CRM, CX, UX Opinion South Africa

Persuasion marketing - the good and the almost convincing

A week ago, I received a call from a call centre saleswoman or rather one that represents a telecommunications company. In summation, the call was about selling me a certain network because my current one has exorbitant prices and it is not good for my pocket.

The consumer experience

I was very polite in declining the offer, because of my loyalty to my current one. And she was very persistent in telling me how incompetent my network provider is. After the call, it then hit me that there is a thing about sales-marketers that are heavy on persuading you to join their team – for reasons being that they are “cheap,” better, or have better services than any other.

Persuasion marketing - the good and the almost convincing
©gajus via 123RF

We all know want cheap and better services, and we all want efficient marketing – from the brands we are loyal to, and from those we could be considering.

Learnings from a brand’s representative

From the call, I summarised the brand that was being sold to me in the below voice and personality:

    - It is impatient- It is not confident

In this Forbes article about call centre operations, it reads “If your company’s goal is to provide an end-to-end customer experience that reflects the overall quality of your offerings, you might be disappointed to discover just how much of a weak link your call centre can be.”

The strategy of a brand’s confidence

We all get these marketing calls from call centre agents, if not sms, and if done right, it could be beneficial to do a competitor review based on your experiences with the brand you are loyal to, and the brand you are being sold to.

As mentioned earlier, I was very polite in declining the offer, and I could have hung up. But I was interested in the “but you understand that your brand is…” “Mam, you do know that your brand is expensive…”

When I could have listened to “these are the benefits of choosing us as your brand…” or “did you know that this brand offers…” to highlight the confidence in the brand. It is more like when they tell us the do’s of selling yourself in a CV. Be confident, highlight your skills and achievements. At the end of the day, just like a recruiter, we need the “Why should we hire you” boldness.

Better the provider I know

I have been loyal to my current network provider for years now, and I do complain and threaten to try out new things and leave it. However, I am of the opinion that the agent’s tone of voice will lead me to think “better the provider I know, than the angel I do not know.”

About Cecilia Mohlala

Cecilia Mohlala is a practicing Social Media Community Manager and writer who started out as a journalist and columnist for a community newspaper for two years. She studied Digital Marketing through DigifyZA from Livity Africa. I love writing, content, and thinking. Since giving birth to Digital, I have the curiosity to feed it!
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