All Things Promotional Marketing
Posts tagged brand
What Happened To Customer Service?
Sep 21st
We live in a world where not valuing your customer service is a severely poor idea; information travels too quickly for your brand to combat bad customer experiences! I’m really frustrated right now with my cell phone and trying to get a seemingly simple problem fixed. I’m quite confident that this could be taken care of effectively if somebody just took the time to care about my issue, but I don’t think I’ll be so lucky. Honestly though, I don’t blame the people on the other end of the line; I feel the problem is quite clearly with a compartmentalized system and poor treatment of customer service representatives.
My phone is having an issue connecting to the internet, it keeps telling me to have an authorized person contact the customer service 1-800 number. I called. I spent six minutes going through an automated system designed to spit me out to an appropriate representative to resolve my issue. The young gentleman informed me that due to system limitations he would not have access to help me and that the issue was something I could manage online myself. I was then transferred to online support and another digital queuing machine only to be spat out to another representative who walked me through the process of creating an online account to fix my own issue. Before the problem was resolved, she assumed that I had done all the tasks required, but since I was calling from my phone I would need to disconnect before I could investigate our success.
Problem remains.
![not getting what I need accomplished ]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2350/2276575450_26198b94f9.jpg)
The system makes it impossible for me to find the same rep again. I go through the queue again; after explaining the issue (3rd time) to a new person they again remind me that they can’t fix it and it’s my job to do this online and then I am transferred again. More time… more digital queue. New young man in online support gets a lightly frustrated version of myself and a full explanation of the scenario; his response: “Well I can help you with that!” He then takes a few moments and claims that I should be good to go – again, I can’t check unless I am off the phone. I disconnect after thanking him.
Problem still remains… Mobile internet is not in my future it would seem. Looks like I’ll be switching to Verizon after all.
The moral: Information travels so fast these days – companies like major cellular providers can’t afford to continue this level of customer service. Business owners would be wise to realize that your customer interactions are the fundamental cornerstone of success while your customer service representatives, cashiers, baggers, and phone operators are the front line for your business – pay them well and make them value the experience of working for you.
Playing the Tradeshow Giveaway Game
Jun 4th
When you leave a tradeshow you always leave with more than you came with. You will have a bag of goodies with promotional gifts handed to you by companies and organizations looking to do business with you. If your company or organization is going to spend time and money participating in tradeshows, you will want to do everything you can to stand out to your prospective customers. Since everyone enjoys receiving a free gift, craft a tradeshow giveaway and give your customers something to remember you by. Here are a few ideas below to help you master tradeshow giveaways:
Define your audience: Consider having different gifts for different audiences. You want to make sure to cater to your audience, give them something of value not something they’ll throw away when they get home.
Set Goals: Tradeshow promotional items are meant to increase recognition of your brand, product, and/or service. What do you expect to get from giving away promotional gifts? It is never a bad idea to jot down goals, especially when there is money being invested.
Find the Right Item: Finding the right item means finding an effective gift, not for you, but for consumers. Whatever you choose, you want to make sure to convey a certain message, feeling, thought, or idea that represents your company or organization. What do you want to convey to your current and prospective clients and what item will communicate that the best? When picking your promotional items, remember that gifts should always have a sales incentive, so it is best to think about how the item will generate business for you.
Make it Short and Sweet: We encourage you to add your message to any promotional gift you giveaway. However, make it short and sweet by giving them enough information to catch their attention but not too much to create an anxious feeling of information overload. We suggest you imprint your gifts with name, number and logo.
Set A Price: Remember that the larger the quantity, the lower the individual unit price. If you want to stand out from your competition, giveaway a couple of larger items like handy tool sets or picnic accessories. These promo items have higher ticket prices so you might want to collect business cards and draw just a couple of names to receive these gifts. Maybe you can give a few other people a free hour couching or consulting session. Let them experience your promo items but also your services so they can start building a relationship with you.
Establish Rewards: How will you give away your gifts? Perhaps you hand out items as a token of your appreciation for stopping by your booth? Another great way to get customers attention is to play a game and have the promotional gift be the reward. Games are also a great way for people to remember you at a tradeshow. Remember, they are stopping by several booths; you need to stand out and make them have some fun while they’re there!
These are just the first few steps to get you on the right path of a successful tradeshow giveaway. Good luck and don’t forget to have fun!