The really really key customer campaign

For those of you who would like to interface with a small number of really key clients across the globe, the campaign plan needs to be scheduled and a long term approach adopted.  It works, but it takes time to build the brand name in the mind of the customer, get known, get trusted and given the chance to create an impression.

This ‘sales hunting’  approach is needed on a dedicated and a consistent approach, especially for the newer younger companies who are on a growth path and needing to get in front of customers throughout the world.

Once the key account is in the door and product or service is in operation, relationships need to be built to complete contracts successfully, as well as position the company well for future potential contracts.

Excellence in customer service is delivered at various touch points with the client – technical staff, progress meetings and presentations, at meetings, on the telephone, via email etc. This objective is not achieved by the sales people but by everyone who interfaces with the customer – whether they see the job as theirs or not.

Embracing a real culture of the ambassador and an excellence in customer service is one of the best ways to increase business and if you read a previous article – to create raving fans who talk about you all the time!  Just watch the revenues increase.

We have in house help and programmes for transformational sales hunting and sales farming.  Contact russ@rfm.co.uk

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Ecommerce focus – the online sales force

Marks and Spencers recent relaunch of their website is part of a major push to tap into the major trend of clothing sales moving online. M&S have seen a decline in sales and have declared this investment in the ecommerce channel as a major statement. They show a newer easier to use navigation and improved layout of their website with a real focus on ‘Style and Living’. The Leading Ladies theme is now well established and shares the style message to the potential customer.

Away from the web store, banner advertisements can be found as well as regional press adverts to keep the brand in the eye of the consumer. When your brand is needing a lift, you have to change perceptions and actions with mass communication as well as targeted.

Whether this will work or not remains to be seen as I just wonder about the overall image that this company presents.

Certainly, making it simple and straightforward for the e customer to ‘enter’ your store or business is a given, in both b to b and b to c markets.

In the race to improve sales, ecommerce is a pivotal and getting the strategy right is crucial to success. If you would like to review your ecommerce strategy and use your website as part of your sales force, contact RFM today.

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Use the senses – it is a sensible idea

The internet can replace many things but not as yet able to replace touch. For many products, getting the product into the customer hands is an ideal way to increase opportunity. This basic fact could be used and adapted by many companies to focus the mind and the eyes of the customer in face to face and direct contact campaigns.

We are all subconsciously aware of smells and aromas as triggers to purchase in our supermarkets, – in store bakeries and ovens, the smell of newly ground coffee etc. The City of York uses this in the tourism sector with a scratchcard that emits smells of the past, steam trains etc.

When looking for more ways to attract customers near the point of the sale in both business to business and business to consumer markets, perhaps it is an idea to think through the senses to focus on your products.

Our sense of touch and smell are very powerful. Think of how you can use them in your business.

 

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Making every pound work for you

In our business at RFM we provide a ‘wood from the trees’ approach to companies, looking at the actions in their business from the viewpoint of a customer, how to maximise the opportunities to interface, how to build the brand, how to work with resellers and how to sell, how to sell better etc. In our view, every £ or Euro spent needs to work to multiply and increase the opportunity. Typical areas where we find gaps and the real opportunity for improvement at low cost:

  • Honing the sales and closing and business development skills of the sales teams – increasing their success rate
  • Developing customer service and revenue generation skills for non sales people who interface with customers, technical, support, delivery etc that will often get far further into an organisation than any sales person
  • Making the communication sound more targeted to the right audience with mouth watering key messages – online and offline
  • Honing exhibitions skills to ensure that the precious time and money spent on shows yields results
  • Writing the website content with better information architecture that builds the profile of a business in line with what consumers want to hear rather than what you want to tell them
  • Finding out what makes people tick – how they buy, when they buy, why they should buy from.
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Refreshing Sales Skills

Many people have sales personnel who have been selling for years and spent a good amount of time in the job.

A sales refresher brings that chance to re – assess skills, find new ways of closing, new ways of handling objections, building more data to attract more customers, telling a more mouth watering story.

The lines between what was the traditional marketing department and the sales department are blurring – a good thing. Now the sales person can have much more control over the image/brand that is presented and the key ‘one to one’ messages that will engage the customer. Of particular relevance in business to business sales and high ticket consumer sales where a very subtle but strong approach is needed.

My objective is that in these situations, that chance to speak and interact with a customer is tremendous. It lets you find out about them and how you can provide them with what they may want. Seizing this opportunity is crucial.

 

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Customer Service Bloomers

A friend travelled on the 4.15pm service from Haymarket to Glasgow with Free wifi and no seats. Answer from the guard to everyone who complained ‘ you don’t buy a seat, only a carriage mate/dear.’

Travelling on a train from Aberdeen to Glasgow, I heard a customer complain about the trolley having no coffee or tea left. The answer – ‘ It depends where you sit on the train – it’s just your Donald Duck’

There are 2 points here. At RFM, we run many customer service programmes.

On occasions, I have thought that customer care and how to deliver it should be obvious! However, apparently not! The examples above show we need to be prepared for how to handle all tricky situations that our colleagues and other departments can land us in. The department of the internal customer is just as important as techniques for the external customer.

Point 2 – I am not really having a ‘pop at Scotrail who, by and large do a tremendous job with good rolling stock, good timetables and well turned out staff, but you can never rest on your laurels.
Good customer service brings ‘ raving fans’ who talk about you. In today’s world, indifferent customer service, caused by issues that are easily sorted, makes the most reasonable and mild mannered individuals put everything on social to tell their friends and the world!!

For more information on great customer service programmes, you can download our customer services factsheet.

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Growth Hacking – the new career

Definition , – “Growth Hacker” is used to refer to someone who is clever, innovative and ensures that every initiative is performed in the hope of growing the business – sounds good!

Examples – Hotmail added a personalised signature to every email and grew users from 3,000 a day to 1 million in 6 months, 12 million in 18 months.

Dropbox offered an extra 500 megabytes of storage as a thank you for introducing new customers.

Simple traditional techniques applied to the digital age – as ever based on understanding of human customer behaviour.

Allegedly 31 per cent of US firms have a marketing technologist on board – food for thought!

To get more information on planning and timetabling for increased customer acquisition, contact russ@rfm.co.uk

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Raving Fans for creating repeat business

The raving fans are the element of customer service that will allow you to create a range of repeat business.

There are 3 good reasons to encourage raving fans:

  1. They will tell others and encourage them to buy from you, based on their confidence and recommendations.
  2. Raving fans means you spend less on marketing, because raving fan customers are doing the work for you and you do not need to pay.
  3. Raving fans and the people they recommend are less price sensitive and so your profitability increases.

So what can you do to build raving fans for your business?  The steps are simple and easy to implement and every business should work to strive to create excellence in customer satisfaction, right through the organisation.  For information on how to create a ‘raving fans movement’ for your company, contact RFM. The cost is minimal compared to the return. You could also download our Customer Services factsheet.

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Soap operas – A few fun comments

Soap was a luxury item till around the 19th Century.  Pears shop with its oval shaped and translucent amber colour was first marketed in 1807 as a cosmetic beauty product when bathing became fashionable amongst women. The brand is now over 210 years old.

Mr Proctor and Mr Gamble introduced the Ivory soap brand in 1857 and in 1900 were spending £240,000 a year on advertising!! (6 million today).  Here was a small company growing their business by spending on publicity. Many of the companies I know would not even budget £120k on promotion and communication –  50% of what P&G were spending in 1857!

For a discussion on how to manage your small but growing brand effectively and have the appropriate amount of effort on communicating the key aspects of your business, get in touch today.

P.S. Lever Brothers,  P&G etc sponsored radio drama shows in the 1930s aimed at women – they transferred to television and became soap operas.

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Step change in business

Real growth and a ‘step change’ in a business will be based on identifying new markets, finding new trends, focussing business on what customers are really wanting and creating products and services that are different and which have real competitive edge.

Never has research and understanding of markets and market opportunities been of such value.  There is much published information around but the more focused research activity comes from talking to key buyers, understanding customer motivations, when and how they buy etc.   For this, we would always recommend an organisation who are members of the Market Research Society of Great Britain.

The world is littered with products which have failed particularly in international markets, because they have not really taken the time to understand the issues and nuances of different markets.  For some help in this area and some really practical hints and tips as to how to do research effectively, when to subcontract out and when to keep it in house, contact us today!

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