Product Promotion – Opportunities Abound
Part 1 of 3
I talk with utilities across the
country every week. In many cases, I’m put on hold while they locate the
person I need to speak with. I’m often left sitting in silence while I wait
patiently for the right party to pick up the phone.
Sometimes I listen to background music
tuned to the local radio station. Occasionally, I’m lulled toward a nap
listening to Mozart or Beethoven.
I often wonder why a company that
oftentimes provides leading-edge technology to its customers isn’t effectively
using that hold time to promote their products and services: high-speed
Internet access, voice mail, surge protectors, call waiting, efficiency
audits, caller ID or some of the other features that could be a benefit to
business or residential clients.
If you surveyed your customers, how
many would be aware of all your products and how those products can benefit
them in their business or personal life?
Major competitors have huge marketing
budgets and most use every form of media they can to attract your customers
and their purchasing dollars. They have a marketing staff that creates sizzle
for their products and if you look in your local newspaper, oftentimes you
will find a variety of ads for cellular service, satellite TV and even
competing Internet providers.
Here are three thoughts to help
promote your products to your customers:
Turn Hold Time Into Promotion Time
Set up a message-on-hold that promotes
your special of the month or introduces a new feature that you’re offering.
Create a fun, up-beat message that sells the benefits of that product to your
customers. Change the message often for variety’s sake. If you aren’t
promoting a different product every month, you’re missing an opportunity!
Is It Working?
That is the question every utility
should ask when investing marketing budgets to promote their products and
services. Is the newspaper ad, the radio spot, the TV ad or the bill stuffer
making the phone ring?
When people call about a product, CSRs
should ask how they heard about it. Track the results of the customer
responses to know which marketing approach is generating the best results.
For example, does advertising on the
local country-and-western radio station attract more senior customers? Are
your senior customers interested in high-speed Internet? If they are, then
perhaps it would make sense to invest some marketing dollars in this area.
You can make educated decisions when
you know the facts. It’s important to know what results you’re getting from
your different marketing approaches.
Even Voice Mail Can Promote
Customers leave messages for your
company and your employees every day. Add an upbeat and brief promotion to the
end of the company voice message letting customers know about your special for
the month.
Don’t miss out . . . every
opportunity counts, every single time!
Measure-X
888.644.5499
www.measure-x.com
The Customer Service and Sales Experts for the utility
industry!
