Using Social Media to Sell More: Why aren’t you doing it?

Using Social Media to sell is a no-brainer, right?  But 75% of sales reps don’t use social media.
Why? Most don’t know how to get started.

Using Social Media To Sell More

Social Media for business isn’t posting your weekend photos on Facebook.  It’s work.  But when you do it right it can be your own strategic advantage that helps you sell more.

Cold calling is dead.  In case you didn’t realize it, all those people you call really don’t want to hear from you. If they were interested in what you sell, they’d look for it.  Online.

A better choice

So what can you do?  Hang out where they are: on social sites.  Just like you, your prospects are on social media.  In fact, 91% of potential B2B customers are active on social media (IDC Research).  If you’re there too, they’ll see what you have to say.  But you’re probably not: only 1 in 4 sales reps knows how to use social media for sales.  If you’re not, they’ll hear what your competition has to say.

Simple steps you can take

So where should you be active?  Think about your audience:

When it comes to business, decision makers use Twitter and LinkedIn. They’re the top social media opportunities for B2B salespeople.

Do This Now: Who’s your average customer?  Take some time to figure it out, based on your current or recent customers.  Then, start spending time on the social media site where they hang out to become comfortable with business focused posts and conversations.

Once you’re positioned to reach them, it’s your opportunity to educate them about how you can solve their problem, and engage with them at the right time.  When they are interested.

Who are you interested in?  What companies have been on your “hit” list for far too long?  Social Media can help you gain valuable insights into what they’re doing so you’re knocking on their door at the right time.  How?  Follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn.  You’ll be the first to know when there’s company news like moving or expansion or other important news.

Do This Now: Pick a list of 10 companies you’d love to work with and follow them on LinkedIn.

Now that you have identified your typical customer, use LinkedIn’s “Saved Search” profile, and you’ll get a notification each time.  You need pay for “Sales Navigator” to use this function.  The cost is currently $79.95/month.  But depending on the size of your sale and your marketplace, it may be worth it.

Do This Now: figure out if leads to new LinkedIn members who fit your “typical customer” is valuable enough to try “Saved Search”

Not ready to pay for Sales Navigator?  You can join “Groups” for free.  LinkedIn has almost 2 million groups, ranging from Trash Removal to Rocket Scientists, Startups to Job Seekers.  Do you focus on specific industries?  Or types of people?  Or on your town?  You’ll probably find a LinkedIn Group that’s focused on it.

Do This Now:  Search for groups that would appeal to your target market and join.  Start by reading and commenting on posts in the group, and eventually start posting about how you help your customers.  You’ll get noticed.

Got good ideas?  They don’t help you unless your potential customers know about them.  Good ideas and new solutions are what attracts customers.  LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to be seen: there are 9 billion content impressions on LinkedIn every week.  But only 3 million users share content weekly.  If you do, you’ll be one of only 0.4% of users.  You’ll be one of the very few posting, so you’ll get noticed.  Did you know that over 50% of “social traffic” to company websites comes from LinkedIn?  If you’re not posting, you’re losing website traffic.

Do This Now: Take 30 minutes and create a LinkedIn Post, and post it.  One internet marketing authority has found that 80% of all B2B leads come from LinkedIn posts and advertising.  If you want B2B leads, LinkedIn is the place to be.

So why aren’t you on Social Media?

These are challenging times.  But they’re not the last challenges you’ll face.  The next time you get “shot down” on a cold call, ask yourself why you’re not using social media to sell more.

Another idea

How about Email?  Are you using it effectively?  Click here for a Free Guide: “10 Best Email Practices for Selling More”

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On Hold Recordings for Medical Practices in Connecticut

On Hold Recordings for Medical Practices are one of the easiest ways to tell your Connecticut patients about more of your specialties, and the best ways that you can help them.  Every time your office phone rings it’s “a call for help.”  A patient, or a potential patient, wants to know if you can help them with a problem.  They’re focused on you and how you can help them.  So you can be certain that they’re listening for helpful information.

What do you do to give your patients information that they want, and that you want them to have?

On Hold Recording for Medical Practices

Professional on hold messages give you a new opportunity to connect with your patients.  Custom written for your practice and to help your patients, they can help you

• improve the patient experience by delivering a positive, patient-focused message that makes the right impression
• sound more professional
• increase patient loyalty
• educate Connecticut callers about the ways that you can help them best, and
• stand out from other practices in your area

Think about your callers

Busy medical offices often get more calls than they can handle at once, so callers are often asked to “please hold.”  In fact, AT&T research shows that up to 69% of your calls may be placed on hold.  If they have to wait more than 45 Seconds, many potential patients may hang up, and almost a third won’t call again.

But letting callers listen to interesting information can help: callers will “hold on” up to 40% longer, and an average of 12% will ask about the information they’ve heard.

Building your practice

What would you like patients to know about your medical practice?  Your Informer Practice Marketing Pro will brainstorm with you in our unique Discovery Session to pinpoint the phone message that will help you to reach more of your goals.

Find out more: take a look at our FAQ

We’ll do everything for you.

With the Informer on your side, you get a complete service that gets you the results that you want.  We’ll do everything for you:

• Analyze who your callers are and where the fall in the “patient acquisition process”
• Develop a strategy to achieve your goals
• Write and revise your script until you feel it’s perfect
• Record professional greetings and your on hold record with a professional voice and mix it with licensed hold music
• Provide a broadcast quality recording.  Click here to hear samples.
• Provide a free digital playback system with any of our full service options, or format your recordings for your VoIP phones
• Proactively check in with you on a schedule that’s best for you about updating you messages
• Update your messages, at no extra charge, with any of our full service plans.  One time recordings are also available.

Your phone message recording is custom tailored to your practice, and to work on your business phone system.  Your Informer messages will be created to work with all your marketing efforts and enhance your patient satisfaction. Want to find out more about how it works?  Click here to see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Want to find out more about on hold recordings for medical practices like yours?

Or, if you want personal assistance, call to speak with a Practice Marketing Pro.  In Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport, or Fairfield Connecticut call (203) 655-3920.  In New York call (212) 355-6980.  Nationwide call (800) 862-8896

Stamford Chamber of Commerce Ambassador 
Darien Chamber of Commerc Board Member

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Messages on hold for Moving Companies Help You Win More Customers

Messages on hold for Moving Companies can help you with one of your toughest challenges.  Movers like you face plenty of challenges: the price of fuel, the shortage of qualified truck drivers, the seasonality that makes it so tough to keep a well-trained crew.  But the first challenge is getting that customer. Without the customer, nothing else matters.

Timing is everything when it comes to your customers: you only get one chance to make a great first impression.  Then, when the customer makes a choice…for you, or your competition…there’s no second chance.  In your industry the customer finds you. You can’t go out to try to find them.  Smart Movers use all the tools at their disposal: a quick hitting, eye catching website, a prominent position on social media, a strong reputation in the community, and effective online advertising.

When this all comes together the potential customer gives you a chance: they pick up the phone and call you.

Messages on hold for moving companies can make the difference

When your phone rings, what kind of impression do you make?  Do you or one of your staff answer every call? Do you have an “automated” answer the call?  Successful moving companies get dozens of calls a day…hundreds a week. To professionally answer those calls, it often pays let your PBX or VoIP telephone system’s Auto Attendant deliver a uniformly high quality recorded greeting.

Calls may have to wait to be answered

After the automated attendant answers the call, many callers may wait “in the queue.”  That’s putting the caller on “hold” for the call to be answered in the order in which it was received.

Put yourself in your caller’s shoes

When your phone rings, it’s a call…for help.  The potential customer on the line wants to know if you’re the right choice for their move.  And this is your chance to help them decide.  How can you do it?

• Make sure that the voice that answers their call sounds great: friendly, professional, and helpful. Would you want anything less if you were the customer?
• Every call is an opportunity to make the sale. You can’t afford to waste a moment of it.

Making every call more valuable

When you’re relying on your phone system to answer and “hold on to” your callers, make sure you’re giving them your best effort: greet them with a professional voice that always sounds great.  Then, when your caller is waiting “in the queue” give them helpful information and tips that they’ll be interested in.  Show them that you have the expertise they need, and that you help them in every way possible.  How?  With professional on hold messages.

Informer Messages on hold are created for business phone systems, and provide a custom written phone message that’s actually targeted advertising.  We start by creating professional greetings for your business.  Your telephone message educates your caller with interesting phone advertisements delivered by a professional voice over.  These custom on hold messages give your callers information that they want, and that you want them to have about what’s most important in choosing the right mover.

Here are actual samples of Informer Messages for two of our Moving and Storage clients

Are you making the best impression when potential customers call?

What’s your “batting average” for converting “leads” into customers?  If you want to make “the big leagues” and increase your chances of winning the next customer, think about how you can sound more professional and helpful.  Think about giving your caller Informer Messages on hold.

How they work

Click here to find out how Informer Messages on hold have worked for successsful movers for over 20 years, and how they can work for you.

Want more information?

Click here to email us, or call us anytime at (800) 862-8896 today.

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Funeral Home Marketing: 5 simple steps to success

Funeral Home Marketing isn’t the hottest idea on Madison Avenue, but your “need based” service can take just 5 steps to establish yourself as the only choice when families in your community need your help most.

Funeral Home Marketing Ideas you can start using today

Here are 5 simple ideas to improve your marketing mix and promote your funeral home.

1. Make the right first impress: this starts with a professionally designed logo. A logo helps those in need to quickly recognize you (think of how effective “the golden arches” are).  And when they don’t already know you, a professional logo conveys “quality” and “professionalism” at a time when they don’t have time or desire to shop.
2. A well designed website that communicates key information: personal service, caring professionals, and easy to use reference guide that educates readers about your services. This is the perfect opportunity to promote pre-planning, and make it easier to make payments.
3. Involvement in the community: since your clients only look for services when there’s an immediate need, in any community where there’s more than one funeral home, it pays to invest in marketing that keeps your name know.  Community involvement fills this need perfectly: participation in the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary or other civic organizations, and local sponsorships, being a collection point for donations for schools, or other community events are all valuable, both to your business and to the community.  The more that you know and participate in your community, the more residents will turn to you when they need you.
4. Building your reputation: Blogging can be a powerful opportunity.  Blogs aren’t just for entertainment.  They’re educational, and help you to provide needed information.  Participation in local community groups reinforces it, and leads to that first phone call.  And when potential clients call you, be sure to have  personally answer the call, and make that time more valuable by offering messages on hold.  Marketing Messages on hold can help start a difficult conversation about funeral arrangements, burials, and cremation.
5. Introduce your staff: Funerals are personal.  Your clients want to deal with people who make them comfortable.  So put some time into personal bios of your staff members, and include a professional photo that conveys professionalism and compassion.

There are more ways to promote your services

These are just some of the many ways to promote your funeral home.  Many funeral marketing services will help you with SEO, digital marketing for funeral homes, targeted direct mail and other marketing tactics, but these are a few that you can try yourself.

Try one of them today

These ideas are simple, and listed because you can take control of them without much more help than you already have.  And there’s almost no risk.  So pick one, and try it today.

 

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How Sales Funnels Work: Sales can be as easy as 1-2-3

Ask most marketers about how sales funnels work, and they’ll draw a diagram: prospects to into the top of the funnel, and some of them come out the bottom as customers.

But ask them for more details and you’ll get a blank look.

So here’s how they work, and simple steps you can take to use them successfully.

Funnels aren’t new, and they’re not rocket science.  But you do have to think about them if they going to work.  Properly executed, they’re the journey that a customer takes starting when they first recognize a need, or a problem, or a desire, through when they make their purchase.

How Sales Funnels work in successful businesses

You’re not Apple, selling iPhones.  So it’s safe to say that consumers don’t start out wanting to buy from you.  They have a thought that gets them interested in finding something that they want or need.  Like a bicycle.  They could want it for basic transportation, or because there’s not enough parking at the train station, or for exercise.  Whatever the reason, the consumer has begun a journey that could eventually lead to making a purchase.  And they might just buy from you if you understand marketing.

The first step

The first step in the process is simply catching the consumer’s attention.  But it’s not simple: in fact, according to bicycleretailer.com there are 143 brands competing for that consumer in the US alone.  And there are 7,000+ bicycle retailers (defined as any retailer who does 50 percent or more of their sales volume in bicycles and bike products, so that excludes stores like Walmart, REI, etc).  So you’re facing a lot of competition for the consumer’s attention.

How do you get their attention?  You do it with marketing tactics like

• Advertising (in all it’s forms)
• Social Media
• Content marketing
• SEO
• Google Reviews
• Trade Shows
• Events
• and more

They all have the same immediate goal: to attract the customer’s attention.

The second step

Next comes the hard work: the middle of the funnel.  Consumers want to know what they’re looking at, and the trend is towards “doing the research” yourself, mainly online. This trend is currently so strong that it’s diminished the role of the salesperson as the source of information, and shifted power from selling to marketing.

How do you educate the consumer?  You do it with marketing tactics like

• White papers
• Product Videos
• Demonstrations
• Case Studies
• Blog Posts
• Social Media and Interest Groups
• Product comparisons
• Messages on hold

Finally, the third step: the payoff

If your mid funnel marketing is powerful enough you still have consumers at the bottom of the funnel.  This is the time to “seal the deal.”

How do you win the sale?  You do it with marketing tactics like:

• Testimonials
• Product Tutorials
• Customer generated content
• FAQ’s
• Success Stories
• CRM
• Drip Campaigns

Have you thought about Sales Funnels in your business, and how they can help your potential customers take their journey…and finally buy from you?  Success doesn’t just happen: it’s the result of a step-by-step, well thought out process.

For more ideas, call us at (800) 862-8896.

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Merge LinkedIn Accounts to avoid confusion and keep your connections

Do you have two different LinkedIn Profiles?  It’s time to Merge LinkedIn Accounts to avoid confusion and get found more easily.  And if you do it the right way, you can keep all your valuable connections

Merge LinkedIn Accounts: you can do it in just 3 minutes

Here are the simple steps you can take to fix the problem:

1. If you can sign into both accounts the process is simple: first, select the account you want to keep, and click the “Me” icon at the top of your homepage.
2. Select Settings and Privacy from the dropdown menu
3. Choose Account Management on the left side of the screen
4. Click Merge Accounts
5. Let LinkedIn know that you own the account: enter your email and password and click Submit
6. LinkedIn will send you a confirmation notification and you’ll be able to keep your connections.

Unfortunately, some items won’t transfer over:

• Profile content: so back this up first
• Endorsements: why not make a list of your endorsers and ask them, nicely, if they’ll re-endorse you on your new “unified” profile
• Recommendations: try taking the same route as for Endorsements
• Saved Articles

Other issues

If you can’t log in to the account you want to close, don’t worry.  Just go to the Sign In page and click on Forgot Password?  Enter your email address and click Send Code.  This will send the password reset link to that email address.

If you no longer have access to that email address, LinkedIn still has procedures to help you access it to complete the “merge” process.

Now get to work

Get back building your profile, getting Endorsements and Recommendations.  LinkedIn has grown to be more than just a place to find a new job.  Potential customers want to know who you are, and use the site to get a feel for your history and accomplishments.  Take a look at my profile and you’ll see how my own company has helped our clients.  www.linkedin.com/in/caseyhart/

Want to sound as professional as you look on LinkedIn?  Click here for information about Informer Marketing Messages on hold.

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Messages on hold in Norwalk help businesses sound more professional

Messages on hold in Norwalk are an increasingly popular marketing tool for businesses that want to sound more professional, while also promoting the most profitable products and services.  How does your business make sure that your advertising reaches “the right people at the right time”?  Here’s how on hold messages for business work for others and can work for you.

Messages on hold in Norwalk: actual examples

Have you ever wondered what helps some businesses…some of your competitors…more successful?  On hold promotions can be a key part of the puzzle.  When consumers want or need something they begin a journey down the “sales funnel.” They best marketing delivers the right information to each of these consumers in the right way, when they’re ready to receive it.

Messages on hold are a part of a success promotional campaign.  When consumers take the step past gathering information from your website, they’re getting closer to buying.  Typically they visit your showroom or call you for information (especially these days!).  That’s your opportunity to help them make the right decision: buying from you.

What happens when they call?

Did you know that AT&T research shows that 69% of business telephone callers are placed on hold?  These are your customers and others who are interested in your help.  Placing them on “hold,” where they sit in silence, or are stuck listening to the default VoIP music on hold doesn’t help them…or you.  And can leave callers in Norwlak frustrated or annoyed.

You have a better option

Why not create a better “User Experience” (or “UX”).  Start giving them information that they want and that you want them to have.  You know what shoppers call about. So use this knowledge to give callers helpful information, and reasons to buy from you.

Who can do it for you?

The Informer provides the complete service that creates a powerful marketing tool: your callers will get the information that they want, and that will help them make the decision to buy from you.  The result is that you can sell more on every phone call.  What do Norwalk, CT businesses say about their results?

Used you at Radisson, and experienced a 30% increase in inquiries.
Mike Matraza, Corporate Training Consultant, Anthony Robbins, Inc. Norwalk CT

We’ve probably gotten 30-40% increase in our inquiries…That’s a nice healthy increase.
RP, Par Pool and Spa, Norwalk CT

You get everything you need for successful marketing messages on hold from The Informer:

• Discovery Session to come up with ideas
• Strategy
• Script writing and revision
• Broadcast quality recording
• And updates of your messages if you choose

Interested in finding out more about the process?  Click here to view answers to Frequently Asked Questions, and find out how the process works.

Or contact us

If you know that you’re ready, why not contact us for a free 15-minute discovery session?

In Norwalk, CT, call us at 203-655-3920 (throughout Fairfield County).  In Connecticut at nationwide, call us toll free at (800) 862-8896.

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How To Cope in The New Normal: 10 tips for your business

How to cope in The New Normal is the question on so many business owners’ minds that I started listening closely to what was working for them, and thought that I’d share them.

How To Cope with The New Normal

1. Stop, and assess the situation.  Everyone knows that news outlets thrive on shock value.  Trying to put all the bad news aside, what’s your realistic situation?  Sometimes it’s not as bad as it may seem.  Are you facing a temporary setback, or is are most drastic measures called for to make major changes
2. What can you control, and what can’t you control.  We’re each dealt a hand of cards.  Focus your efforts on what’s in your control.  Change what you can.
3. Supposedly (but not really) the Chinese character for “crisis” is made up of two different ideas: “danger” and “opportunity.”  In every crisis there may be opportunities for those who can take a step back and find them.
4. What’s changed, and what’s the same?  While there are many people are hesitant to go to retail stores, these same stores do have necessities that they need to get some way or another (like chocolate and toilet paper)
5. What do you do best?  This was the reason you were successful in the past.  How can these same skills help you thru the current situation?  While many of us keep trying to work on our weaknesses, I’ve hear it said that one secret is to improve your strengths.  Many times you can outsource the things you don’t do well (and never will…like accounting)
6. Customers come, and customers go.  Give them reasons to come back.
7. Take a break.  Getting out of the office for a short while at lunch can help.  Doing something exciting over the weekend can change your outlook.
8. Find the most positive thing you can do.  Do it.
9. What was the project you thought was really important in January, but were too busy to do?  Why not do it now?
10. Remember networking?  It’s different, but it’s not dead.  Call your best connections.  Help them out.  They’ll return the favor.

This too shall pass

I talk with people all day, every day.  I’ve heard how things have changed.  April’s crisis has changed…it’s not gone, but its working better

What are your goals?

There might actually be new ways to reach them now that didn’t exist before.

There’s always a New Normal.  Our job is to find the best way to cope with it, and make it work.

Why not try giving your customers ideas about how you can help them in The New Normal.  Informer Messages on hold can help.

 

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12½ Reasons to Buy From You: Do your customers know?

Do your customers actually know the best reasons to buy from you?  If they don’t, they’ll probably end up buying from your competition. When your prospect asks “So why should I buy from you?” do you have a good answer?  This might be a good time to sit down and come up with a list.

Don’t bother telling them that you have “award winning service,” or “the best product.”  Even if you’re talking with your brother-in-law, consumers want a good reason to buy from you, and not shop around for a better deal.  So here are ___ Reasons for your next customer to buy from you.

Reasons to Buy from you

1. You were referred to them by a friend.  A personal referral is one of the most powerful reasons to buy from you.  Because the prospect doesn’t know you, they don’t know if they can trust/rely on you.  But if you came through for a friend, that hurdle is eliminated
2. You have 137 great Google Reviews: these are actually just as powerful as Personal Referrals.  If an entire crowd think that you were a great choice, that’s convincing.
3. Low Risk: product demonstrations, free trials, money-back guarantees, month to month contracts all reduce the risk of making the wrong decision, so they make it easier to try buying from you.
4. Guarantees help in the same way: if the product doesn’t work, you offer a written guarantee that you’ll make it work
5. Convenience: if everyone else makes it inconvenient to buy from them (they have inconvenient hours, they’re not easy to reach, their sales reps don’t help, etc.) and you make it easy, I’ll be more likely to buy from you.  Amazon makes it more convenient to buy just about anything: just a few clicks, and it arrives at your doorstep in days, at no extra charge.
6. But some businesses compete with Amazon very successfully: so there’s more that convinces the customer than overnight delivery.  You can buy a hammer or pliers online, but my local hardware shows you…hands on…how to use them.  That’s added value.
7. You understand your prospect’s problems and show them how you’ll solve them.  Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think about what their problems, needs, and desires are.  Then talk about them.
8. You understand your competition, and show how you solve their weaknesses.  Everybody has competition, and every business has weaknesses. Show how what you do is important so when your prospects are talking with your competition, they understand that you give them more of what they really need.
9. Your product’s best feature: what do your best clients tell you that they like most?  This might just be one of the features that sets you apart.  Tell prospects about it.
10. Your product really is different.  This is your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition.
    What’s different about your product?  Some products go to extremes to be different: like “Death Wish Coffee,” that brags about being “The World’s Strongest Coffee.”  Start by making a list of specific potential “differentiators” and compare them to your target market’s needs.
11. You offer more: if everybody sells cookies, but you sell cookies AND you sell milk, that’s a great idea.  Your customers want complete service.
12. Try telling a story about your clients’ frustrations and how you solved them.

12½  The benefit you offer.  Educate them about the value of your product: Consumers don’t buy
features, they buy benefits.  Do you solve a “pain” that many people have?  Tell your customers.
Solving their problem could be the best reason to buy from you.

Have you ever wondered…

Think about when  you’re the customer, and a salesperson is pitching you.  You have choices.  You have other suppliers who will sell to you.  Have you ever wondered…or asked…”why should I buy from you?”

Your customer wants to know

Your customer wants to make the best decision, and may ask you.  So be prepared.  Understand your customer’s needs, and why they really should buy from you and not your competition.

Why not tell everyone?

When you have a good reason for shoppers to choose you, why not tell them all?   Informer Messages on hold deliver the right message to the right people at the right time: when the shopper is interested enough to call you.  When they’re looking for the answer to “why should I buy from you.”

Interested a marketing tool that will help shoppers decide to buy from you?  Find out about how Informer Messages can work for you by clicking here.

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The Sales Funnel for Norwalk businesses: Are you using it to sell more?

The Sales Funnel for Norwalk businesses helps them deliver “the right information to the right people at the right time.”  If you’re like most businesses, you try lots of different marketing ideas.  But sales are still disappointing.  So what’s the problem?

You’ve tried all the “hot” marketing and advertising ideas, and even a few others.

• you have a new website,
• brochures, and
• great signage outside your Norwalk store or building
• you’ve tried Google Pay Per Click, and
• “starting a conversation” on social media.
• You may go “retro” and use direct mail or outdoor advertising.

So what’s wrong?

Maybe it’s time to think about your sales funnel.  One possibility is that these are all “Top of The Funnel” (TOF) marketing techniques.  TOF marketing gets consumers’ attention.  But it takes a different approach to actually turn these shoppers into customers.  Your problem may be “follow through.”  That’s the stuff you do “Mid Funnel”

The Sales Funnel for Norwalk Businesses helps you make sales

At different stages of the sales process, consumers want and need different kinds of information to make their decisions.  If you’re buying a car, great styling catches the consumers’ attention, but before they buy they want to know about features, comfort, fuel economy, and more.  The shopper who wants this information is in the “Mid Funnel” stage.

Different kinds of information are best delivered in different ways.  For autos it could be a booklet, a visit to the showroom, or a test drive.  For IT service it could be studies, white papers, or statistics.  This is when the consumer wants more information that you have on your website.  The consumer typically wants specific information, and contacts you, usually by phone.

Mid Funnel Marketing tool: Messages on hold

When consumers call a busy business, they want help. Fast.  But the fact is that many of your phone calls are placed on “hold,” at least for a few moments (AT&T Research).  That’s when the “Mid Funnel” marketing tool Messages on hold make an impact.

Informer Messages on hold are custom written messages, geared to the “mid funnel.”  They give your best prospects the specific information that’s crucial for making the sale.

What would you like your best prospects to know about you?

When consumers become interested in buying from you, what would you like them to know about your products and services?  Do you have unique offerings?  Do you provide special service?  How about features? Or the best reasons to come into your Norwalk showroom?  Or educate your customers about your specialties?

At this point in the sales process, your potential customers have questions.  To win them over, you’ve got answers that you’d like to give them.

Why not use every opportunity to give your callers helpful information?

Informer Messages on hold do just that, even when your callers have to wait on hold.  Callers placed on hold actually appreciate helpful information hold.  In fact:

• 85% of phone callers prefer on hold messages over silence (Cellular Marketing Magazine)
• Callers waiting on hold will actually “hold on” longer when listening to information…up to 3 times longer! (US West Communications)
• Callers waiting in silence will abandon their call in less than a minute. (North American Telecom)

Want happier callers?  And more customers?

Find out about how Informer Messages on hold work by clicking here or give us a call to learn how Informer Messages can help consumers.  In Norwalk and throughout Connecticut call (203) 655-3920.  Nationwide call (800) 862-8896.

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Bicycle Shop Marketing is more than just a sign and a website

Bicycle Shop Marketing is pretty easy, right?  Get someone to design an eye-catching website to help you advertise, and put up a sign above your door, and business will come walking in.   Right?  Not always.

The past 3 months have been crazy good for Bike Shops, but we all know that this was a “once in a lifetime” marketing opportunity.  Unfortunately with supply chain problems, the “gold rush” is over.  So how do we use recent successes to build for the future?

Bicycle Shop Marketing is a three step process

Bike store owners know bikes.  But it’s worth understanding a marketing tool called the Sales Funnel.  Simply put, the funnel breaks down the consumer’s “journey” to making a purchase (like a new Road Bike) into specific steps

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action

What each of the four steps means.

Awareness

That’s when we realize that we want or need something, and might start looking for it.  This is the time when great SEO and a nice website help you get noticed by the consumer, and help them narrow their search

Interest

When consumers reach this step, it’s more than a whim.  They’re really getting interested and look closely at their options.  They want more information than is found on your website.  Many of these consumers pick up the phone and call you.  You can “fan the flames” by giving them more information.  Videos and messages on hold are valuable here.

Desire

They’re getting close: they have identified features and possibly sources of the bicycle they want.  Now’s the time to convince them to choose you, with Reviews www.reviewshelpdesk.com , Testimonials, FAQ’s, and product comparisons.

Action

You make the sale.

Making the sale depends on the consumer taking all the steps along the way: they don’t skip any, no matter how much you’d like them to.

The Neglected Step

The most neglected part of the process is in the “Interest” phase.  It’s where you can lose your best prospects to the competition (ouch!).  That’s why Informer Messages on hold are especially tailored to help build interest.  They’re written specifically with the customer in mind, and to help move them to the “Desire” phase.

More about how Messages on hold work

Think about your experience: there are lots of consumers who want what you offer.  Google Analytics will tell you how many of them visit your website.  And your own experience will tell you how often consumers call your shop.    But what percentage of your callers visit you?  That could probably be better.  The solution: use the right marketing tool at the right time.  That’s when they’re most effective.

When you realize where on the Funnel these potential buyers are, it’s easier to understand the best way to help them take the next step.

Want to bring more of your “Interested” consumers a bit closer to buying?  Let’s talk about delivering your message to the when they call.  And make every phone call more profitable.

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Mid Funnel Marketing: it’s the most neglected part of the process

Mid Funnel Marketing is the part of the sales process that everybody ignores.  Everybody tries to feed the top of the funnel, searching for prospects wherever they can, with wild “shotgun” advertising.  It’s the Wild West, trying to “lasso” anybody “with a pulse” who could be talked into buying from you.  The top of the funnel is where the money is spent, and that’s exciting.  In fact, businesses spend 94-96% of their marketing budget just trying to attract potential customers, and load them into the funnel.  That doesn’t leave much for the rest of the process.

The Bottom of the Funnel is where all the fun is: that’s where the money is made.  A few of the prospects who got shoveled into the top of the funnel are still there, and they’re ready to buy.  That’s when the cash register rings.

Mid Funnel Marketing is where the work is done.

Once a prospect shows any interest in your business, it’s time to show them how you can help them.  They’ve visited your website and they might be interested.  But shoppers are better prepared than ever, and will do their research online.  Once they have they’ll want more.  Many will pick up the phone and call you.

You need to be ready.  This is the crucial point of the sale where you can win.  Customers want answers that they didn’t get from your website.  Every time your phone rings, it’s a potential sale.  Are you ready?

You can be.  This isn’t “your first rodeo.”  You know your products and services, and you know what your customers need.  So be prepared with

• inside sales reps (or CSR’s) who know what to expect, and have the answers
• a strong knowledge of your products
• specific information that they can point callers to on your website, and
• testimonials from satisfied customer
• marketing messages on hold

Marketing Messages on hold

What are they?  They’re the informative messages that your callers can listen to when they wait for “the next available customer service representative” (while they wait in the “queue”), or while on hold when waiting for your salesperson.

Marketing Messages on hold are custom written and recorded to provide the key information that your prospects want when they’re in the middle of the sales funnel.  They have a specific job to do, and will make your CSR’s job easier.  Well written messages prompt the right questions, and start the right conversations that lead to sales.

Affordable marketing tool

Your business spends almost 96% of your marketing budget trying to attract prospects.  But what do you do to move them through the middle of the marketing funnel?

Find out more

Find out more about the affordable marketing messages that help your prospects become customers.  Click here for more information.

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Medical Practice Marketing in New Jersey Usually Misses the Point

Medical practice marketing in New Jersey is pretty predictable: “Acquire new patients” by building a better website, invest in SEO, and get noticed with Google Ads.  That can mean a large investment.  A basic website template can easily cost $2000 with $100 in monthly fees.  SEO usually runs you a minimum of $300/month, and your Pay Per Click bill increases with every click.

Yet research reveals that online conversion rates are about 2.51% for medical practices, so is your investment going to pay off?

There’s more to marketing than uncovering “one time” patients.

Medical Practice Marketing in New Jersey fails: here’s why

Most marketing consultants focus on their ability to bring new patients into your practice.  With claims of 10…25…50+ new patients a month, success is just a small investment away, right?

Not so fast.  Focusing your success on simply attracting new patients isn’t a long term plan for success.  Forrester Research shows that acquiring a new customer or patient is five times costlier than retaining an existing one.  The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70 percent, whereas the probability of selling to a new customer is 5 to 20%.

Where does your current success come from?

The answer is simple:  Did you know that 55 to 70 percent of your appointments are with long term loyal patients, in spite of your investment in attracting new patients in New Jersey?

These patients demonstrate their loyalty (and value) to your practice every day.  They already “know, like, and trust” you, and they’re most open to your suggestions about added ways you can help them.

Increasing practice revenue

Some of the best strategies for increasing your medical practice’s revenue don’t have anything to do with attracting new patients.  Simple ideas include:

• Make your practice more welcoming with training for your front desk
• Offer patient-friendly experience: a clean, well-lit waiting room, free Wi-Fi, and good reading materials
• Don’t play the local news on a waiting-room TV. You can’t control the content. https://informermessages.com/waiting-room-tv/
• Compete on your strong points: quality and personal service beat low prices
• Participate in community events
• Expand your medical services
• Partner with local causes and groups
• Add “cash” services that may not be insurance covered products or services

Let your loyal patients know about these and other new ideas at every opportunity.

One tool that puts wasted opportunities to use is Informer Messages on hold.  Informer messages give patients who call your practice information every time they have to wait on hold (According to AT&T research, 69% of your calls are asked to “please hold.”)  Why not tell your patients about new ways that you can help them, added specialties, and profitable expanded offerings.  Inform them about community activity and office amenities that will make their visit more pleasant.

Click here to find out how Informer Messages work

Your practice’s success depends on a lot more that attracting new patients. It depends on your loyal patients who will be with you for the long term.

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Patient Acquisition for Urgent Cares often misses the point

Patient Acquisition for Urgent Care practices is a “top priority” for clinics across the U.S.  But attracting new patients in a competitive market can quickly become an “arms race” trying to outspend the competition, and it can also miss the point.

Patient Acquisition is only the first step

There are over 10,000 Urgent Care Centers in the US.  Industry-dominating players like CVS Minute Clinics already control over 55% of the retail health industry and is converting over 1000 of their locations into urgent-care providers.  Urgent Care facilities face explosive competitive factors for new patients.  Most Urgent Cares rely on a steady flow of new patients for their survival, but it may be time to look back to lessons from a more traditional model.

With increased competition, the cost to acquire new patient continues to rise, with an average “cost per click” for Google Ads of over $5, and a patient acquisition cost of $18 to $27 in many areas across the US.

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) Industry News regularly presents Industry Perspectives focused on Patient Acquisition Rate, with a combination of new and traditional marketing expenditures to attract patients.  But acquiring patients is just the first (expensive) step. The long term payback of your investment comes from patient retention.

It costs less to retain a patient

Industry statistics show that new patient acquisition is 6 to 7 times more expensive than patient retention.  Retaining a patient immediately translates bottom-line profitability.

There are many tried and true ways to retain patients

• Improve the office experience
• Minimize wait times
• Communicate with patients on an ongoing basis
• Build relationships
• Help patients in additional ways

The overall patient experience, from check-in, to waiting time, to communicating (both during the visit and afterwards) is directly related to patient satisfaction and their interest in continuing the relationship.  Once that is achieved, try something new, like…

Helping patient in additional ways.

The top reasons for patients to visit an Urgent Care are:

1. Bites and Stings
2. Ear Infections
3. Tests
4. Urinary Tract Infections
5. Sore Throat

But you do far more than that.  Today there’s COVID-19 Testing, Flu Shots, School and Immigration Physicals, Stitches, and ongoing family care, all at a convenient time and place.

How to promote your additional services

Every day your phone rings.  Prospective patients call with questions about location, hours, insurance, test results and more.  According to AT&T research, up to 69% of those phone calls are placed on hold.  Your callers are probably stuck listening to  the default “music on hold” that came with your phone system.

Why not use that time to educate callers?

Informer Messages on hold replace music on hold with information about your Urgent Care: building your professional reputation, educating callers about your “additional” services, and reinforcing the value of these services.

Did you know that most of your patients know about less than half of the services your provide?

Patient Retention depends on

• Patients knowing how you can help them
• A quality patient experience and reason to return

If they don’t know, they don’t have a reason to come back.  Inform them.  With Informer Messages on hold.

Click here to find out how they work for other Urgent Cares, and can work for you.

For answers to your questions, call to speak with an Urgent Care Marketing Pro: call (800) 862-8896 today.  Or email us by clicking here.

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Reopening more successfully in Connecticut: crucial step to take

Reopening more successfully.  Have you been worried about how to reopen your business in Connecticut?  You can do it.
How?

Customers throughout Connecticut have been eager to get back to “normal,” but after staying at home for so long, they’re hesitant.  They’re not sure of the risks, or if the businesses they once loved are safe.

Reopening more successfully includes educating your customers

You can reassure your customers.

In the past few weeks we’ve created Informer messages on hold that

• give callers information about the steps that businesses are taking to safeguard customers’ health
• reassure customers that their safety is the first priority
• remind customers about all the best reasons to visit

Lots of different businesses face the same challenge: customers aren’t sure if it’s safe.

The CDC and other agencies have published extensive guidelines for businesses that should safeguard customers’ health.  The effort and expense that you’re undertaking are a part of doing business in “the new normal.”

Do customers know what you’re doing?

Cleaning, sanitizing, social distancing, wearing PPE, your business is working hard to protect your customers.  But if they don’t know, they can’t appreciate it.  So tell them.

Informer Messages on hold deliver your message to everyone who calls.  Informer professional greetings make your phone greeting a marketing tool, efficiently answering phone calls while including key information.  Every phone call is answered exactly as planned, with the same high quality.

What steps are you taking?

Your customers in Greenwich, Stamford and Norwalk want to come back.  They’ve been loyal for years, so relieve their fears.  Show the that you’re following CDC protocols to provide the very best in safety.  That’s helpful to them, and helps you stand apart from the competition.

Don’t overlook the opportunity

You can reassure your customers, and attract new consumers when you keep them informed about the steps that you’re taking to safeguard their health.  Let us show you how others in your industry as well as other industries have succeeded in informing there telephone callers, with Informer Messages on hold.  Call us today: In Fairfield County call (203) 655-3920.  In Hartford, New Haven, and throughout Connecticut/The US call (800) 862-8896

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Hold Messaging can make your business sound more professional

Hold messaging gives you an opportunity that you’ve been looking for. When do you get the chance to deliver the right message to the right people at the right time?   That’s why hold messaging is so successful, for companies from Fortune 500’s to small private companies.  It works for companies like yours in New York or Connecticut that realize that callers get placed on hold.

#Holdhappens.  But you can transform hold time into a valuable an interesting experience, for your business, and for your caller.  Here’s how.

Hold Messaging is an opportunity

Consumers call you every day.  And every call is a call for help.  Do you have what they need?  Can you solve their problem?  How soon can you deliver?

Today’s marketing starts online: it’s how we all collect information.  If you’re not online, your potential customers aren’t going to find you.  We all do our basic Google research. But when it’s time to spend money, we want more.  We don’t settle for pretty website pages.

Your customers do the same thing.  How often does your phone ring every day?  Busy offices like your receive phone calls throughout the day.

• Some businesses use an “automated attendant” to answer them. Calls are put in “queue” (line) to be answered by “the next available representative.”  That time is usually spent listening to music (and it’s never your favorite).
• Others answer calls personally. That’s great.  But many callers are still asked to wait on hold. According to AT&T research, up to 69% of them.

What do your callers hear on hold?

When your callers have to wait on hold, even for a short while, they can get bored, or frustrated, or just hang up.  What do your callers hear on hold?  Music on hold?  Silence?

Why not give callers something they want?

Think about your callers: what do they ask when they call you?  Why not start to answer their questions, while at the same time showing them how you have the answers they need, and that you’re their best choice? You can do it, with custom written messages on hold.  On hold messages can be your newest marketing tool giving

• new prospects the best reasons to work with you and not your competition
• existing customers ideas about more of the ways that you can help them, including your most profitable products and services.

Find out how we help others in your industry:

                 

Find how how easy it can be to give your callers…your current and future customers more information by clicking here.

Call or email us for information about the marketing messages that will help you sound more professional.  In Connecticut call (203) 655-3920.  In New York call (212) 355-6980.  Nationwide you can reach us at (800) 862-8896.

 

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Reopening a business after COVID-19? What to tell customers

Reopening a business after COVID-19 is your opportunity to get back to work, welcome customers, and start making up for lost time.  You’re investing a lot in this reopening, so here’s a tip can help you make it successful.

We’ve all been closed, or partially shut down since March.  That’s strained your financial resources to the limit.  If you’re lucky enough to have the capital to reopen your doors, you may only have one shot at getting it right.  Do it wrong and your business may not survive.

Reopening a business after COVID must be well thought out.

You can find hundreds of tips for disinfecting, protecting, and social distancing that are necessary to both get back to business, but keep consumers safe.  The CDC has a long list of guidelines and the US Chamber of Commerce has a complete “Reopening Guide”

Customers won’t come back

But no matter how good a job you do, and how safe you keep your customers, they won’t come back without a good reason.  Why?

• 3 months of social distancing has broken old habits, so you have to win over your customers again.
• Even your most loyal customers are hesitant, and unsure about their safety.

Just this weekend we talked with friends.  They were having pizza for dinner, and we talked about several of our town’s pizzerias.  Sure, they used to have a favorite that they’d order from every weekend, but now they were “shopping.”  Their loyalty had disappeared.

Dominos, the world’s largest pizza chain, isn’t taking chances.  They’re advertising heavily.  They’re introducing new products.  They’ve got lots of “deals.”

They’re giving long time customers and new “shoppers” reasons to order.

What about hesitant consumers?

We’ve all worked hard to self-isolate, and stay safe during the pandemic.  We’re starting to relax, but we’re still hesitant.  Consumers want to know what steps you’re taking to ensure their safety.  Some simple steps that businesses are taking are:

• Phone and online ordering
• Touchless payment
• Curbside takeaway
• Touchless delivery
• Sanitizing
• Enforcing social distancing
• Enforcing face masks
• Changing traffic flow in retail stores
• Safe habits signage

These changes are simple but each is an investment of time and money that will add up.

Do your customers know how much you’re doing?

You can do everything perfectly, and consumers will still be hesitant.  So what can you do?  Simple: tell them.  Tell them in every way you can, and every time you’re in contact.  Dominos announced that your pizza is “contactless” from the moment it goes into the oven, but you can’t mount a national advertising campaign.

What you can do:

• Signage that reinforces safety
• Send Post Cards with a special offer and educating consumers about the steps you’re taking
• Email blasts to your “opt in” list
• Talk about everything you’re doing on social media. Include photos where possible
• Messages on hold that reinforce your efforts to safeguard consumers health

All those efforts may be wasted if your customers don’t know how you’re protecting them.  So tell them, and make your #reopening a success.

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Security System Marketing: how to beat the big guys

Security System Marketing is an uphill battle competing against industry giants like specialists ADT, Brinks, and Johnson Controls, and “smart home” supplier Vivint.  But if your Security company is going to compete, it’s time to come up with a marketing plan that takes advantage of what makes you different.

Security System Marketing isn’t just lots of advertising

We’ve all seen the alarm system ads on TV.  Again and again.  Every alarm company’s message is so similar that most consumers can tell them apart.  And that can work to your advantage.  Unlike Apple (ranked #4 in Consumer Loyalty) or McDonalds (ranked #7), most of us don’t see much difference between Walmart or Target, between Costco or Kroger or Walmart.

So as ADT spends $100 million in national advertising, they convince more consumers that they need a security system.  But only about 5% of homeowners choose the market leader.  The other 95% are yours for the taking.

How to compete against big business

The big guys have advantages, but so do you.  As a matter of fact, the bigger they are, the bigger their problems are!

1. You’re nimble.  You can “turn on a dime” and innovate any time you want.
2. You know your customers, and they know you.
3. You know your employees, so you have the chance to provide the best service
4. You can target your marketing

Here’s what we mean.

1. How long does it take to make a decision at a Fortune 500 Company?  With all those layers of bureaucracy, different departments and warring factions, mega companies have a well-earned reputation for moving like elephants.  You have the absolute advantage: no multi-levels of decision making.  When you see an opportunity you can take it.
   Try new things: many won’t work, but some will.  Try a donation to a silent auction.  Try sponsoring a kids team.  Try joining a homeowner’s association.
2. You know your customers and they know you.  Your kids go to school and play sports with them.  You go to church with them.  They’re your next door neighbors.  And gaining a few of them as customers makes a big difference at a small business.  A few customers are nothing to the Big Guys.|
   So use that advantage: get to know people.  Talk with them about their homes, and about your neighborhood.  Keep your company’s sign showing in front of your house.  Join local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and BNI.  Tell family and friends about your website.
3. Big companies need lots of employees.  They can’t be as choosy as you can.  You’ve got to work side by side with them every day.  Make sure that everyone in your company knows that they’re in marketing.  Train your techs to make the most of each visit: that’s a marketing opportunity: for customer loyalty, and for recommendations to neighbors.
4. Target your marketing for each stage of the sales funnel: Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.  When a Fortune 500 tries something new it takes weeks or months of approvals, and thousands (or more) dollars.  You can target your street, your PTO, your pool club, or Main Street.  Guerrilla Marketing techniques were invented for the small guy.
   So use this advantage: first make sure of your image: you may be small but sound more professional, from the first moment a customer or prospect calls you, to how you treat them on the phone.  Make sure your business card is professionally designed and printed.  Leave professional marketing materials (including brochures, pens, magnets, etc.) at every sales or service call.  Try Nextdoor.com.  Become a security expert, and a source of information for you town.  Get a “car wrap” promoting your company and drive it…to the supermarket, to drop your kids at school, to the supermarket…everywhere.

More Ideas that help Alarm Companies Grow

These are just a few Security System Marketing ideas.  For more, read the book “Guerrilla Marketing” by Jay Conrad Levinson (this classic has been updated many times, so look for the one that will help you best).

You will have to compete with some basic marketing tools, but don’t worry.  You can show your customer that you’re just a professional with a simple but professional website.  Then use all your small company advantages to get Google Reviews showing your local fan base!

 

ADT is a Trademark of ADT Inc., and is not affiiated with The Informer in any way

 

 

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