Corporate marketing knows no bounds, respects no limits, does not and cannot cease expanding.
The latest frontier? Call centers, which are rapidly taking on the task practitioners call “inbound marketing”:
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Next time you’re on the line with a call center complaining about a product not working properly, don’t be surprised if you’re not rushed off the phone in record speed. The interactions between consumers and call center reps are evolving from hurried griping sessions to extended sales pitches and consultation meetings.
In fact, more and more marketers are looking to turn their call centers into revenue generating centers, according to a new study by Portrait Software, a provider of customer interaction optimization software. A number of factors are driving this shift but none more significant than the challenge of reaching consumers when a growing number of them are opting out of direct mail and email and opting into do-not-call lists. The study shows that 69% of large business-to-consumer marketers view their call centers as “business critical revenue generators.”
And, of course, the whole effort is being scientifically managed:
Apparently, endeavors like Nationwide Insurance are already using such methods “to sell more through inbound service conversations than we do through traditional outbound direct marketing.”
So, when the public-sector spies talk about TIA, they are merely hoping to acquire the beginnings of what our “private-sector” royalists already enjoy.
I’m always uncomfortable enough having to call to validate a replacement credit card or some other necessary activation call, because I know there’ll be a bunch of add-on pressure sales at the end. However, the real victims here will be the elderly and less-sophisticated, as the high pressure and deceptive marketing will really benefit from those who don’t go into the call ready to say no to anything.
With this stage of sales and marketing, we’re really reaching the end of the saturation marketplace… truly our “consumer economy” is rapidly imploding.