| As I look back over the past five and a half years, I can remember thinking to myself that my clients were good business owners, executives and managers. I believed they had what it took to make the right business decisions on a day-to-day basis to grow their companies. By contrast, I can think of countless times when I would walk out of a prospect's office thinking to myself "they just don't get it." Why would any decent business not want to build its corporate image, sell more products and services, and keep their clients well informed and educated about their business. Feeling frustrated, I would seek refuge with my counterparts in various locations around the country when we gathered for regional meetings and national conventions. The general consensus was that either the "light comes on, or it doesn't." I was amazed at how similar my situation was with those of my counterparts, whether they lived in St. Louis, Phoenix, New York, or Minneapolis. I would come back home thinking to myself that I had to find a better way to educate my prospects on the benefits of on-hold marketing. After all, I knew that a business with an effective on-hold marketing program had an edge over it's competitors. Well, after years of working hard at becoming a better educator, I have found that the percentages of those whose "lights came on" versus those whose did not remained about the same, with few exceptions. In a sales and marketing review meeting with one of our Senior Account Managers recently, I brought up a notion that I believed that companies using on hold marketing have more stability and longevity than those that do not. Needless to say, my bold statement raised an eyebrow from the Senior Account Manager. | | As the discussion continued, I simply stated that I believe this to be true because I could only think of a few times when I was contacted by one of our financial partners (leasing companies we use for our on-hold equipment systems) notifying me that one of our clients had gone out of business and defaulted on a lease. (Over the years I have been asked why I chose to have a strategic alliance with a leasing company, knowing that we give up a percentage of our monthly service fee to do so. Actually, it is a pretty logical explanation. Leasing companies perform an incredible background check so we know that our clients have a pretty good credit history which tells us a lot upfront about our new client. Additionally, I would rather outsource billing and collections and be freed up to focus on the strength of our core business on a day-to-day basis.) From January, 1997 through December 2000 we had enlisted over 500 clients. I estimate that about 10 of those clients (2%) have gone out of business, defaulting on their lease contract. This means that over 490 were still in business! That really excited me because I knew that my earlier premise had merit. Therefore, I have come to this conclusion; when a business owner, executive, or manager makes the decision to employ a professional on-hold marketing program, it says a lot about the company, and the direction the company is going. I believe it is those small dollar decisions that we make on a day-to-day basis that determine our company's long-term future. Can I guarantee that if a company buys our on-hold service, they will be in business five years from now? No, but the odds just might be 98% in their favor. And a 98% longevity rate is pretty good when you think about it! |
