Added: 07/20/2005 |
Phone marketingNowadays, the direct advertising and marketing are the growing areas of trade. Perhaps, one of its branches that grows and develops in a faster way is the direct response advertising (DRA) in the Internet. However, the leading place in DRA belongs to the phone direct response advertising, since it provides the fullest possibility for a personal contact with consumers and matches up the sales style and trade offer to their demands, possibilities and needs. The phone marketing possesses its solid advantages, which make it popular. However, there are some flaws. The main flaw, probably, is the demarcation of the advertising process' freedom from the interference into the private life of consumers. At the end of the last century, they started to accept laws regulating phone marketing activity and protecting the phone users' rights. Such regulation is adopted on the federal level and was accepted in half of the US. In several states, a phone user has the right to add his number to a special security list and he will not be disturbed by commercial offers calls. The companies that violate this regulation are subject to be fined. It is worth admitting that these lists are not that popular. People are rather likely to use phone marketing services if it is presented in a discreet way.
The phone marketing is represented by two forms: outgoing and incoming ones. The outgoing phone marketing is when a seller calls his potential customers to sell a product, to inform them about an advantageous offer, or to appoint a meeting. As in any other kind of sales and advertising, there are three points worth mentioning:
· To define target customers properly;
· To offer them a useful product of a good quality;
· To present the information in a proper and interesting way.
Many phone marketing sellers use prepared beforehand scenarios of the sales and conversations. However, an experienced seller is always ready to put them off and to move to a closer conversation with a consumer, which allows him to entice the customer to the cross buying or to increase the purchase level. The cross buying means to buy mutually related products.
A high level of purchase is the goal of any seller. With good knowledge of the buying habits and needs of the customers, one may bring them to make a purchase of several items or to buy products of a higher quality and, consequently, for a more expensive price.
The incoming phone marketing purpose is to receive the orders from the consumers. To initiate the incoming calls, the customers employ the catalogues, the TV marketing, newspapers and magazines advertising. This kind of sales became especially popular with the implementation of the toll free phone numbers service in the USA in the second part of the last century. The operators and interactive answering machines can answer the incoming calls. The latter provides a lower cost of the call processing and a 24/7 availability.
The direct response advertising and marketing are very effective trade tools; however, it may encounter a stronger opposition from the society. Thus, it requires a tactful approach to the service and contacting the consumers.
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