Grasshopper 800 Number has some answers, but not this one

The Grasshopper 800 number has lots of answers about your new VoIP service, but not this one.  This is the one that will make your Grasshopper VoIP service more valuable, and more profitable, by turning it into a better telemarketing tool.  Interested in finding out more?

Grasshopper 800 Number should be your second call

That’s because Grasshopper Customer service is really good at the basic stuff, like how to work your new phone.  But The Informer can help you do what you really want to do: sound more professional and accomplish more on every phone call.  When you do, you’ll sell more, too.

New capabilities

Your new mobile phone can do something that we haven’t seen on any other mobile phones: when your caller dials your number and the mobile carrier tries to locate you, most phone services play a “ring back” tone.  But you have a better option.

Use that time to educate your callers

The Informer lets you replace the “ring back” tone with a custom marketing recording.  It will give your callers information that they want, and that you want them to have.  And there’s never a better time.  Why?

Think about your callers: they’re your customers and your potential customers. And they call you when they really want your help.  They call and they’re focused on you and how you can help them.  They’re thirsty for your help.

That’s the time to capitalize on their attention.  Sound more professional.  Tell them about how you can help them best.  Tell them about what’s new and what’s different about how you can help them.  Remind them about how you’re different from the competition and what that means to them.

It’s better advertising.

We all “tune out” advertising.  We “TIVO” commercials, we delete email blasts, we ignore any ad that doesn’t say “Free.”  That’s because most advertising tries to interrupt you when you’re doing something else.  Informer Messages are different.  They reach your target customer when they want your help.  So they’re more effective.

Interested in finding out how Informer Messages can make your Grasshopper mobile phone a better marketing tool?  Click here for information, or to speak with someone right now, call us: In New York call 212-355-6980.  In Connecticut call 203-655-3920.  And Nationwide call 800-862-8896.

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Messages on hold for Businesses in Stamford: don’t miss the chance

Messages on hold for Businesses in Stamford, Connecticut can help you sound more professional, and sell more on every phone call.  Think about it: most business calls are placed on hold for at least a short while (69% of them, according to AT&T Research), and callers are stuck listening to music…or impatiently waiting in dead silence.  That’s a wasted opportunity that successful businesses do something about.

Messages on hold for Businesses in Stamford

Some of Fairfield County’s most successful businesses, like Stamford Tent, Stamford Twin Rinks, and Chelsea Piers have used marketing messages on hold to educate their callers: they tell callers about their most profitable products and services.  They give callers helpful advice.  And describe how they’re different from the competition.

When your phone rings it’s a customer or potential customer looking for help.

How often do you get to deliver your message to your best prospects when they’re focused on getting your help?  Do you really want to ignore this opportunity?

Hold messages help Stamford Businesses

Successful advertising on hold is more than just a sales pitch.  Creating on hold marketing starts with understanding Stamford businesses and residents, and how you help them.  It’s learning about your customers’ “hot buttons,” their most important problems and desires.  This is the basis for all effective marketing, but it’s too often neglected in most advertising…including hold messages.

The script is the key to successful hold messages.  Deliver a message that your caller is interested in, and your offer will be a success.

What would you tell your best prospects if you had a chance?

What are your goals for the coming months?  What are your best opportunities? And, most importantly, what do your customers really want?

We’re right here in the Stamford area, and work with businesses like yours to create interesting, effective Informer Messages on hold.  We start with a Free 15-minute Discovery Session that focuses on your goals and your customers, and you’ll get simple ideas that you can use to sound more professional and sell more on every phone call.  Why not contact us today?  In Stamford call 203-655-3920. or click here for information.  Nationwide call 800-862-8896

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Professional Voice Mail Greetings: are you making the wrong impression?

Professional Voice Mail Greetings help you sound more professional to the people who really count in business: your customers and your potential customers.  Making a great first impression is important.  Because you only get one chance.

Here’s how to sound more professional even if you can’t answer all your calls personally.

Professional Voice Mail Greetings just sound better

A professional voice mail greeting doesn’t have to be professionally recorded (though they do sound better).  They just have to sound better than yours does now.

The first step towards sounding more professional is to hear how you really sound.  That’s easy.  Call yourself, and let the call go to voicemail.  If you’re calling your office and an operator answers, ask for yourself.

What do you hear?  In some cases, you may not have recorded a voicemail greeting.  The telephone system default may be

• a beep with no message
• your telephone or extension number: “You have reached 212-555-1212. Please leave a message after the tone.  Beep”
• a computer generated voice saying your name (the very worst), or
• a prerecorded message such as “please leave a message at the tone”

Seriously?  You can’t be bothered to let me know if I’ve reached your voicemail?

Now call your toughest competition.  How do they sound?  And who would you rather buy from?

Why voice mail greetings are important

Think about your caller: it may be your best client, or a potential client.  When they call you it’s an opportunity, to sell more, to build customer satisfaction or loyalty, or to win a new account.  So doesn’t it make sense to let your caller know that they’re reached the right voicemail?

Some phone systems help

Some phone systems let you simply record your name.  They often play a simple greeting such as “You have reached ____________.  Please leave your message at the tone.”  But most systems don’t. So here’s a simple voice mail script you can record yourself:

“Hi.  This is ________.  Please leave your name and message at the tone, and I’ll get right back to you”

or if you’re a bit more creative:

“Hello, you have reached __________.  I’m currently helping other clients with  (something great you do).  Please leave me a message and I’ll be able to help you as soon as possible.”

It’s that easy.  But there are lots of reasons that you don’t want your own voice on your voicemail message.  It doesn’t sound professional enough.  It sounds like you’re a “one person business.”

When you want the most professional image, ask us about professionally recorded voicemail messages for everyone in the business.  And if use an “automated attendant” to answer your calls, consider how professional a custom phone system greeting can help you sound.

Ready to sound more professional?

Click here for more information, or call 212-355-6982 (in New York), 203-655-3920 (in Connecticut) or 800-862-8896 Nationwide.

Want to go even further?  Consider Informer Messages on hold, that give your callers information they want and that you want them to have, every time they have to wait on hold.  What do your callers hear on hold?

 

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Urgent Care Marketing: 8 Steps You Need To Take To Survive

How’s your Urgent Care Marketing doing?  More practices seem to spring up across New York every day.  In a small New York town I know there are 2 Urgent Cares, and a CVS that provides more and more “medical” treatments.  Regular medical checkups are the best way to stay healthy.  But what’s your plan to help your Urgent Care survive?

Urgent Care Marketing Steps to take in New York

Helping your Urgent Care Center thrive, and continue to help more patients is a challenge, but even a simple marketing plan can help succeed.  The best way to market your practice is step by step.  Here are 8 “guerrilla marketing” steps that you can take that are neither expensive nor difficult to complete.  They’ll help you introduce yourself to your local customers and then help them in more ways, like

1. Signage
2. Direct Mail: it’s been around a long time, but still works
3. Social Media
4. Email Marketing
5. Referral Campaigns
6. Networking
7. Events
8. Messages on hold

Here are more details on these ideas:

1. How’s your signage?  A good sign can be expensive but it will also work for you 24/7.  If you’ve chosen a busy location with lots of car traffic, you can gain exposure to thousands of potential patients every day. But don’t settle for just displaying your name: add changing signs that talk about your services: potential patients will notice the change and take a look, giving you even more exposure.
2. All that ‘junk mail’ that comes to your mailbox keeps coming for one reason: it still works.  Now the post office has marketing options that include dropping the same post card at every door in your area, and you can pick and choose the exact streets to deliver to.  Ask about EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail).  Your neighbors are your “market” so keep reminding them how you can help.
3. Social Media: make friends and you attract more friends.  Give lots of helpful wellness tips on your Facebook or Twitter pages.  You’ll gain followers who remember your name.  Join local “Mom’s” Groups: they’re highly effective platforms for getting known.
4. Email marketing to local groups is very effective.  It’s usually inexpensive to advertise in the local school’s email blasts, or purchase email addresses from groups like the Chamber of Commerce.
5. Referral Campaigns: team up with local businesses to “cross refer” to each other: think about other medical professionals (dentists, chiropractors), local wellness businesses (health foods, athletic trainers, sports clubs)
6. Networking is a great way to meet local residents, and the people who know them.  Think about civic groups, community groups, etc.
7. Events: participate in the NY Community: display at local fairs and events, and hold fun events at your office to introduce people to your staff. The local Chamber is good for this.
8. Messages on hold: never lose the opportunity to tell patients about more of the ways you can help them.  Your office is busy, so calls will be asked to “please hold.” When you do let them hear messages on hold that inform and educate your callers about your practice.

Don’t assume patients will come

There was a movie that said “If you build it they will come.” That doesn’t work in New York.  There’s too much competition.  Just opening your doors doesn’t mean that you’ll have plenty of patients. You’ll have to take steps to build your list of patients.

What’s the next step for your Urgent Care Marketing?

If you’d like to know more about any of these, call us.  We’re natural “Guerilla Marketers” and love talking about these ideas.  There’s no catch!

Call us

For a free 15-minute Discovery Session today!  In New York call 212-355-6980  Nationwide Call (800) 862-8896.

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Marketing Ideas for Small Car Dealerships: 5.5 Ideas that will pay off today

How do you succeed in the hyper-competitive New York auto industry?  Try these Marketing Ideas for small car dealerships that can’t afford to advertise on every TV Channel, throw huge parties, or waste thousands on Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising?

Marketing Ideas for small dealerships that work

In his classic marketing Guerrilla Marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson reveals “Secrets for making Big Profits from your Small Business.”  Your New York City dealership might be small, but your investment in your company needs to pay off.  Preferably without having to outspend your competition on traditional advertising.

Here are 5 advertising tips that can help your car dealership…

…without breaking the bank.  “Marketing is everything you do to promote your business.”  As a small dealership, your size is your advantage:  you can try new ideas, “turn on a dime” to try something new without layers of bureaucratic approvals. These ideas are all focused on

• competitive differentiation
• non-traditional advertising techniques
• unconventional use of media

Try any of these marketing tips…

…and you’ll see how fast these simple marketing tactics can pay off:

1. Networking: get your salespeople out of the showroom and where their customers are: the local chamber of commerce, networking groups like BNI, Town Events and County Fairs.  Instead of a booth arrange to display a great looking new red car.  Why red?  Red gets noticed. (Red gets more tickets).
2. Birthday Cards: when you make a sale, or meet a potential customer, ask what their birthday is.  Then, send them a card every year (there are services that will do this for you if you prefer) to remain “top of mind.”
3. Social Media: sure, everybody does it.  But why not snap a picture of your happy customer when they pick up their car, Photoshop in your hashtag, and send it to your customer to post on social media.  Offer a free “ad specialty” if they post it.
4. Advertise where your market is: Then try parking at the local Little League or Soccer game and give away coupons for a free hot dog from the food truck. Or try similar on-site advertising at the Boy Scout Meeting, YMCA, Science Fairs, Independence Day Fireworks, or other popular town events.
5.  Ask for reviews: If you provide top quality service, this is an instant winner.  When you shop for anything on Google, you look for 4- and 5-star reviews.  Do you have them?  Make sure to follow up with customers about a week after you deliver the car.  They’ll be impressed with your thoroughness, and you can ask for a review.  There’s even a simple way to get only 4- and 5-star reviews posted, and lower reviews referred back to you for more service.  Click here to find out how.

• Bonus Idea: New Yorkers are impatient. Don’t ever waste a moment when you’ve got your customer’s attention.  Even when you place your telephone callers on hold, give them information that they want and that you want them to have about the best reasons to come into your dealership.  Do it with Informer Messages on hold. 

Try Marketing Ideas for small car dealerships like yours

Think outside the box.  Why?  Insanity is defined as doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result.  So don’t.  Try something new.  Something offbeat.  Each of these marketing strategies is inexpensive, and you can try it once and move on.

What are you going to do to beat the “big guys” in the next town?  To learn more about any of these ideas for Auto Dealerships, give us a call in Manhattan at 212-355-6980, or nationwide at (800) 862-8896.

 

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Improve Customer Service, or your competition will

It’s time to improve customer service, or your competition will.  And that won’t end well for you.

The economy may finally be slowing down.  When that happens your customers will remember to look for more value in everything they do.  Money isn’t as easy to come by.  And they’re all so used to finding everything for free online.  So companies like yours can only actually charge for your products and services if the customer is overwhelmed by service that they can’t get anywhere else.  So where should you start?

Improve Customer Service one step at a time

“Perfect is the enemy of good.”  That’s as true today as when a French philosopher said it in the 1700’s.  So start improving your customer service one step at a time, investing your efforts where they’ll have the most impact.  Some simple examples are:

1. How you greeting your customers when they step into your place of business.  If you have a retail store
2. Engage with your customers: we’re all more “social” these days, so find new ways to engage with your customer every time you come into contact: when they walk in the front door, when they call you, when they email or text you, when they post on your social media platforms.
3. Understand your customer: Boomers want face-to-face contact.  They’re also the generation that invented telephone quality that was “the next best thing to being there.”  Their grand-kids all have phones…but talk on them less and less.  Have you ever noticed that millennials’ voice mails are always full?  That’s probably because they never check voicemail.  They’d rather text.  It’s less direct, less pushy, and less threatening.
4. Follow up with your customers: once is not enough.  Keep in contact with your customer throughout the sales process, and continue while deliver your product or service.  Good restaurant servers always check with customers a few minutes after serving their meal, so why not do the same thing: contact your customer (there are so many ways: in person, by phone, email, text…) a few days after your deliver.  They’ll be impressed with the attention you give them.
5. What language do your customers speak?  In our increasingly multi-language economy, it makes sense to “speak their language.”
6. When engaging with your customers, actually listen.  Echo their sentiments.  Try to understand what they really mean.  “Empathy” is so powerful it’s gotten Presidents elected.  Think about what it can do for your business
7. You’ll make mistakes.  We all do.  So admit them, tell your customer what you’ll do to fix them, and do it.  They’ll appreciate it.
8. Help your employees understand the value of great service.  Listen to their interactions with customers and coach them to improve.  The customer is the reason we’re here.
9. Solve problems: avoid being negative.  Keep everything positive and focused on helping the customer.  If you can’t help them right away, be positive and let them know when you will.
10. And a related idea: respond to every complaint.  View complaints as great ideas about how to help every customer better.  After working in your business for years, it’s easy to be “set in your ways” and not recognize needed improvements.  What complaints have you heard recently?  Use them as challenges to overcome.

Improve your customer service every day

This is just a few ideas.  Try reading “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard.  When your customers love you, they become your most valuable sales force.  Or search more ideas online.

Take one step

Take one step and put it into action.  Then try another.  They’ll all add up faster that you can imagine.

Here’s another way to improve

Do customers call you for information, ideas, or to find out if you can help them?  AT&T Research shows that 69% of business calls are placed on hold.  So when you put your caller on hold, do they like it?  Why not turn it into a unique customer service experience with Informer Messages on hold?  They’re custom written marketing message that give your callers information that they want, and that you want them to have.  Call us for more information at (800) 862-8896, or click here to find out more.

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Marketing for movers: 3 steps that are more important than getting leads

Marketing for movers is more than just getting leads.  Think about your own experience: how leads did you work on last month?  How many of those turned into jobs?  With a “batting average” like that, would you make it into Cooperstown?  (I didn’t think so)

So what’s the problem?  And the solution?

Marketing for movers only starts with a lead

Leads come in every temperature, from red hot to ice cold.  So how what can you do to warm more of them up, and close more deals?  Believe it or not, it’s more than just coming up with the lowest price.

First, start with quality leads.  Lead brokers will sell you a lead to anything that’s alive.  Those are “a dime a dozen” and rarely worth the price.  Two types of leads that have higher value are “pay per lead” inquiries from websites like Angie’s List, and personal referrals you receive from networking.  I’ve seen movers get plenty of “warm referrals” from networking groups like BNI.  Invest time and energy at BNI and you’ll get quality leads.

Moving companies need a quality website

Potential customers start by searching for local moving companies.  Be sure that your website shows up on page one.  Great reviews will help get you there, and help attract a customer’s attention.  If you don’t have more reviews and a better Google rating than your completion, customers will call your competition.  Need more or better reviews?  Click here to find out how to get them.

Every mover invests in getting marketing leads

It’s what you do next that makes all the difference

1. Be Prepared.  When you’re generating leads, be prepared to answer phone calls with quality service.  Train your phone reps, or get help training them.  It doesn’t take much, but if you’re going to move all my valuable possessions I want to hire someone professional.  Prepare your pitch.  Prepare your best answers to “Frequently Asked Questions.”  Keep improving them to get the best response.
2. Have a Free Offer, such as a “Moving Guide” to send to your prospects.  When you do they’ll have a reminder about your company, and you’ll have their email.  Then follow up with a weekly email campaign using Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, or other easy to use service
3. Sound more professional.  Do you get a lot of phone calls?  Or when phone calls come in, do you have to transfer callers to a sales rep?  AT&T says that 69% of business telephone calls…your calls…are asked to “please hold.”  When you place callers on hold, what do they hear?  Dead silence?  VoIP music?  Why not make “hold” time a marketing opportunity with marketing messages that help you sound more professional, and reinforce the value you offer.  Informer Messages on hold have successfully worked for some of the biggest names in the moving industry.

Long term marketing movers

Try for future business.  Once you capture a customer’s email address, why not send them a helpful email every 6 months?  Fill it with tips that homeowners will appreciate.  Odds are that in 7 years they’ll be moving again.  7 years may see like a long time away, but in 7 years you’ll like it when they call you!

Sponsored by:

 

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