
had no intention of coming into your store until you took the
time to call.
The strategy just proves one
of the adages that Mr. Rice has so often stated, "Never forget a customer, and
never let the customer forget you.
