Marketing from the Outside In!
I owned a high end cabinet business in years past and soon realized that I had to change the way I thought about the product and service. I was not making cabinetry for myself and my budget but for the customer and his budget. Their budget was 4 times what mine would have been. They wanted what they wanted and did not care about the cost. I soon realized that it was easier to do business at that level when took myself out of the equation and put the customer in. I had to approach marketing from the outside in!
If you own or manage a business and your decision making is still based on what you want, and are all about putting yourself before the customers – then it is time to hang up the boots and set your status to retired. In today’s society, we live in the Age of the Customer, and in the Age of the Customer, businesses base decisions on the outside-in concept.
The best part about being human is the ability to possess and express our emotions; engage with me and I feel important, surprise me and I become intrigued, impress me and I become loyal. The outside-in concept focuses on the voice of the customer (VOC) and how businesses should tailor messages to evoke emotion, establish loyal brand ambassadors and stimulate referrals – multiple global studies are discovering word of mouth advertising is the most effective channel to market your business.
In an everyday example, we will look simply at company car lots. More often than not, the boss of a company has an allocated parking spot right next to the front door – forcing customers to park further away. What sort of message is this sending? That the company owner or employees are is more important and more valuable than their paying customers?
Of course, the industry closest to our hearts is Telephone Technology. All of the IT-driven software featuring Artificial Intelligence (AI), hunt groups, and IVRs are 100% about YOU, not the customer. This software has been implemented to make life for businesses easier, with a complete disregard of the repercussions for callers.
Marketing system
On-Hold Systems has developed a system used by businesses, allowing them to shift their focus outside-in. It is imperative to consider your business and its touchpoints from the perspective of the customer. What does your target audience desire and need? How can we enhance their experiences through the business messaging?
Messaging systems are extremely important to engage with the customer when you can not. The systems also engage in ways your staff can not. Starting with the Auto Attendant and moving to the Transfer, departmental and traditional on-hold message you have a powerful opportunity to keep the customer engaged, learning and buying products and services they otherwise would not. With out these messaging services they might even hang up and then you really miss out on the sale.
It is time for self-centeredness in business to end and for businesses to start thinking outside-in! Or risk being on the outside with the customer.