Costs of Voice Broadcasting

One of the most important considerations in doing business is on costs. Every business owner will always look into this aspect. This article provides introduction to the costs of voice broadcasting and how it can it an advantage to your business.

Pay Per Minute

In terms of costs, this is a very unpredictable method and is not advisable unless you can go around the problems that it can cause.
Here are some problem areas:

- What increments will be used to time each call?
- Number of digits to manipulate the billed cost.
- Provision for the rounding up of each call cost. This can be a problem area if not established between you and the voice broadcast vendor.
- Will the call time include dial and ringing time or just when the call is answered?
Unless the variables stated above are cleared then there is no point resorting to this type of payment determination scheme with your voice broadcast provider.

Pay Per Live Transfer

An amount or fee is charged to you by the broadcast vendor for every call that is transferred to you as a result of the client pressing “1” in response to the recorded message. It does not matter if the call is transferred immediately or if response will be a bit delayed. The length of time with the client is not also a variable. This cost is the most practical and is the one resorted to by most business owners.

The disadvantage of this pay per transfer method is it cannot be utilized for the delivery of messages to an answering machine. This voice broadcast method is only for messages delivered to a live number only.

Pay Per Delivery

Like the Pay Per Transfer cost, a set amount is charged for each message delivered. This can work both for live answered calls and answer machine delivered voice broadcasts. If you plan to have an answering machine too especially during after office hours then this is the plan for you.

The downside of this payment method is that some voice broadcast vendors charge on a “per dial” or “per connect”. You should watch out for this in your terms of service. You should not pay for calls that do not result in actual delivery of messages.

It is best to keep the agreement simple with your voice broadcast vendor and charge you for every delivered message.

The best way to assess which one is most economical for your need is to do a test campaign. Always ask for a report, a simple one, from the voice broadcast provider so you can check and do calculations yourself. Do not fall for complicated statistical reports that you do not really need. Let the voice broadcast provider submit one that you can understand immediately. Also see to it that the provider agrees that you can change your payment option or plan without any penalty or lock in period.

Some Tips When Buying Mailing Lists

All mailing list vendors want to get your business and will have all sorts of enticing descriptions of what type of mailing lists they have. Some will give information on what method they do to obtain their data and build the list. Most will guarantee that the information you are buying is from legitimate and reliable sources. Whatever the sales pitch these mailing list vendors have, you should have some criteria to determine what type of mailing list you need for your business.

Here are some tips to help you on your mailing list decision:

1. Get a list that has people who show interest in your product or service. Your product or service may not appeal to everyone. The more targeted your list is the fewer rejections you will have.

2. It is common knowledge in direct marketing that the closer your message is delivered to the customer’s last purchase, the more likely they will be responsive to the offer. So it is important that you buy an updated list or one that is updated regularly. The “fresher” your list is, the better response you will have.

3. Be sure to buy from reliable mailing list vendors. A good index for this if the company is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) then they can be trusted for good business practices.

4. Define your audience before starting on your campaign and buying a mailing list. Who are you selling your product or service to? The more targeted your list is, the better it will be for your business.

5. Buy a list that is suited to your budget. Direct mail leads have to be tested first. Do a trial run to save on costs before plunging into the more expensive listings.

6. Do not hesitate to contact mailing list companies and ask the questions. Being experts in this field they can offer recommendations on what is suitable for your needs.

The biggest mistake you can fall into is not being discerning enough when speaking with mailing list companies. Do not commit until you have done thorough evaluation and testing.

Ways To Determine If Voice Broadcasting Is Profitable

The mindset of many marketers when doing a voice broadcasting campaign is the expectation that majority of calls will become good prospects. This may over-optimistic, as in reality only a minority of leads are quality ones. However, with a well thought approach and an established business metrics, voice broadcasting can be profitable, particularly because of the low cost to generate such leads.

Let us look at some business metrics. Successful campaigns for messages delivered to live-answered phone calls, where the caller presses 1 to reach the company, is only a 15%-25% “long call rate.” Long call rate is a call where both parties stay on the line for 1 ½ minutes. Not all long calls result in good leads. It has been noted that only ½ of long calls turn to be good leads.

An established business metric should be studied before making a voice broadcast campaign. Going back to the example above, if an effective long call would cost $25, and only 50% are good leads and only 25% get to sales conversion then the cost of a sale is $200. If profit for such sale is $350 then the business owner is going to have an effective voice broadcasting campaign.

Companies wanting to do voice broadcasting should consider the mode of the campaign. Most industries have a response rate for live delivery between 0.6% to 1.0%. This means that for every 1000 calls only 10 would result in a live lead.

For a voicemail campaign, the numbers will be much lower. This type of campaign requires a good message that will make the recipient interested to note callback number or the website URL. Live messages are more efficient because what the recipient has to do is press “1” and talk to a live person. Though answer voicemail campaigns are harder to track, it is estimated that 25-33% is the call back ratio for this type of campaign.

For voice broadcasting to be used as a lead generation system, the message is crucial as well as the call list. But before anything else, basic business metrics should be studied first during the planning phase of the campaign.

Why Direct Mail Companies Are More Effective

A lot of business owners believe that doing their own direct mail effort is an easy and simple matter. This is true at some level but how effective the campaign would be depends if this will be done properly. It is important to understand what the process is all about to successfully set up the method to use direct mail for leads generation.

Making It Personal

Direct mail vendors have a proven format for sending out the communication to people. They see to it that the mails appear to be as personal as possible. Recipients tend to read the mail if there is a personal touch added to it. This can be in the form of the first name in the salutation or some personal greeting. Personal information is found on the direct mail leads database and this will not be difficult to obtain.

Regular communication for updates and pertinent information will be sent to the direct mail leads. There is a constant flow of information and communication to the leads and recipients can contact you for any questions or inquiry.

Contact Information

Direct mail providers also see to it that vital contact information is included in the communications to leads. It will be a wasted exercise if people cannot contact you back. Some do not want to use email but would often call or even visit the business office.

The Post Script (P.S.)

Studies have shown that the Post Script is a critical aspect for direct mail. The PS gives a semblance of very personal communication between you and the client. Research has shown that the PS increases response rates by 30%. You should also take note that receivers of the direct mail do not really read the body of the email or letter. What will happen is that they will just skim over the page and look at the most important points. The PS part at the bottom is very noticeable and has been known to be given notice by the reader.

The bottom line is that direct mail companies know what they are doing, have the leads as well as have the proven and tested method to do the direct mail leads generation.

Once you have found a direct mail provider that suits your particular needs then expect a good boast to your revenues.

Real Time Internet Leads

If you have been getting listings from internet lead companies and results are lackluster, then the leads you are getting may be recycled ones, or a better term is “junk leads.”

Junk leads are sold from one business to another very cheap, and if you get lured into such leads you may end up regretting in the end. These low quality leads will not do you any good and you end up spending more.

Your business can benefit from real time internet leads. How does this work? Your vendor has a ead generation system that collects data from an online form, and then the information is delivered to you immediately. You are assured of its “freshness” and that the prospect is really interested in your offer. You also need to ask your vendor whether the real-time internet leads are ‘exclusive’ (i.e. you are the only one receiving them, or ‘non-exclusive’ (the same lead is resold to multiple companies). There is nothing inherently wrong with non-exclusive leads, and your price will be considerably lower. But you will obviously be competing with other vendors for the business. Some companies opt for lower priced non-exclusive leads because they have confidence in their salespeople to win the deal.

As a wise business owner, you need to get effective leads. You have to communicate with prospects that have sought out your offer so you can maximize the prospects that ultimately convert into sales.

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