Marketing Opinion: Courtesy Calls Aren't About Just Saying Hi

When I answer the phone and hear the words, "Hi, I'm [Jane] and I'm calling from [a business] and this is just a quick courtesy call...." I instantly know that it's NOT just a courtesy call. Jane isn't calling to just say Hi.

It's a sales call. And when callers come to the part in their script that asks, "Are you interested?" I say No. Most of the time. Because I'm not interested. And they're off to the next call. Because they have a certain amount of calls to make an hour so they can get paid. No one is really interested on either side of the telephone.

This pattern as a marketing plan doesn't seem to be working. Paying people to make calls that no one wants to hear? There has to be a better way to use the telephone to connect to prospective customers.

I think I know a better pattern. What if a company sent a gift to a prospective customer, and THEN made the follow up call? And the follow up call was to ask them what they thought of the gift. If they didn't like it, then find out why. If they did like it, then find out why. A conversation happens. A real conversation, not just a false courtesy call to see if someone is interested in listening to a sales pitch. The gift begins the conversation.

Here are some items that are:

• inexpensive, which is important for giveaways, 
• small, so they fit into a mailer,
• useful, so they don't get thrown away before the call,
• unique, so the gift will be remembered when the follow up call is made.

Here are FIVE mailer gift possibilities:

The Mint Pen. This is a pen shaped container that dispenses mints one at a time. Available in three flavors: peppermint, cinnamon and squint and sugar free. 

While I'm on the subject of mints, Check out these Slim Mints:

They're small so they fit in a wallet, pocket or mailer. And they have a large imprint space for the money, plus they get double the logo views when your recipient shares a mint! They are available in a sugar free version too.

That flat credit card shape is easy to mail and portable to carry, so take a look at these uniquely shaped Flatinum USB Flash Drives:

The last two mailer suggestions will be promotional pens. Pens are the most popular promotional item, because they are inexpensive and useful to everyone. But to go into a mail, the pen has to be unique, otherwise it won't get much notice.

Here are two unique pens that will make a promotional mailer stand out:

These pens are the Retractable Pocket Telescope Ballpoint Pens.

The ribbed silver barrel telescopes into a full sized pen! The retracted size is smaller, which makes mailing easier.

These pens are the Shorty Sporty Pens. They're only 3 1/2 inches long, great for mailing, and they include a key chain attachment, which increases the usefulness to include portability as well as writing!

So next time you get a courtesy call, ask the caller to give you a courtesy gift first, and then you'll talk.

Does your company use the telephone for sales calls? Have you ever made a business call and got shot down by an uninterested listener? Do you like courtesy calls?