combining media makes your message more effective.
by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems
whenever possible, you want to be speaking to prospects from a superior position. in marketing, this concept is called being on the right side of the desk.
more: one-step vs. two-step marketing | 5 daily tasks for maximum tax resolution profitability | 4 problems with the tax resolution industry | when tax filing season is over, what’s next?
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fortunately, this should be an easy concept for us as professional service providers to understand. we may not put much thought into it, but we are more inclined than most business owners to approach what we do from a position of authority and expertise. it may not sound very profound to you, but it really is what separates a professional from a mere salesman.
why do i bring this up? because your marketing needs to put you on the right side of the desk just as much as a face-to-face consultation does.
let’s consider this from the perspective of the boiler room telemarketing operations at big tax resolution companies. i’ve done this sort of telemarketing myself, and it’s a very difficult and frustrating way to make a living. when you do traditional outbound telemarketing, you are on the wrong side of the desk.
with hard-sell, high-pressure outbound telemarketing, you are putting yourself in a position where you actually have to sell. you are contacting somebody cold and you have to convince them that they should take time out of their busy day to talk to you about a very private financial matter. you have an uphill battle the entire way, especially in this day and age of the scam callers and id thieves.
contrast this to the process of sending out direct mail with an offer for a free report, which prompts them to call you. when they pick up the phone and call you, it’s a very, very different interaction. yes, you sent them a prompt with the direct mail piece, but the phone conversation is markedly different. in this scenario, you are on the right side of the desk.
as a professional, it really is best to be on the right side of the desk at all times. when people call you, or enter information on your website, they have confirmed in their own mind that they have a problem and they need to make that initial contact with someone who offers your services. this is really basic psychological stuff, and your conversion results will be much better because you’re on the right side of the desk.
a perfect illustration of this concept comes from the medical world. are physicians ever out there doing outbound telemarketing? no, of course not. well, the same needs to be true for anybody who wants to be viewed as an expert and a knowledgeable service professional. this all has to do with perception, and we all know the cliché that says perception is reality.
so, you always want to be selling from the right side of the desk. you want people contacting you. yes, there are tax resolution companies selling hundreds of millions of dollars per year in services via the wrong side of the desk. however, they burn through a tremendous number of contacts, and waste a lot of man-hours, in order to make that money.
if you are solo practitioner or a tiny firm, you simply don’t have the resources to burn through this much manpower or through that many contacts.
so how do you apply this concept to improve your outbound marketing efforts? as an example, outbound telemarketing should support your other lead generation efforts, and be used to set up right side of the desk situations. for example, use outbound telemarketing to confirm receipt of direct mail and invite the taxpayer to a webinar. on the webinar, you’re immediately on the right side of the desk, because you’re the expert doing the presentation.
another approach would be to include a statement in your direct mail piece that says something along the lines of, “i will be contacting you on [date] to follow up with you and to see if you have any questions.” it softens the blow of the harsher telemarketing approaches typically used in tax resolution. it is much more effective to do a mailing first and then follow up with a phone call if you are going to be doing outbound telemarketing.
combining two or more media in your marketing campaigns is an excellent way to increase your response rates. making two or more marketing media work together makes the whole more effective than the parts, and makes it easier for you to be on the right side of the desk despite the fact that you’re doing outbound marketing.
following up to direct mail, radio, tv, email or any other media via phone, email, fax, etc., creates a simpler, smoother conversation. following up on something they already received gives you something to reference, and makes even outbound followup better than cold calling. consider these two opening lines:
- “hi, i’m jassen bowman from xyz tax services. can i please speak to the person, whoever that might be, who handles your tax matter?”
- “hi, this is jassen bowman. i am just calling to follow up on some information that i sent you at the end of last week.”
see the difference? it’s just a very different conversation, even for an outbound call.