Triple Play: MSOs Can Grab Revenue by Converting More 'Tire Kickers'

By Kim Garner

Vice President, Product Marketing

 

The party’s over. Multisystem operators (MSOs) no longer monopolize the voice/video/data triple play. Telcos have come on strong the last couple of years, developing competitive triple- and even quadruple-play offerings.

 

As a result, MSOs are feeling the heat. Instead of signing up for unique video and data services, consumers are now calling MSOs just to kick tires. Once-strong conversion rates of 60% or better are now taking a hit. And those that don’t convert are far less likely than in the past to ever call back.

 

While MSOs scramble to reclaim the high ground from a product perspective, they must also take command of their sales operations. Fortunately, there is ample room for improvement, starting at the point of interaction with consumers, the call center.

 

Consider: As an MSO, you spend millions in advertising and marketing to get your phone to ring. When consumers call in, they know a lot about you.. But what do you know about them? Only what they volunteer, which may not be much if they’re still in the quote-shopping stage.

 

So they call, and they ask you questions … “I get my TV from you, what can you do for me if I add voice and data?” “I just moved here, can you help me evaluate my options?” “I’m getting an HD set this weekend, how much is HD service?” … then they disappear into the night. Warm leads come and go, only to cool off or be hijacked by the competition.

 

MSOs, however, tell me they have been able to increase their conversion rates by as much as 12 percent by extracting contact information from tire kickers, then following up with them later. Simple process, yet big money! The only problem is that these same MSOs can’t get their call center agents to capture the contact information. Paid (News - Alert) on commission and evaluated solely on their sales performance, these hardworking agents understandably don’t want to linger on the phone with a quote shopper when they could be closing a hotter prospect.

 

What if there were an easier way to capture contact information? What if you could grab a caller’s phone number automatically, and link it to an up-to-date name and postal address? That would make it simple to remarket to callers who don’t convert. This process wouldn’t waste one millisecond of the customer service agent’s time, and it would spare callers the interrogation.

 

This technology is readily available in the marketplace as a service and has been used effectively by companies in other industries for years. A maker of high-end gym equipment increased revenue by multiple millions of dollars just by reaching back out in a personalized manner to consumers that didn’t buy on the first call.

 

The landscape has changed and MSOs are no longer the only game in town for voice, video and data. You spend a lot of time and effort getting that phone to ring.  Now you need to make sure that you’re ready when it does.