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Archive for February, 2010
Unlimited Extensions Create Personal Touch with Customers
It recently came to my attention that one of our customers, The KARS Consulting Group, is using our Unlimited Extensions feature in a brilliant way.
As a small consulting company or freelancer with a handful of clients, your relationship with each client is imperative to the success of you and your business. Any extra effort or personal touch goes a long way. So what is this entrepreneur doing that is so great?
Creating personalized extensions for each client.
Each client has their own extension with a personalized name greeting and voicemail. When the client calls in, they’re addressed with a greeting specifically for their company, the business knows who is calling so the call can be routed to the right person, and even when no one can take the call, there is a personalized voicemail message. What a great concept!
By creating these personal extensions, your business is able to accurately track call time through online call reports, save time by automatically directing calls to the right people and eliminate miscommunication issues. All without any extra costs.
Create a Good First Impression with Custom Greetings
Remember the Seinfeld episode where George decides to create a catchy jingle for his answering machine?
Aside from a website, your phone greeting could be the first impression customers or potential customers have of your business. While it doesn’t have to be as clever as George’s, it’s important that it sounds professional and helps the caller with what they are looking for.
Here are a few tips for creating a main greeting:
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Make sure there is no distracting background noise i.e. ambulances racing by, phones ringing, tv commercials.
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When using background music, make sure you choose music that fits your business. Pop music for a spa probably isn’t the best strategy.
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Enunciate your words clearly to ensure the caller can understand your greeting. Avoid strong accents.
Grasshopper & Web 2.0 Show Partner to Help Entrepreneurs
Grasshopper and the Web 2.0 Show have teamed up to help entrepreneurs like you promote your business.
“Pitch the Show” is a new element to the Web 2.0 Show that gives ANY person the chance to be featured on the show! You will have the opportunity to talk about your business in front of a large audience as well as a monthly special guest who has left their mark in the entrepreneurial world. It’s a great opportunity to gain exposure and extremely simple:
“Call 1-888-WEB20SHOW and give your best 90 second pitch about your business.”
Two pitches will be selected each month and along with exposure on the Web 2.0 Podcast, you will be featured on the Grasshopper blog.
It’s important to remember that Twitter is a big part of this contest as well. By engaging @grasshopper and @web20show on Twitter you can actually influence your chances of getting featured. Here at Grasshopper, listening is a really big part of what we do, and that is why we will be tracking hashtag #pitchtheshow, so make sure to tag your tweets!
For more information check out Web 2.0 Pitch the Show and start pitching your business!
Using Phone Numbers to Track Marketing ROI
As a small business it is often hard to track exactly where your customers are coming from; Television, radio, web, partners, etc, etc. While analytics have certainly made it easier to track web traffic, offline efforts aren’t as clear cut.
A great way to track offline marketing efforts and determine ROI is to use multiple phone numbers. Using separate phone numbers for separate campaigns can help you track where your visitor came from and give you insight into which campaign is working the best.
Using Multiple Phone Numbers to Track ROI:
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Place a phone number on your website that is found no where else. This will allow you to track conversions from people visiting the site and then picking up the phone and buying. You can even create use separate numbers for your pay-per-click ads.
Three Pieces of Any Good Referral Program
A referral program is one simple marketing initiative that can be a cost effective move for any small business. One of the reasons Grasshopper is so successful is due to our Refer An Entrepreneur program and our great customers.
On every page of the Grasshopper.com site, we have a navigation element that allows users to click on the link, fill in the form and send a $25 credit to their fellow Entrepreneur, encouraging them to sign up for the Grasshopper virtual phone system.
The Word of Mouth Marketing theory dictates that once you have the customer in the door, it’s much easier to convert them to a paying customer, especially if their friend sent them in the first place. By comparison to the COA (Cost Of Acquisition ) from search, online advertising, print, TV, and radio, it’s a no brainer. In addition, if this new customer now endorses you to his or her friends, it causes a ripple effect.
