I Learn Something New Every Day
It happens every day. Sometimes in small conversation with colleagues while sipping coffee, sometimes in high level strategy meetings, and almost always when on the phone with clients or prospects. Every day I learn something new. It’s quite possibly the best part of my job and the day I don’t have a light bulb turn bright…well, I don’t even want to imagine that. So what does this entail exactly? Maybe a client’s specific approach to viewing our meaningful data, one I’d never realized previously. How about a unique phone call routing scenario for a business with goofy hours which ensures leads are never missed? Or, as seen most recently, using an existing (and quite basic) feature in some new capacity.
I was speaking with a friendly client who had just finished up an aggressive and expensive TV campaign for his local small business. As the company provides financial services, there is an understood need for prospect qualifying, healthy conversation, and education on the product. Much is to be learned about every caller and the need for quality leads with a high conversion rate is mission critical. In other words, time is money.
By taking advantage of a most basic feature, call recordings, the client quickly caught on to something interesting. While the TV spots generated lots and lots of phone calls (good), a vast majority were calling with very similar questions and eating up a lot of time (bad). He heard them over and over again when reviewing call recordings. A slew of prospects realized they didn’t qualify for the service after spending a considerable amount of time on the phone. Remember, time is money for our friendly client.
What did he do? He quickly changed up the TV spots to include brief copy points that answered the reoccurring questions heard on call recordings. The result? The campaign still produced a good number of phone calls but more importantly, the leads were much more qualified. Time (which is money) on the phone decreased, conversion rate increased, and ultimately the TV spots proved to be a successful endeavor when altered to broadcast a more efficient message.
Call recordings and a creative approach, I really do learn something new every day.
Naked as an M&M?!?
Who would have thought the word scandal would ever be associated with one of America’s favorite chocolate candies? Risqué, scandalous, lewd, inappropriate, funny have all been words advertisers tagged to the Super Bowl ad where an M&M was accused of being “naked.” My question is simply this, why has the idea of “getting naked” become so frowned up in most establishments? 
Should it be scandalous to strip away the nonsense and see where you’re spending your money? Lord no, pricing should be simple, so should reports, explanations, customer service and the “perks” that come along when you select a partner in business. For example your advertising analytics shouldn’t be hose, a corset, spanx, a hoop skirt, layer of crinoline, bra, gloves, dress etc…they should be…you guessed it “naked.”
Now, let’s hypothesize that the billboard your creative gurus designed drove 500 people to call and inquire about your widgets in a day. 500 calls, a little daunting right? Century Interactive will strip away all the fluff or layers aka the calls that are random questions, current widget owners with technical issues, and other inquiries that are taking your focus away from selling widgets. How? Humanatic, our cutting edge technology allowing real-live, English speaking individuals to listen to recorded calls and flag “new business” opportunities for you. 500 now becomes 100…a reduction of 80% of the total calls or the “noise” that distracts you from the “signal” or in this case, a sale. Cha-ching, money in your pocket.
We’re here to help you get the most cha-ching you can out of your phone leads, web leads and advertising spends. I’m not saying I’m running off to GoodWill with bags full of my favorite pretty things to wear, or the jeans I feel make my butt look fantastic…I’m saying, when you come to me and talk tracking, advertising, budgets, marketing and analytics, I’m channel my inner M&M and I’m going to give it to you naked.