Marketing for Success

Have you ever contacted a merchant or service provider about an account problem and encountered attitude from the other side of the conversation? Have you been distressed about the issue only to receive not just a cavalier response, but one of flat out annoyance? If you requested a return call regarding a resolution, were you greeted with a sigh and then the distinct sound of a hang up?

Has your business day ever been interrupted by an 800 number caller who not only bombarded you with a steady stream of questions, but when you begged off from the intrusion you received a call back with the frothy inquiry, "did you just hang up on me?"

This is so wrong. Commando marketing must end. Entitlement business behavior must cease.

While the customer may not always be right, they should be able to expect polite and helpful service. They don't pay any company and its employees to be ambivalent to hostile toward them.

It's simply time to retire the Era of Entitlement to the annals of history.

With this goal in mind, I offer the following macro ABCs of Proper Customer/Prospect Interaction reminders:
a)  Treat customers like they matter (which, as it turns out, they do).
b)  Insist that all frontline company representatives be polite and solution-orientated. Train them if need be. Provide guidelines of proper behavior, including how to field difficult situations.
c)  Customer service should be exactly that. Rude personnel, customer run around, and failure to provide reasonable and timely solutions should not be tolerated.
d)  Never bully or impose on prospects. It will always backfire. I personally keep a list of companies that employ such tactics and go out of my way to avoid using their products or services.

We would like to welcome everyone to Girl Shop Spot's Commerce by Community^TM Forum to offer advice, share experiences, and build business relationships.

The forum is open to all who register to become a member of GirlShopSpot.com. If you're an advertiser, you're already a member. Just click the forum link to visit anytime and sign-in with your username and password from when you registered. Please link to us to wear an official seal of membership on your site. Receive your Member of GSS logo when signed-in under Administration on the bottom right side of the page.

Since we are addressing how to make the online shopping experience more convenient for our customers, we decided to address direct and immediate response along with interactive marketing and sales with this helpful quiz.

Here's a quick way to test your interactive marketing and sales skills from MCTT.

QUESTION 1

You receive an email from a customer letting you know that while they loved your merchandise last fall, suddenly after Christmas they cannot find anything they like. They want you to know in the hopes that your company will offer the same type/level/value of merchandise again, soon. Quick what do you do?

A)  Send them a message back in a timely manner, thanking them for their feedback and letting the customer know you will forward the information to management. Period.
B)  Thank them for taking the time to give you both the good and bad news.
        a)  Ask the customer for specific information if they have time, and give them something as thanks for their         feedback and time (store credit, discount on next purchase, free samples, etc.).
        b)  Also ask them if you can include their contact information in a database for announcements on related new         products.
        c)  Request permission to contact them for test marketing new products, focus groups, etc.
        d)  Follow through

This scenario is real, and I'm sorry to say that the retailer's response was A. In an age when experiential/interactive marketing is supposedly king, how can this company pass on the opportunity to engage this customer on a one-on-one basis?

HINT:  Don't let these types of opportunities to engage with your customers pass you by.

QUESTION 2

You're an online seller and you're currently out of stock on items you have posted, what do you do?

A)  Take the customer through the purchase process and when they reach the payment stage, let them know it is currently out of stock.
        a)  Don't mention when it will be in stock or give a vague timeline (so that it's up to the customer to want the         product enough to keep checking back).
B)  Take the customer through the purchase process and when they reach the payment stage, let them know it is currently out of stock and when it will be available.
        a)  Let the customer know you will be happy to contact them when it is available. And follow through. Or, give         the customer the option of buying now, noting you will keep in touch as to the shipping status.
        b)  Follow through.
        c)  Request permission to contact them for test marketing new products, focus groups, etc.
        d)  Follow through
C)  Remove the item from the site if the availability date is either unknown or months away.
        a)  Inform existing list of customers who have bought the product that you will let them know when/if it becomes         available again.
        b)  Offer a nice discount on next purchase as thanks for their patience and loyalty.
        c)  Follow through.
        d)  Request feedback upon completion of process.

You guessed it, response A should never be one the customer sees or hears. Responses B and C, or something else along those lines are wiser options.

HINT:  Customer loyalty is vital for a small business (any size business, actually). In fact, statistics show it costs 5 times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. Plus, customer referrals are priceless. So never take customer loyalty for granted.

Why do we research, browse, and shop online? Because it's so convenient. And GSS is finding ways to make it even more convenient for our shoppers while we make our sellers more successful!

Over the next few blogs we will be addressing how to make the online shopping experience even more convenient. It's all about providing convenience and presenting more solutions for your customers' then they could find otherwise, such as:

  Seller packaging options
  Multiple gift package
  Free shipping
  Gift card
  Direct and immediate response
  Stocked items
  Continual updates to product lines
  Reviews of your products and services

TOPIC NUMBER 1: PACKAGING

I would first like to talk about "packaging" your products or services, in order to leverage the opportunity of up/cross selling your products. And there are so many opportunities to do this.

For example, how many times have you found something you loved and another that compliments it so well, but at that time it was out of your budget to purchase? Or how about when you needed that perfect gift and wish you could find the perfect ensemble just perfectly priced and already packaged together for you? Or have you wished there were more options in front of you for gift packaging, wrapping, and better shipping prices?

Offering choices and services for better convenience will ultimately not only give you the sale, but increase your overall sales and increase your profit. Grouping and pricing items together can also provide better value to your customers while allowing you to create up/cross selling opportunities.

IDEAS TO PONDER

  Think about how you can pre-package your offerings.
  Whenever you can, include photos of those great gift ideas---ready for purchase and shipping.
  Offer this option for any or all products or services you are selling.
  Include these complimentary choices on your web pages to demonstrate your commitment to providing value and service.
  For example, "If you like this item, you're sure to enjoy this one. Why not buy them both for [15%] off?"

Packaging and selling things together can keep shipping costs down while increasing the overall value of the sale. So why not offer great shipping deals with multiple purchases, or even free shipping on the items that wouldn't normally cost you as much to ship.

BOTTOM LINE: Incorporate practices like these to see how you can increase sales while building a loyal customer base!

Tip for GSS sellers: Make sure to utilize some up/cross selling opportunities within your 9 "Must Haves" of your Shop Spot page. Make sure to offer your specials and sales on your Shop Spot page as well. Soon, you will all have the opportunity to up/cross sell your favorite shop spots to assist with the upselling of our Commerce by Community.

In support of the GirlShopSpot.com mission to help you grow your business, MCTT offers the following basic guidelines for successful marketing.

1)  Know your product/service and be able to clearly articulate what it is and why buyers will want or need it (sounds simple and logical, but actually not always easy to do).
2)  Profile your customers/audience. Don't assume you know what your customers want or how they think.
3)  Think big, market wisely. Plan for manageable growth. Develop a marketing plan that allows you to meet demand as your business grows.
4)  Marketing opportunities should fit your business like your favorite pair of shoes. Know what the best fit is for achieving your particular goals and objectives, and most certainly within your budget constraints.
5)  Take advantage of marketing tools that you can repurpose, like your GSS Shop Spot URL, GSS video. You'll maximize your budget, strengthen your business identity, and increase sales opportunities.
6)  Monitor the competition, but don't follow it. You should always be aware of what your competition is doing, particularly when it comes to pricing. That said, truly and wildly successful businesses don't follow, they lead.
7)  Be creative, always. Keep your mind open to new product or service ideas, ways to market, how to grow and maintain your business.

Why is it that we go to our kid's soccer games and laugh when they play in herds? Because it's funny, right? It's funny in a cute sort of way. Have you ever noticed that many adults are just the same, but I can't really say it's cute, nor funny? It's hard not to follow the herd, think differently, and become innovative. For fear of not being accepted and failure. I was recently reminded in a blog I had just read that we only get one chance in life and one chance to be who we truly are and to do what we truly want to do. In knowing this, please put all those fears aside and do something outrageous for yourself, your life, and your business. Any publicity can be good publicity. A failure can turn something into a success story. A mistake can make headlines and get you noticed. So, don't be worried about trying something different or original for fear of failure. Those who don't experience failure, won't experience success. Go out there and play the game you were meant to play, and by all means, don't follow the herd.

In the past three decades, men's median income has barely budged -- up just 0.6% -- while women's has soared 63%. Some 30% of working women outearn their husbands, notes Martha Barletta, author of Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach and Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market Segment.

And shopping, most women love to shop. While this may not sound like big news, how about this, "according to the Federal Reserve, women control more than 51 percent of private wealth in the United States, make 53 percent of investment decisions and control 80 percent of household spending." ("For Women, Shopping's Not Just About Filling the Closet," DailySentinal.com, May 23, 2006).

Statistics also show that women shop online, do their research online. A new poll conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center for ShopSmart magazine, finds that nearly all (96%) of American women who have shopped online in the past 12 months have purchased at least one product over the Web. Most online shoppers (57%) do both their product research and shopping online while a sizeable proportion do their research online and then go to a store to buy (31%).

Women's decision-making authority has grown in part because more households are headed by women -- 27% at last count, a fourfold increase since 1950. Their buying power has grown, too. And 75% of women with the title of vice-president or higher at Fortune 500 companies outearn their husbands, bringing home on average 68% of household income, according to Barletta.

Working women ages of 24-54 -- of whom the U.S. has some 55 million -- have emerged as a potent force in the marketplace, changing the way companies design, position, and sell their products...Women earn less money than their counterparts -- 78 cents for every dollar a man gets. But they make more than 80% of buying decisions in all homes. And women shop differently from the way men do: Females research more extensively.