Marketing Professionalism vs Marketing Dis-ease
A lot of businesses promote canned marketing speeches which in the end defeats their purpose of marketing professionalism.
Upsells:
How many times have you signed up for a free product only to be brought to an upsell page where for a one-time only offer you can have an additional product at a discounted priced for this one-time only?
Yes, in marketing this is something that most marketers do. If you don't like the page you just click on the next button on the web page. This in my opinion is ok, but how many times have you heard a telemarketer call you out of the blue to try and sell you a product over the phone? Not just the basic features but the upgrade features to a product you already bought? Yes that is why there is a telephone "Do Not Call List" and telemarketers can incur a very large fine if they attempt to contact someone on this list without permission. If you have a business association with the telemarketer can they still promote their products to you if you have already bought a product from them? There is a very fine line between professional courtesy and professional dis-ease.
Scenaro 1, you've signed up for an airlines rewards account, you've just bought an airline ticket and did not enter your rewards account id. Would you feel ok about getting a call from an account representative reminding you that since you forgot to put in your rewards number that they had done this for you and then they spent the next 10 minute trying to sell you an upgrade in one of their seating sections? In most cases this would not be ok.
You had not agreed to listen to a long speal about an product upgrade over-the-phone. You had only wanted to purchase the basic product and were not interested in buying additional features but yet you had to politely listen to the whole speal. In those circumstances you felt that the seller was not respecting your time schedule. The telemarketer hadn't asked you if you wanted to know about the upgrades he merely went ahead and spouted the upgrades to you without your permission. This creates professional dis-ease and in most cases might deter the customer from buying from this particular seller in the future.
Rule #1, Never remind a customer that they forgot to do something (it would have been kinder just to add the rewards number and not wasted the customers time in a return call)
Rule #2 Never try and sell a product or upgrade over the phone unless the guest has expressly asked for the information.
Rule #3, The telephone is only used to get someone over to a long professionally written salespage, don't ever try and sell a product over the phone with a canned sales script. Most people's attention span is about 2-3 minutes and they will resent anyone trying to sell them. People like to sell themselves on the products they like to buy.
Rule #4, You don't have to sell a good product, it sells itself. If you have a good product, people will walk all over you to get to that product.
Scenaro 2: You walk into a store and walk over to view a product. A salesman approaches and asks you if you need any help. You say, "No thanks", because you've already researched the product you want to buy, done a web evaluation on the best prices and the store you've decided to buy the product at and as an informed buyer you are just here to make the purchase.
In this case "You don't have to sell the informed customer on the product because the customer is an informed buyer, he knows what he wants and will let the seller know if he wants further features."
Pushing the upgrades on your products:
If the customer has asked about the upgrades to a product then it is ok to give the customer the details. If the customer is just wishing to buy the basic features, then trying to promote the extra features is an annoyance to the customer who may only be able to afford the basic features.
Rule: Wait until the customer expresses interest in upgrading.
"Most customers really wants to sell himself on your product and not be pushed or reminded to upgrade or buy."
Scenaro 3: You walk into a guitar store and are looking for the least expensive guitar amplifier. The customer service representative asks if you need help. In this case you might say yes and oh by the way, how does this spider jam amplifier work? The salesman instead of just telling you how it works wisely gets a guitar down and hooks it up to the amplifier and hands it over to you. He shows you a basic demonstration and then making sure you understand all the features, leaves you to explore all the possibilities and features of the product on your own. Yes the best way to get a sale is to let the buyer experience the product on their own before they buy the product. You can bet after listening to all the recorded tracks and features that the buyer will walk out of the store a happy camper (even with the higher price tag) if they think what they are buying is going to be a product that they can use and enjoy.
Why people don't use canned sales scripts:
1. People like to communicate with other people who are having fun.
Memorized canned sales scripts are no fun for those required to use them and most customers recognize that these canned sales scripts are not truly part of an individual's communication with them and automatically disregard the words as canned and therefore of no importance to the conversation.
2. Canned scripts de-personalize the conversation for both the buyer and salesperson. In some cases sales scripts are imposed on the sale person by those at the top that believe that quality assurance (or the rote memorization and speaking of these scripts promotes the business brandibility). In most cases people with quotas to fill and scores to keep are really not in touch with the buyer at all and these scripts can cause dis-ease (or disease) in the sales person because the salesperson is scored on how many times they can say a person's name in the conversation, how many times they can upsell in a conversation, how many times they can end the call with Thanks for calling.... and in most cases the calls must be time at 3 1/2 minutes or your score goes down. If caller is in a hurry and hangs up before any of these scriptable events happens the sales person gets a low score. If the buyer talks too long, forgets needed information or has multiple transactions to make... it will make the salespersons quota go down. Good customer service is never timed. There is nothing more important than the well being of the buyer. Timing customer service devaluates the telemarketer as well as the buyer and prevents communication which evenually means the loss of the sale people (who are not having fun) and in most cases the sale.
3. Timing of transactions prevents some transactions from occuring. There is nothing more frustrating then inputting all of your information and then find that your session has time out. When the computerized tool you are using requires you to scroll from one side of the screen to other side to push a button, when you have inputted your information multiple times (because the information is not stored in multiple screens) and then at the end the session times out and you have to start over again, it is really like the scenaro of someone shooting themselves in the foot with a gun. Timing is everything in sales. A person only buys or attemps to buy a product when they feel that they are going to get rewarded by getting that product. If you promise this buyer that at the end of the transaction he will get want he was purchasing he will continue to purchase. If half-way thru the transaction the reward is undelivered, you can bet the buyer will think twice about purchasing from you again. You told him you were going to help him get his required reward and then pulled the carpet out from beneath his feet. In this economy there are so many products available that you'd better be sure that what is promised is delivered in a timely manner or that is is a unique product that no other can deliver.
4. Communication - Kindness counts! When a buyer has to call someone else to find out the information needed or a buyer has left their credit card info locked in their car, it is important not to think about the minutes ticking away and your sales quota (quality assurance scores being lowered) over incidents that you cannot control. It is important to be kind and considerate in all situations as no one is perfect and everyone has situations beyond their control.
5. None of us get out alive! When you feel that no matter what you do, that you are in an impossible situation, remember to try lighten up and de-stress your life. Dis-Ease is a component of disease and you will surely be able to avoid strains on your health if you realize that life is a game of chance and a numbers game. If you are in the right place at the right time, your chance of winning good health can be accomplished. If you are in the wrong place and stressed out because of circumstances you can't control you might want to step back and see if your most valuable asset (Your Health) is being affected. We have to live and support ourselves and because of this we are often stressed out daily. Take a few moments to clear your mind and to try and get above the current situation. Try and view your situation from a far as if you were someone else looking at the situation. What are you willing to give up to get to your success path? Most of us have loved ones we are providing for and so it's importand for you to keep up your health for their sake as well as for yourself.
6. Good Worker Recommendations: I want to take a moment to commend all the people who have arrived at their jobs on time, followed all the rules of the job, displayed professional skills and good customer service and kindness towards all but suddenly through no fault of their own have been laid off because of this horrific economy we are in. With all the layoffs, it is imprtant to remember , "When one door closes another door opens."
