With 2017 set to begin in a few days, many of us have our New Year’s Resolutions all ready to go. As a business owner, your resolutions likely include a number of “improve my business” ideas. At TK Enterprises Inc., we are firm believers that topping that list of ideas should be to use your phone more often. To be more specific, we strongly believe in the concept of calling your customers to make personal invitations to your in-store events.
Through our many years of providing one-of-a-kind Retail Event Marketing services, we’ve discovered that it simply doesn’t get much better than the traditional phone call in order to make a strong connection with a customer. No matter how many advances there have been in modern technology, people still relate to people better than they do machines. As Mary Nestor-Harper points out on Chron.com, phone calls provide that much-wanted personal and immediate assistance to customers.
“Short of talking with someone face-to-face, a phone call is the best way to get a personal response,” she writes, “If the person you called is available, you can take care of business on the spot. With other forms of communication, such as texting or email, you leave a message and hope for a quick response. Phone calls have a vocal backup in the form of voice mail. The caller can leave a detailed voice message, without the restriction of a certain number of characters or typing a text message on a tiny cell-phone keypad.”
Although it really goes without saying, it bears reiterating that people like speaking to live human voices. It gives them opportunities to ask questions and have them answered on the spot. Real voices also allow people to make personal connections to the brands those voices represent. This leaves much better impressions on the people you want support from. This is because people genuinely like when they are provided with undivided attention.
“There is an appreciation or an increase in our self-esteem, when someone gives us their attention,” writes Dateme Tamuno on CustomerThink.com, “It is an emotional gratification that makes us feel we have much worth to secure someone’s attention. Customers are sometimes like babies, they want your attention not that of a machine or automated response software. It shows you value them and appreciate their patronage.”
At the end of the day, a live voice is simply more impactful than a recorded one. An email can’t provide attention, show signs of empathy or immediately answer questions that a customer might have. Especially when you’re inviting someone to a live event, you want to be able to encourage that person to attend by displaying your vibrant and approachable personality. As Nestor-Harper points out, taking the time to make a phone call creates a deeper emotional connection than an impersonal text or email.
“Without the opportunity for two-way communication, sensitive issues may be misinterpreted,” she explains, “Text messages and emails become legal documents and can be retrieved as evidence long after deletion. Some businesses monitor and record phone conversations between employees and customers for training purposes. Deleted voice-mail messages may not be retrieved and do not leave a record of the conversation.”
In 2017, using the phone more will simply help your business to earn a greater reputation. And the unique Retail Event Marketing services provided by TK Enterprises Inc. can do that for you! For more information about how our talented and experienced phone agents can help to make your next in-store event a resounding success, please don’t hesitate to call us toll-free at 1-877-622-0195. You may also email us at heidi.tke@tomkaufmann.com.
Happy New Year!