February/March 2010 Issue

Q:  At the moment my main way of getting and servicing customers is through my team of two sales people and a sales manager.  However, they are not producing enough business to pay for themselves and the business. This isn't totally their fault but just the way things are at the moment.  Our customers seem to be cutting back and business just isn't going as well as it could be.  I don't want to get rid of anyone, but do need to get more business in that is profitable.

A: I think this is a problem everywhere at the moment. Sales people are high expense to revenue and so need to be kept for the key accounts and for acquiring high revenue customers.  Manage the potential channels to market that you have by matching the lower revenue customers to lower cost channels such as the Internet and phone.  Perhaps for the moment have one of your sales team back in the office on the phone to customers keeping contact in this way and recruiting a greater number of lower value sales.
Once the contact is firmly made then the others in the team can visit when they’re passing (or if you want to keep the same person as contact then he/she could have 1 day a week out on customer calls).

Unfortunately channel balancing and management takes more explanation than can be covered here but this should give you something to start with.  Make sure though that you do not upset any good customers by removing contact that they value - and do not upset your great sales people by de-motivating them to the point that they leave.  It is all about balance and compromise to get the best long and short term profits.

Q: I have had a few local sports people and teams asking if we will sponsor them.  Up to now I have always said no as I can't think of anything that we will get for our money.  However, I am having some doubts as my son's football team is looking for someone to pay for new kit etc. I could easily do it but want to do it based on good business decisions rather than just as a doting mum.  What do you think?

A:  Well, what you get out depends on the business.  If it is a local one then you could get a fair return.  Of course it would have to be coupled with other marketing to get the best results but local teams often get in the local press and if the team does well, a small ad with 'Well Done from ABC company' accompanying the press release can make sure that you are linked well to them.  This also helps your corporate social responsibilities which can mean a lot to some companies and customers.

Again, you would have to put a campaign plan together to get the most out of the opportunity. Even if all you do is have your name on shirts, as long as there is a logo that is used elsewhere and can be linked to you and what you do then it should be of some benefit.  Also, remember that you can claim for this as part of your marketing outgoings.

December 2009/January 2010 Issue

Q.  My marketing manager keeps telling me that we need to capture more data on our customers that is personal.  I am not sure how to do this or even why it is relevant.

A.  First of all this data is highly relevant as it will help you to build closer relationships with your customers.  Once this happens you can lock out the competition more effectively and they will become less price sensitive.  Collecting it is as simple as having discussions that cover wider issues than business.  Ask how they got on at the weekend and encourage them to talk about themselves.  Keep this information on the customer database for the sales and marketing teams to use in the future, both personally and for events.  For example you may discover that a high percentage of your customers like golf and therefore a golf day may bring high returns in the form of a marketing event.

Q.  I am looking to send out a direct mailer to the local business community offering some great support packages that I have recently put together.  I have a database that the previous marketing assistant of the company used so I thought I would use that.  I have put together a letter with some information on the offer but it looks a bit bland.  Can you please give some advice?

A.  Of course.  First of all make sure that your database is the right one to use - don't just use it because it is there. If it is more than a year old it is probably out of date now and it may not cover your target market. First of all you need to decide what the objectives of the mailer are; then what benefits your target market will get.  From there you can confirm your target market and make sure that you have the right database. Make sure that you can measure response so you need to have the right 'call to action' or response mechanism in place. Finally make sure that your message is crisp and understandable.
Once you have all of this in place put together something that fits with your brand image.  If you are sending to a business audience make sure that it is professional and clean looking - a covering letter will give more information but keep it to one page. Try to follow up with a phone call a few days later but not on a Monday or Friday!
I hope this helps you.  If you don't think you are getting the right image across call in a design agency - that's what they are there for.

October / November 2009 Issue

Q:  How important is it for everything I send out to have the same look?  I hear so much about branding but don’t really understand why it is so important on everything.  Isn’t it just a logo?

R:  Great question.  Branding is VERY important and it is more than just a logo (although that is a good start).  Whatever goes out to your audience gives an impression about your business.  Individuals (including those in businesses) get thousands of marketing messages every day and it is important that any you send out not only stand out in the crowd of other messages, but also get reinforced by any other media that goes out from your company.  For instance, you may have a yellow pages ad, a yell.com ad, something in the local paper, website and send out a flyer.  If all of these have the same logo, colour scheme, font and theme they will be reinforcing the others, giving your company a lot more chance of being recognised when your audience are in the market for whatever your services are.  You will get the opportunity over rivals who fade into the background because their image or brand isn’t so strong.  So the short answer is that it is very important for everything to have the same look and feel.

Q:  I work for a company with quite a few staff.  Many are ‘back office’ and just don’t seem to care about our customers – because they never see them.  I read a lot that says everyone must be focused on the customer.  How can I change things?

R:  Unless you are the MD or have the ear of the MD you may struggle.  Try leaving relevant articles in front of him/her, or emailing your concerns.  You are quite right.  Everyone has to be focused on the end customer and work as a team in order to make the company more efficient and effective – especially in today’s climate. This has to be driven from the top however, otherwise it won’t work.  Customer based targets (such as customer satisfaction ratings) are a good start.  Trying to get the back office team actively involved in some customer facing projects may be a way to make things change a little.  There are many things that can be done from streamlining work processes to implementing targets that can have a positive effect – but culture change has to be high on the agenda too – and this starts at the top.      
 

August / September 2009 Issue

April / May 2009 Issue

Q:  I am a hardware reseller in the main and am finding it very difficult to compete against the large retailers.  Do you have any ideas please?

R:  You don't tell me what your other offerings are, but working in a commoditised market such as hardware, if is very difficult to get differential advantage without constantly dropping prices - which of course is not sustainable.  In this current economic climate everyone is expecting a bargain and my suggestion is to take a step back and look seriously at what else you can offer.  You must add value to your customer base and this usually happens via perceived service and high quality products.  If you look deeply into what you do and what your customers want, I strongly suspect that you will find something other than pure hardware that will give you more to offer them.  If you do this and give good value then you will have satisfied customers who will grow loyal and remain so - as long as you are delivering against their expectations.

Q:  As a small web development company working with designers, I often feel that I am at a disadvantage and am thinking of taking on a designer in-house in order to compete more efficiently but am a bit concerned about the risk.  Can you advise me please?

R:  This is a difficult one to answer without knowing more detail about your circumstances.  Sometimes it is better to have all the functions in house and other times it is better to stick to your core competencies and work with others.  How much of your business comes through the designers that you currently work with?  If it is a large amount, how easy will it be for you to go out to market to find new customers?  How do people buy their websites?  Often it is via a design house and so you would have to market yourself very differently from how you do today.  A lot of the answer also depends on your company's financial circumstance - how much money is available to effectively re-brand and re-launch at least a part of the business?      

February / March 2009 Issue

Customer Service – the ONLY differentiator

Many companies react to slow times with price cuts and other monetary offers. Although these may result in a short term trickle (or flood if they are lucky) of business, this isn’t sustained. Even worse, their brand starts to become devalued as they compete on price not benefit to their customer. Whilst innovation in the form of new products and services can also help to keep a company ahead of the market, the only sure fire way of keeping a customer is to treat him or her how they want to be treated. There is an art to this but it starts with pleasant, polite and professional people (a different set of 4 P’s for the marketing people amongst you) who own problems and get them resolved – when they say they will.

Q: Dear Julie, We introduced a small call answering system recently and have noticed that the number of calls (and therefore business) has dropped off quite dramatically. We have an 0845 number and so can track calls. We have found that nearly 50% of the calls only last for 10 seconds and are a little confused about this. Can you please shed some light on this?

R:  Of course. There could be a few reasons for this. First of all the calls are not getting past your call answering system which could mean that you have a message that customers simply don’t like. You may have your list of departments in the wrong order and people cannot be bothered to hang around, or they may not like the fact that there is not a ‘real person’ at the end of the phone. You should try and call in to see what you think – and get some friends to do the same and give you an honest answer about the system (and your staff when they get through to them). You could even try disconnecting the system to see if this makes a difference (but make sure that if you do, you cover every angle so that customers are not left hanging around waiting for people to answer). A phone call is the first introduction to your company for many people and so the service they get at this level determines all service in their perception. It is important that you get this right because so many companies do not.