On the Incept Blog, we have been talking a lot about Conversational Marketing, its definition and examples of it in action.
Something important that we haven’t talked much about yet is to make sure you understand what Conversational Marketing is not. Below are a few examples of how not to be conversational with your customers when talking with them:
- Reading through your script so fast that you are no longer understandable
- Not acknowledging the customer when they ask you a question
- Being rude or talking over your customer
- Telling the customer you don’t know the answer to their question or telling them something that may not be true; if you don’t know, ask or direct the customer to where they can find the answer
- Showing no emotion when speaking with your customer
- Sounding like you are merely reading a script (it takes all of the sincerity out of the message)
- Conveying obvious signs and tones of sarcasm
- Being unprepared for the call and making the customer say “hello” multiple times
- Not listening to the customer, and then responding incorrectly (basically, letting the customer know you are not paying attention to them)
- Mispronouncing the customer’s name, being corrected by them and not apologizing
- Laughing at the customer for any reason
- Meeting aggression with aggression rather than compassion and empathy
- Talking over the customer
- Losing your patience with a customer, for any reason
- Asking the customer how they are doing, but then not responding to what they say when they answer you
- Ending the call before the customer has finished speaking
These may seem like simple tips, but they are all items that can get overlooked when dealing with customers. Each of them can also easily ruin the relationship. It is important to ask yourself, no matter the outcome, did the conversation end productively for both parties? If the answer is no, then the relationship with that customer was not strengthened.
What other examples can you think of regarding what Conversational Marketing is not?