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The telephone is still KING

6 January 2006 - Jake Orpen

Too often these days Marketers get carried away with arty above-the-line campaigns that are hugely creative and stimulating to the senses but don’t actually convert into sales (if this is measured at all).

How many times have you seen an advertising agency convince its client with a flashy presentation and "melt in your mouth" word-smithing that spending R250 000 above the line will glean x number of nett new sales? And then because the campaign responses are not measured, the agency can get away with another round of insane spending. Doesn’t anyone feel guilty?

A whole industry feeds off the innocent & misguided majority who believe that if you place an advert, you will automatically drive sales!

When will Advertising agencies finally be held accountable for their contribution to sales?

I thought it laughable that the Loerie Awards this year were dished out solely on the judges subjective evaluation of "creativity".

Surely Marketing’s role is primarily to set up platforms to facilitate a sale in one form or another?

I find it fascinating that in many ways South Africa is stuck in the dark-ages when it comes to sales & marketing. Do yourself a favour and get a taste of real competition in any first-world city like Hong Kong, London, New York, Beijing. Yes you will see the odd Bill-board , but the back-bone of market growth is direct selling using the good old telephone and an intelligently structured database.

When will marketers finally wake up, smell the coffee & realise that Direct Marketing and leveraging of databases & predictive models are the “silver-bullet” to driving sales? Costs are a fraction of above-the-line marketing, responses are measurable, sales can be matched with campaigns and the ROI’s on Direct Campaigns put A_T_L to shame.

The principles are standard and the results are consistent, whether selling cars, cellphones or insurance policies, an insightful approach to extracting targets from a database & then closing the sale via stages using sms, email and a telesales Call Centre is the no-brainer answer to bottom-line results. (Not airy-fairy radio quips; cheesy pamplet drops; or a 10 x 10 top-left print ad stuck away on page 13).

Fact : Last year Conexus has generated new sales of:

• » R3,6 million for a Mobile Telco
• » R5 million for a Passenger Car Franchise group
• » R4 million for a Short-term insurance & Financial Services Group
• » R9 million for a Commercial Vehicles Company (yes we can sell Trucks too)

...using the good old telephone and without plundering anyone’s entire marketing budget.

I am delighted to read that this year there is a new Direct Marketing body under construction, tasked with setting up an association of its own; promoting growth of the profession and tackling the common issues facing the industry.

Direct refuses to die!

- Ends -

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About Conexus

Conexus is a leading, award winning Customer Interaction Solutions company driven by passionate people. With significant investments in Call Centres and software applications, Conexus is able to provide clients with a full suite of innovative 1-to-1 Relationship Marketing, Sales and Service solutions.

More information can be found at www.conexus.co.za