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Number
29: November 19, 2003
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This week in Katydid:
Telemarketing
– Delivery Now Available
With all the pending spam restrictions, we're hard at work developing
strategies for connecting with new customers. If the laws continue to
extend to other media, we won't be able to market to anyone with which
we don't already have a relationship. Conversely, we won't have any new
relationships without the ability to market.
As I indicated in an
earlier newsletter, while we pondered these ramifications, clever
people thought of an end run around the restriction. One of our
subscribers, Dan Johnson of Reno, Nevada, brought an interesting
campaign to my attention.
The National Do
Not Call Registry prevents telemarketers from calling anyone on the
list. This puts the pressure on telemarketers to come up with ways to
drive calls inbound.
Dan came home from a long day of work diligently deleting spam from
his in-box only to find one of those yellow postal delivery notes on his
door (shown below). He dialed the number on the slip planning to
re-schedule delivery and he was connected promptly with a telemarketing
company.
Dan hung up and then read the fine print on the slip. It's small
enough that the scanner did not pick it up well:
Company rules apply. No obligation to purchase is necessary.
Promotion is open to anyone 21 years or older. You must claim the
merchandise within 3 days from contacting the company. Cash
substitutions are not permitted. For advertising purposes only.
According to Dan, "My first reaction was anger which quickly
changed to admiration. Here was the perfect end run to the national
"Do Not Call" list. I have to admire a good idea."
As a tactic, it is clever. Like spam, the cost barriers are low –
printing is cheap and distribution is wide.
I called the number to see what kind of experience I would have and
perhaps learn more about the company. A male voice answered,
"Delivery. Can you hold please?" Without waiting for a reply,
the person put me on hold. More patient as a reporter than as a
customer, I waited several minutes until a female voice greeted me. She
said she was with Filtration Technologies and asked me for the name and
address and the code on my slip. I told her I wasn't comfortable giving
her my personal information at this time, but gave her the code. She
then transferred me to another female voice who announced that I had won
one of three prizes – one of which might be a 3-day, 2-night pre-paid
vacation.
At that point, I enquired about the product, which turned out to be
an 'environment air conditioner'. Having been through one of these
product demonstrations before, I asked if by 'environment air
conditioner', she meant a vacuum cleaner. She would not be more specific
than an air-cleaning device. I told her I still wasn't sure about giving
my name and address without knowing more about the company. I asked if
there was a web site where I could get more information. She said she
thought so and put me on hold.
Next, I was connected to another female voice who claimed to be a
manager. She proceeded to provide more claims about the prizes and the
value of the air-cleaning device. However, she did not persist and gave
me the web site information.
At the risk of providing free advertising, the company turns out to
be Filter Queen,
one of several brands owned by HMI
Industries, Inc. Their other brands include Defender, Health-Mor,
Majestic, Princess, Empress, and Vacu-Queen. This is a direct sales
company of 'surface cleaners' and 'room air cleaners.' Less observant
people might refer to them as vacuum cleaners.
Once past the initial call, no one bothered to keep up the ruse of
the package delivery. Putting aside whether this would be considered a
deceptive practice legally, the potential negative impact on customers
makes it worth avoiding. Dan did not make a purchase and he became
angry. Also, like all readers of Katydid, he was also reasonable and
good humored enough to realize his part in the process.
While this might be an effective lead generation tactic, it's not a
sound marketing strategy. The Brand Messaging on the Filter Queen site
relates to purity, health, and cleanliness. My and Dan's experience did
not leave us feeling clean. Dan's bemusement at the cleverness of the
campaign, also implies another feeling – that of being taken. Does
Filter Queen want their customers to have that experience with their
brand?
This company relies on direct sales for revenue. While there are
examples of people who employ high-pressure techniques to get sales, the
high turnover rate indicates that those techniques come at a cost. Those
who conduct direct sales well know that you can sell more effectively
for many years through trust-based techniques and a reputation for
integrity.
My father, Mike Rodney, wins national sales awards year after year by
building relationships, one conversation, one customer at a time. The
last kind of lead he would want is a defensive, angry one.
As you scratch your head and try to figure out ways to connect with
customers, keep your brand values high in your mind. Make sure that
every tactic, every level of communication supports your values, and
you'll find that more business comes to you without coercion.
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Learn
from Negative Networks
I was driving with my friend not too long ago and we spied a sign in the
back window of an SUV. In large handwritten letters, it decried the
shoddy business practices and technical abilities of a popular
window-tinting business. (Without verifying her experience, I won't name
the company).
There's no telling how many drivers the old woman at the wheel
educated about the company, but my friend and I wondered whether the
company was aware of her campaign. Would they have handled her
complaints better if they knew what she would do?
My friend told me about a web site he came across while searching for
information about a company that offers legal services. The link came up
high in the search results as a likely result of having many hits. The
site provided all kinds of negative information about the company
including testimonials from past customers and salespersons.
During the dot-bomb implosion, I remember quite a few CEO speeches
imploring (or demanding) that we ignore and avoid the Yahoo news groups
dedicated to our dying companies. (I'm pretty sure that's how I
discovered them in the first place.)
Bad news can't be controlled; it can only be prevented. Damage
control is much more expensive than damage prevention. However, that
doesn't mean you should ignore it.
A recent Inc. Magazine article
by Adam Hanft calls this kind of work, "A form of
counter-intelligence, the marketplace version of what the CIA calls,
'chatter'." In the article, Hanft encourages companies to dig into
these negative networks:
"While some of these voices are acting on bizarre private
grudges, there are thousands upon thousands of them that- when taken
together - scale to a new kind of real-time market research. The vast
majority of postings are thoughtful, motivated, passionate."
(Nov. 2003, p116)
Your customers and clients may find these links; it's certain
that your analysts and investors will. Keep the comments in perspective,
but examine them for patterns that may indicate what kind of perception
your company has. You can use that to improve your customer service and
in your retention efforts.
You can stand in the middle of the road with your eyes closed, but
the traffic is not going to disappear. If you get out in front of these
issues, you're less likely to be run down by a nice little old lady in
an SUV.
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Thanks for Reading
This e-mail newsletter spreads mainly by word of
mouth. Please send it on to your colleagues. Also, you can
read other back issues.
If you have suggestions of web sites to review, writing that buzzes,
or a new way of looking at things, let me know. Send your suggestions to
.
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from this newsletter,
please let us know.
Kind regards,
Kevin Troy Darling
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