Cold Calling for Consumer Research - 5 Steps to a Successful Call
Every marketing manager knows the importance of consumer insight and pulse. In today's market, cold calling for Telephone surveys on targeted samples, can prove to be a highly cost effective and relatively accurate means of understanding consumer perception and intent. In a busy world where people are constantly busy with the struggles and turmoil's of everyday life, a call from an unknown person can be highly annoying for anyone. For a Caller, overcoming this barrier and actually getting the respondent to provide the necessary feedback can prove to be a highly daunting task. Despite the hurdles just focusing on certain aspects of the call, some dos and don'ts and paying attention to detail, can help the caller easily collect the necessary information and also leave a lasting positive impression. The following 5 steps, if followed correctly will give any caller an edge in converting the call to valuable relevant feedback.
1. Appropriate greeting:
The first impression, i.e the first few seconds of the call will decide its fate. An effective greeting is one where the caller identifies himself/herself properly, clearly states the reason for the call and asks the respondent whether he/she wants is willing to give the time to participate in the survey. If the person declines, Thank them graciously and hang up. If and only if, the respondent is willing to participate without coercion, only then continue.
2.Listen for peripheral feedback:
Rather than the actual response, careful attention needs to be paid to the tonality and manner of the response. It is highly important to understand the emotion or the feeling that may be hidden, under a standard response to a query. A successful caller will easily identify the inner feeling of the respondent, regarding the query and thereby make a more effective judgment about the accuracy of the response. Often times the respondent especially if it's not a mystery survey may give a prejudiced response due to the identity of the caller
3. Probe deep and if possible, deeper:
A response, given in a less than enthusiastic tone or with a pause, often suggests contradiction between what has been said and what may be, the actual feeling of the respondent. In such cases it's the duty of the caller to tactfully ask supplementary questions, in order to dig out a more accurate picture.
4. Judge the mood of the respondent when asking personal or sensitive questions:
Heightened tension or hostility and ultimately loss of a potential feedback, often results from a failure to judge the mood or situation of a respondent, especially with regard to sensitive demographic queries such as income, age, etc. Not only is it mandatory to give the respondent a "heads up" before asking such questions but it is also imperative to judge the present mood based on the previous questions asked.
5. Have an effective closing for the call.
Importance of an effective closing to the survey can never be underplayed as it will set the tone for the whole survey experience. The respondent must feel that his/her time was not wasted, rather it was a significant contribution to the objective of the call. Remember the impression that is left will definitely have a significant influence on the perception the respondent will have regarding the product or organization.
If you have paid attention to these 5 steps chances are that you will be able to entice even the toughest of respondents to actively participate and provide the necessary feedback resulting in a higher call to conversion ratio and thus efficiency. In a market where competition is fierce and time is of the essence/ Businesses need to be one step ahead of the competition, effective market research through cost effective telephone surveys can provide invaluable insight into the consumers mind thereby giving your business an edge.
