Fast Response Management and Lead Qualification - likewise often overlooked, but crucial to provide a top class, first impression to enhance ANY brand. Handled badly, as we have all experienced, and a good brand image can be destroyed almost instantly.

The world of sales & marketing has changed and is continuing to change rapidly. The creative advertising copywriter of the old days could not action something that would impact sales the same day. Now an eMail blast in one moment can be generating sales inquiries within minutes.

And, as this new world is measured in seconds, not days, customers expect instant, joined-up service wherever and whenever they make contact. If anything goes wrong, they don't write a letter to the MD anymore and leave it at that - the bad news spreads like a rash over Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and on in to Cyberspace - help!

Luckily there's a solution to this 'need for speed' - all the extra capacity and specialist experience you need from the Marketpoint Global Network.

Here's how it works

The key to good response management is to set good service level standards to cover each of the response channels that people like to use these days:

• Telephone
• Web
• eMail
• Click-to-Chat Messaging
• Trade Show Visitor Handling

The way we handle this is through the Marketpoint Virtual Contact Centre - a web-based system which provides our local country call centres with access to the client's global marketing database. This allows direct updates to a inquirer's database record combined with instant, systematic distribution of the inquiry or sales lead to the appropriate sales executive for follow-up:

This joined up way of doing things is really the only efficient and cost effective way of providing superb service...global but local. And of course, sales teams appreciate timely leads which are fully qualified for a change: Good leads demand 100% Reporting rates from the field

Click-to-Chat Channel

The modern business world doesn't shut down when you close for the day, so you may be missing 2/3rds of the interest generated in your business...

If you have a website, the expectation is that you're available 24hrs a day to take calls, chat, respond to web requests or emails.

Marketpoint Global is a managed service that allows you to do just that. We handle inbound chats or calls from a network of contact centres all around the world. This gives you a global presence wherever you're based, and local language coverage whether it's Mandarin Chinese in Singapore, or Brazilian Portuguese in Sao Paulo. This makes a statement about your business - you're open and ready to respond anywhere!

Click-to-Chat has been available for a number of years now, but has only really started to catch-on recently outside the USA.

Clearly the web is a typical starting point these days to look at a company and its products and services. Then, as you get to the point where you need information, the ability to have a messaging conversation with that company is very much easier than picking up the phone.

Indeed, at Marketpoint Global we believe that this will be the way of contacting Call Centres in future, as you start a message dialogue which can then be upgraded to a VoiP Video conversation.

Inbound Telemarketing Channel

Is there anyone out there who likes the idea of calling a call centre? Not likely! The waiting and knowing that you probably won't get satisfaction even when you get through to a human being is enough to given anyone second thoughts.

That is, unless you have started dealing with a company where you know that you are going to be talking to a bubbly agent within 3 rings - then it becomes the easy option and you'll do it again.

Once again, this goes to show that, get it right, and you have happy customers and people who will enjoy doing business with you.

eMail Channel

There are opportunities to improve everywhere. An eMail response just to say that your inquiry is being dealt with within 60 minutes is appreciated, and rare. In this case we need to know more about the inquiry to follow-up in an appropriate way.

Web Channel

Like the other channels, you complete a web form with a request, and while doing it, you think to yourself that you're unlikely to get a response at all. Why do companies have web forms at all, if they don't fulfil requests?

So, what do we do make this a better experience?

1. A better design of form to gather all the key information needed without being long and tortuous.
2. An auto-answer Thank You to confirm that the request is being dealt with.

Ideally, a follow-up eMail response to confirm who is dealing with the request and providing a point of contact.

Trade Show Channel

Surely you're not falling into the usual trap of not exploiting your biggest marcom investment by forgetting the lead capture and sales follow-up piece?!

Trade Shows are always the big ticket item, so not having a comprehensive plan for pre-promotion, lead capture, fulfilment and follow-up telemarketing is bordering on the criminal!

The main feature that differentiates the Marketpoint system from our competitors is that it is real-time direct access to your Marketing Database. This greatly speeds up the Reception process and eliminates the need for data downloads and overnight processing of data.

The System also covers a wider time period to ensure more effective:

• Pre-show Promotion
• Event Lead Capture & Rapid Response
• Sales Force Follow-up & Reporting

In Summary

Most companies 'organise' their response management on a country by country basis, which certainly isn't efficient, and definitely isn't joined up from branding or time zone points of view.

Any serious global player, should, as a minimum, have a 24/5 English language service for all of these channels, and local language versions of each during business hours.