When it comes to increasing sales for your business, it's all about building relationships between your company or brand and your customers. And since no relationship is based on hit-and-run tactics, you need a program that combines marketing with sales and "touches" your prospects repeatedly throughout the sales cycle.
If you generally rely on just one or two marketing tactics to reach prospects, this is a great time to break out of your old mold and adopt new ones that will help your company grow. Not only will it make life more interesting for you, it's just plain smart. You see, it takes multiple contacts with prospects - some studies say as many as eight are required - before a sale is closed. Of course, the actual number of contacts will depend on your industry and what you're marketing, but it's easy to see why a program that relies on a single tactic will fall flat.
The best marketing mix reaches your prospects throughout all phases of your sales cycle. So don't be a "Johnny one note." If you focus exclusively on direct mail or PR, for example, at the expense of other tactics, you'll lose prospects along the way. And it's also often essential to combine marketing tactics with sales for that final one-two punch.
Source : Big Marketing Ideas for small budget. Kim T Gordon. 2005
11.03.2008
The Human Touch for Costumers, Where and How to Start
Any business can begin the journey to develop its human touch with small and simple actions that cost nothing yet have immense and immediate impact on customers. This journey could begin with the simplicity of a smile, direct eye contact, and the words ‘‘please’’ and ‘‘thank you’’. Encouraging employees to use these simple behaviors with customers more often and with genuine warmth will make all the difference in what the customer remembers about the business.
These simple actions communicate the message ‘‘you’re a real person and we care’’. Customers remember these little human touches because that’s what is important to them as a customer and as a person. These human touches satisfy the three primary human needs that impact the customer’s decision to buy –Acknowledgement, Respect, and Trust (ART).
A higher degree of consistency and unanimity in the desired humanness of a business requires increasing levels of focus and dedication in order to achieve greater business impact. The primary human needs of Acknowledgement, Respect, and Trust provide a common thread that helps keep efforts focused and aligned through any level of rigor a business wants to pursue.
The implementation complexity is determined by the scope and scale of the business and its customers. There are eight major areas on which business should focus:
(a) Leading the Human Firm.
(b) Acknowledging Customers.
(c) Treating Customers with Respect.
(d) Building Trust with Customers.
(e) Communicating Humanly.
(f) Implementing the Human Touch Consistently across Interactions.
(g) Understanding and Applying the Human Touch as a Process.
(h) Implementing Technology to Humanize (not Dehumanize).
Source : Costumers are People, The Human touch. John Mckean 2002
These simple actions communicate the message ‘‘you’re a real person and we care’’. Customers remember these little human touches because that’s what is important to them as a customer and as a person. These human touches satisfy the three primary human needs that impact the customer’s decision to buy –Acknowledgement, Respect, and Trust (ART).
A higher degree of consistency and unanimity in the desired humanness of a business requires increasing levels of focus and dedication in order to achieve greater business impact. The primary human needs of Acknowledgement, Respect, and Trust provide a common thread that helps keep efforts focused and aligned through any level of rigor a business wants to pursue.
The implementation complexity is determined by the scope and scale of the business and its customers. There are eight major areas on which business should focus:
(a) Leading the Human Firm.
(b) Acknowledging Customers.
(c) Treating Customers with Respect.
(d) Building Trust with Customers.
(e) Communicating Humanly.
(f) Implementing the Human Touch Consistently across Interactions.
(g) Understanding and Applying the Human Touch as a Process.
(h) Implementing Technology to Humanize (not Dehumanize).
Source : Costumers are People, The Human touch. John Mckean 2002
11.01.2008
The Human Touch , What Are the Challenges of Actually Doing It?
The following questions and how well a firm answers them, and implements their answers, represent the major challenges a firm will have when evolving its human touch:
• What needs do customers have as people that will most influence their decision to buy?
• What leadership behavior best creates a firm and its culture to fulfill those needs?
• What types of employees best fulfill those needs?
• What employee behavior best communicates and fulfills those needs?
• What training best enhances those employees’ innate abilities?
• What communication methods and skills best deliver the desired messages?
• What employee treatment best enhances both employee and customer fulfillment?
• What approaches best create human touch consistently across each interaction?
• What processes best deliver a consistent human touch?
• What technology approaches maximize humanness, and do not dehumanize?
Source : Costumers are People, The Human touch. John Mckean 2002
• What needs do customers have as people that will most influence their decision to buy?
• What leadership behavior best creates a firm and its culture to fulfill those needs?
• What types of employees best fulfill those needs?
• What employee behavior best communicates and fulfills those needs?
• What training best enhances those employees’ innate abilities?
• What communication methods and skills best deliver the desired messages?
• What employee treatment best enhances both employee and customer fulfillment?
• What approaches best create human touch consistently across each interaction?
• What processes best deliver a consistent human touch?
• What technology approaches maximize humanness, and do not dehumanize?
Source : Costumers are People, The Human touch. John Mckean 2002
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