Homeward-Bound Marketing

Getting the word out about your service takes creativity since the Do-Not-Call list and anti-spam regulations make telemarketing and e-mail canvassing difficult to impossible. Agents can be successful approaching the residential market with a number of online and grassroots tactics.

Many consumers turn to the Web to learn about telecom services, so it pays to beef up an online presence, says Pioneer Telephone’s CEO, Pete Bouchard. For example, Pioneer is developing a comparison engine that shows consumers per-minute costs for traditional long distance, VoIP and cellular plans. Online marketing via Web banners on certain ethnic portals or keyword optimization also is smart.

“I think the first realization is that consumers today are far more savvy than they were even 10 years ago,” says Rick Stambaugh, CEO at Fionda LLC. “The Internet has done an outstanding of conditioning people to do research. Search engines allow multiple queries. So consumers today are really controlling the process.”

“And, don’t underestimate good old-fashioned advertising. We’re in the middle of getting ready with TV spots that they can brand with their own toll-free number and Web site, and radio ads too,” Bouchard says. “If agents want to do any sort of media ads, they already have something developed and they plug their info in and hit the road running.”

Agents can tap the local community by advertising in the local paper, or placing “Take One” displays in restaurants and business.

Affinity marketing is another local initiative, such as partnering with apartment complexes or other communities (see story). “A lot of schools are cutting budgets, so you can offer to give 5 [percent] or 10 percent back to schools for sports or music programs,” says Bouchard.

Another idea that generates leads is cross-selling into existing customers. “Today everyone’s fighting for the customer more than they ever have, because customers are more mobile and more informed,” says Stambaugh. “So your real challenge isn’t making the first sale. It’s making the sale after the sale - bundling, being able to simplify their life with one bill, being able to bolt on ancillary products that makes sense - that’s really the objective in today’s marketplace. And what it delivers is that beautiful world called “found revenue.”

Pioneer’s Agent Information Management System (AIMS) lets agents see all customers on a certain rate plan to make this easier. “So if you have an agent with a bunch of customers in Illinois and we lower the rates there, they can go in and do a mail merge and notify all their customers - hey, great news, Pioneer lowered the rate in Illinois, and you can get this other service too,” says Bouchard.

There are other, more creative cross-sells too. Mike Vasquez, nii Communications Inc.’s agent head, says he’s signed several agents that sell deregulated energy products, so the telecom is a nice complement.

“It’s certainly more challenging than it used to be,” says Tom Klein, president of master agency PhoneDog.com. “The one thing people have to do to be successful as an agent is that they have to have an expansive product line - you can’t just pitch long distance. You need options - conference calling, travel cards, VoIP, and to be able to do them efficiently, where you don’t have to spend too much time on each individual customer.”