sales

All posts tagged sales

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Does customer service really count?

 

In today’s fast-paced, rough and ready world, do we still care about how we treat one another? Do feelings have any place in the professional world, or should we be shifting our attentions and budgets away from customer services in favour of delivering quantifiable results?

It’s understandable that some companies might consider the latter the most logical approach. Wouldn’t people prefer to quickly receive the product or service than be treated courteously while they wait? Actually, no. And this is a mistake which can have seriously damaging results.

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AdminDoes customer service really count?
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What’s the best time for marketing calls?

Telemarketing can be an extremely efficient way to increase sales, but it is a method that comes with a whole host of its own, specific challenges. Unlike with things like print ads, generally emails, and even text messages, timing is absolutely crucial. With other techniques, people can come to your content as and when they are looking for it: when they open a newspaper, switch on the TV or the radio, scroll through their Twitter feeds, or check their phones. But when you’re placing a phone call, you have to have some level of confidence that there will be somebody at the other end of the line with the ability, willingness, and time to answer the phone and have a conversation at that moment. Telemarketing also comes with its own laws, and businesses who choose to ignore or flout these regulations put themselves at risk of incurring fines of £500,000 from Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office, telemarketing’s regulating bodies. Make sure you know the telemarketing rules, and avoid fines.

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AdminWhat’s the best time for marketing calls?
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What is an SMS shortcode?

A shortcode works like a regular telephone number, but it has one characteristic which makes it really special – its length. Shortcodes, as their name suggest, are shorter than most telephone numbers as they are made up of only 5-6 digits. The value of this is that it’s really easy for your customers, and prospective customers, to remember the number and get in touch with you.

Typically, businesses use shortcodes as a means of allowing customers to opt-in to their SMS marketing or feedback campaigns.

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AdminWhat is an SMS shortcode?
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IVR tips – the good, the bad and the ugly

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a great tool with a bad rep. Despite its potential convenience and ease of use for companies and customers alike, setting up IVR is a task so rarely executed well, that it has become hated and dreaded by many. So what can you do to make your IVR system stand out from the hordes of ineffectual, repetitive, and confusing keypad-conversations that happen every day?

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AdminIVR tips – the good, the bad and the ugly
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Free social media management: Look after your customers with Hootsuite

Social Media can be one of the best tools for spreading knowledge of your brand. A single post that goes viral could suddenly mean your company name is on the lips of millions of potential customers. However, a poorly managed channel can be a thorn in your virtual side.

The benefits of social media

Having a social media presence grants your company a number of benefits that may not be evident straight away. These include;

    • Audience reach – By growing our audience, social media gives you the potential to reach a vast amount of people for potentially minimal expense. With users generally in the hundreds of millions, no other channel has this kind of coverage.
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AdminFree social media management: Look after your customers with Hootsuite
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What does expanding Twitter to 10k characters mean to businesses?

Rumours are quickly spreading that in the next couple of months, Twitter will be increasing its character limit from 140 to almost 100 times that, with 10,000 seeming the likeliest figure – that is what the limit for Direct Messages was raised to, after all. Many of Twitter’s committed users were far from overjoyed by the news, but is their reaction justified? And how different are the consequences for personal accounts, compared with those representing businesses?

For many, it seems to be a step closer to Facebook, meaning perhaps that social media strategies will change, and become less diverse. There would be a greater allowance for the longer essays which tend to find their place on Facebook, or blogs, replacing the sharp, witty, eye-catching lines that Twitter called for.

Are our social networks converging?

Of course, this suggests perhaps a lack of concern with the desires of regular Twitter users, which could result in more users following through with their threats to leave the social network. This could be a reason for businesses to worry that much of their target audience will suddenly fall out of their reach, impacting on the success of their marketing and the spread of their brand. But in reality, the results may be quite the opposite.

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AdminWhat does expanding Twitter to 10k characters mean to businesses?
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Free survey development with SurveyMonkey

At WHYPAY? we believe that effective business tools shouldn’t cost the Earth, which is why we set out to make the best free conferencing service out there. This got us thinking: if you can get conference calls for no cost, what other great services can you get for free? That is why we have scoured the web to find the best free services to help your business and to bring them to you weekly.

In this instalment, we check out one of the best tools for getting user data on the internet – SurveyMonkey

 

Using data to improve your business

Gathering and using data is one of the key skills utilised by any successful company, influencing every decision from the smallest stationery request to the biggest multi million pound value proposals. A company that does not take the time to research available data will simply be using guesswork, and this can lead to some disastrous consequences.

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AdminFree survey development with SurveyMonkey
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Free email marketing service: Reaching out to your audience with MailChimp

At WHYPAY? we believe that effective business tools shouldn’t cost the Earth, which is why we set out to make the best free conferencing service out there. This got us thinking: if you can get conference calls for no cost, what other great services can you get for free? That is why we have scoured the web to find the best free services to help your business and to bring them to you weekly.

Our first entry into this series for 2016 is MailChimp, possibly the best free tool for creating mass email campaigns.

Why emails are still important

Email remains one of the cheapest and best ways to get a message to a large user base. With the ability to create highly personalised content, presented using magazine quality design, embed rich media and track links, the humble email has evolved significantly from its early days as a simple text based communication. By cultivating a well managed mailing list from your business, it can also be the channel which is easiest to get people to join.

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AdminFree email marketing service: Reaching out to your audience with MailChimp
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Using social to add to telemarketing campaigns

Telemarketing has proven itself to be an incredibly useful tool in generating business and keeping customers loyal. Similarly, a lot of businesses have learned to harness the power of social media and blogs extremely effectively. So, for many people, the next logical progression has been to combine these two considerable forces to create an impressive, proactive marketing strategy.

Increasing company reputation and sales

With this combination, you can ensure that your name, brand, and philosophy are well known to your prospective customers before you contact them directly, as they will be familiar with your online social media presence.

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AdminUsing social to add to telemarketing campaigns
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Investment looks set to get the Midlands Engine started

A special event held at Birmingham University saw a new, exciting proposal unveiled which could have a huge impact not only on the Midlands, but on the entire country – £34 billion worth of impact, in fact. That’s the estimated boost the plan, given the title of the Midlands Engine Prospectus, could create for the UK economy by 2030.

Why the Midlands?

The Midlands may not be the first area that springs to mind when you consider which regions may hold the greatest power to aid the national economy. But a simple look at the success this region has enjoyed in recent years is more than enough to dispel this potential under-informed oversight.

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AdminInvestment looks set to get the Midlands Engine started