Category: Phil Bernstein

Does This Customer Survey Have Value?

Customer surveys can be a terrific way to check on your sales and customer service efforts — not everyone will fill them out (and those who do may not tell you everything you need to know), but in some cases you’ll have the opportunity to correct problems you didn’t know you had.

This only works if you act on what you learn.

A survey we recently received in the mail has the potential to be teaching tool, or a complete waste of postage. Updates will follow. The history:

In June, we needed a new backyard fence. This post has more details. The short version is that my wife called three well-known companies. One never returned a phone message, although they did send a postcard promising that someone would call. A second company sent a salesman who took measurements, promised to return with a bid, and was never heard from again. Only the third company followed up with a quote, and that company got our business.

[Roland Young of Rick’s Custom Fencing & Decking deserves credit for his follow-up, and for doing a fine job on the fence. A radio campaign would be an excellent way for Rick’s to tell the world about what they do, and I invite them to call me at 503-323-6553. But I digress.]

The company who never returned our call just sent us a survey. The cover letter is signed by the president of the company. It says, in part:

Our business is based on referrals from the clients who contact [us], and we want that experience to be positive. So that we can ensure that we’re doing a good job for clients, we ask for feedback to see how we are doing. It would help us a great deal if you would complete the questions on the back and return this form at your earliest convenience in the enclosed self-adressed envelope.

Our initial reaction upon opening the envelope was amusement. After having completely dropped the ball, how could they, with a straight face, ask us how they did? But I now think this was a smart move. They don’t what happened, because we never told them — all we did was spend our money with someone else and move on. The survey represents a system they’ve set up to make sure they find out about things like this.

So we’re going to fill it out and send it back. We will be candid about our experience. Our answers may help them plug a hole in their sales funnel, and improve the results of their advertising — but only if someone reads it and acts on what they learn.

Stay tuned for updates.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Are You Ignoring Your Best Prospects?

From Dan Kennedy’s “No BS Marketing Newsletter”

Most salespeople haven’t worked in ages. I was comparing notes about this with a friend last week, and neither of us could remember the last time we were “prospected” by a salesperson, followed up on by a salesperson we’ve previously bought something from. There’s crying in the car business, but no salesman or dealer from whom I’ve purchased new cars in the past five years has contacted me. There’s a mass exodus in real estate agents in surrender, but none I’ve purchased a property from has contacted me to sell me another. Retail: from the clothing store in my hometown where I spent $1,800.00 in my first visit two years ago… from the clothing store in my other home city where I spent $500.00 on my first visit… from a store in Vegas where I spent $2,000.00 on cowboy boots… no salesman has attempted contact.”

Do you see yourself in that passage?

I saw me.

This afternoon I left a message for a client who’s been advertising on one of my stations, asking for an update on how his sales have been going. He left me a voice mail in return, telling me that the campaign I put together for him has brought him 18 brand-new clients in the past six weeks — monetarily, about a 5:1 return on his investment.

I was very pleased to hear this, but until I read the passage above I did not connect the dots: I have three other radio stations that are demographically appropriate for him. He is currently spending 100% of his advertising budget with me, but there’s a strong case to be made that increasing his budget would be very profitable for him. And, not incidentally, for me.

Tomorrow’s project is to make a list of all my clients, past and present, determine how many other opportunities like this there are, and pick up the phone.

How about you? Have you missed some great upselling opportunities — the kind that would benefit you and your customers? What are you going to do about it?

Tell your story in the comments field below.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

Chris Lytle on Money

If your marketing works, you will ultimately find yourself in front of prospects — people interested in buying something from you, or hiring your firm. And they’ll ask you how much your solution is going to cost.

Most sales courses recommend ducking the question until the customer is pretty far along in the process — you don’t want to scare him off early.

Chris Lytle, author of The Accidental Salesperson, takes another approach — he recommends addressing the question early:

In fact, if the customer doesn’t bring up the money question in the first meeting, I do.

Find out why, and how to approach the topic, here.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.

When Current Events Spoil Your Ad Campaign

Last week in Canada, some poor guy on a Greyhound bus was stabbed, beheaded and partially consumed by a fellow passenger.

Under the best of circumstances, this would be represent a marketing challenge for Greyhound. What makes it worse, according to the Consumerist, is the nature of the company’s recent billboard campaign.

How would you like to be the guy who came up with that idea?

___________________________________________________________________________________

Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog.

Request your free copy of my white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call me at 503-323-6553.