By Christa Heibel, President, CH Consulting

 

2006 is here …do you know what is in both your and your clients' marketing plans for the New Year? I’m not just talking about their call campaign forecast; I’m talking about their full marketing budget and plan. The best way to make sure your call center services are creating value-adds relevant to your client, not to mention ensure they are utilizing the phones in the most effective way, is to make sure you are positioned as a partner in their overall sales and marketing efforts. Not just a call center vendor.

 

Following are three items to look for or recommend to your clients, to make sure they are being addressed:

 

1. Direct mail follow-up: Are they doing direct mail? If so, what is the frequency of their direct mail drops? What are their response rates? Have they tested phone follow up to their traditional direct mail? If not, they should.

 

Research has shown an increase up to 30% from traditional responses on direct mail campaigns when they are followed up with a well coordinated and timely phone campaign. Even with the initial perceived costs of the calling, a client can see return on investment (ROI) improvements of over 100% with a well organized direct mail-phone campaign.

 

For those clients that are hesitant to make this investment, structure a minimal test project on a percentage of their next direct mail drop for a reasonable fee. Initial tests should include a MINIMUM of 200 hours of calling for enough data to be gathered to analyze results and ROI for future rollouts or campaign set-up.

 

2. Budgeting: Do they have a clear financial plan for the year? Is it based on historical data and reasonably accurate? Do they have a real, documented commitment to marketing dollars and call center services? This should include their own projected annual revenue, full marketing budget and call center services forecast.  If not, it could mean surprises to your forecast on volume changes that may not be good for your business and staffing.

 

It is always advisable to really take the time and understand your clients return on investment and cost structures Understanding your clients ROI will better assist you in making the right recommendations. To not have a clear understanding of their gross revenue and net profit on their products/services means your program may not be providing the ROI it needs to remain a priority through 2006. Truly lucrative and effective projects tend to demand a true partnership from client to vendor for both parties to achieve mutual benefit from the relationship.

 

We have found that with clients that have been hesitant to share all of this information, you may find that with an equal disclosure of your basic cost structures, you can assist in bring your client to a true partner status. When you and your clients have honest disclosure you can structure pay-for-performance programs, new initiatives and campaigns that will bring you consistency and profitability in 2006.

 

3. In-house versus Outsourcing: What call center applications are currently being run in-house versus outsourced to you? Is the client currently using other vendors for call center services? Are they running any type of program with another vendor or in-house due to perceived capability or capacity concerns with your company? If so, you may be leaving revenue and a real opportunities on the table and not even know it if you’re not asking the right questions.

 

Many CEOs and executives struggle today with the decision of what call center applications to manage in-house versus outsource. There is at times a perceived loss of control over business critical communications with clients and prospects when the calls are not made in-house. There may also be a misunderstanding of capabilities of your services for phone contact in account management and other areas of their sales processes.

 

It is critical that you understand your clients internal work teams and calling campaigns, as well as other players that may be supporting your client, to best position yourself to service them. Honest dialogue and discovery meetings with your client should be on-going as to not lose out on opportunities. Good performance on existing or initial programs will be critical in setting up a relationship where they seek your advice and assistance on all call center initiatives in the future.

 

As we move into 2006 it is critical that the call center service industry continues to remember that an integrated approach brings the most value to all sales and marketing initiatives…including all of the services we provide our clients. Make sure you are in a position to assist and guide your clients through the planning and execution of their 2006 marketing and sales contact programs.