Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Marketing done right...

I love when I see great marketing efforts.

Here’s an example of what appears to be fully integrated marketing engine, designed to get the most “share of wallet” from customers as possible. The company is BGE Home. I’m a satisfied customer for some of their services (furnace, hot water, A/C, and Plumbing).

Here’s what happened…
  1. Received a coupon for discounted plumbing service from BGE Home (this prompted me to raise a few issues to a higher priority, including fixing a ‘slow drain’ in my shower)
  2. Went to the website to schedule an appointment online
  3. Received a confirmation call on my answering machine for the appointment instructing me to call back (since they can’t confirm appointments with a machine—seems fair)
  4. Called back to schedule the appointment on their 800 number.
  5. Heard a few commercials while on hold which educated me about a whole new range of services BGE Home can provide for me (surge protection, window installation, electrical wiring, etc.) Had NO idea they could do it.
  6. Began to think seriously about hiring BGE HOME (when I would have otherwise called my contractor-or not done it at all) for some of them

If it’s integrated, it’s BRILLIANT! I especially loved the audio commercials. I love how they are upselling me while I’m on hold. I can’t tell you how much I hate when companies don’t leverage hold times for upsells!)

(I’m wondering if they instruct their CSR’s –Customer Service Reps-to put people on hold for even short periods of time just so they will hear the commercials).

Lesson learned: take advantage of every opportunity you have to engage with and educate your customer about what you can do for them.

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