Are You Operationally Ready for DRTV? Part 3
Over the course of the past month, I’ve been discussing DRTV as a way to acquire new customers. This week, I examine one of the main elements of response — your call center.
(For part 1, click here, and for part 2, click here.)
When it comes to response from DRTV promotions, ask yourself if your call center can handle the peaks and valleys (mostly peaks) of DRTV. Staffing a call center to handle TV-driven response can be a nightmare. Unless you want to limit the media you buy severely, you’ll need to be staffed up to 24 hours a day.
An even greater challenge is trying to predict and forecast call spikes.
The best approach is to hire call-center reps whose core competency is inbound calls from TV. Here’s why:
1. A large call-center staff is able to handle any and all spikes, 24/7.
2. Such third-party call-center firms have the core knowledge of how to set up inbound campaigns to maximize the return on investment for TV-specific customers.
To me, that makes sense. I hope it does to you, too. There are some really great call centers that can help you out. To find some, turn to pg. 30 of the December 2007 issue of Catalog Success, the special Resource Guide issue. Or, you can find that section of the guide on the Catalog Success Web site by clicking here.
Speak to you next week, where I’ll continue with more on how to best set up DRTV operations.
Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing Inc., a full-service catalog and direct marketing agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert or you can post a comment here or e-mail him at jimdirect@aol.com.
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Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
