Rapport building is an integral part of the communication process. Lack of, or absence of rapport can fundamentally affect the outcome of any conversation. Isn’t it true that sometimes we just ‘click’ with some people and get on really well with them? In such instances the conversation runs smoothly, it is enjoyable and the results are so much better than when the communication is strained and we fail to ‘gel’ with the person we are talking to. 

Telephone conversations in call centres are a prime example of how rapport can help the outcome. You may have a limited time to allocate to your caller so you need to maximise that time effectively to get the information you need to be able to provide the best service. Good rapport will get you there faster. 

Good rapport isn’t about ‘making best friends’ with your caller it means that a comfortable ‘state’ where all parties converse freely and comfortably is created. The extra benefit is that it makes the time you spend with your caller more enjoyable. Here are some tips for creating good rapport. 

1)     Open the call with a smile – believe it, a smile can be heard and a ‘smiling voice’ is more welcoming and relaxing. Your caller will subconsciously appreciate it and like you. 

2)     Start the conversation with a ‘warm up’, a simple question that will let your caller know you are human! This could be ‘how is your day so far’, or ‘how is the weather where you are today, better than here I hope!’. Most people will respond to you in a friendly manner and it helps to relax you and your caller by ‘breaking the ice’. Reply to their answer with a relevant but positive response and then move the call forward such as:‘That’s great, I’m glad you are having a good day. How can I help with your call today, or ‘So the weather is as bad as it is here, never mind, the sun could be out tomorrow for us. ‘How can I help with your call today’.     

3)     Listen well – avoid distractions and allow yourself to concentrate on your caller and their conversation.   

4)     Let the caller know you are listening by responding with gentle and soft ‘ums and ‘ahs’ as they speak.   5)     Allow the speaker to finish what they are saying – practise this with every call. If you interrupt your caller could become frustrated. 

6)     Use words that your caller uses in their conversation, especially any adjectives – the words they use to describe something. They have chosen to use the words, so they have a relevance to the content, an alternative word may not have the same meaning for them. Example: your caller says ‘The results were excellent’. In this instance the word ‘excellent’ was chosen because it reflects what the speaker felt. To build rapport use the same word back at any relevant time. Example: ‘I agree with what you said earlier, the results were excellent’. If you were to reply with: ‘I agree with what you said earlier, the results were ok’, it will subconsciously confuse your caller because they didn’t say ‘ok’; their chosen word was ‘excellent’.  7)     Show empathy with your caller, to show empathy means to share in  another’s emotions, thoughts, or feelings, and is a great way of building rapport. Empathy can be shown by using phrases such as: ‘I understand what you mean’. ‘I can see where you are coming from’. ‘That must have made you feel really good’, ‘I understand why you would think that way’. 

     Be yourself and relax. If you are uptight or trying to be someone or something you are not, it will act as a barrier to building rapport.  9)     If you read a script as part of your job, put your own personality into it so that it sounds as though the words are your words and that you are not reading from a piece of paper. Use inflection, modulation and pitch to help make the script interesting for the listener. Your caller will thank you for it, isn’t it true that we sometimes ‘switch off’ when we hear what sounds like a script being read to us? 

10) Be friendly, it is possible to remain professional and courteous and still be friendly. This is easily achieved by using good inflection and modulation in your voice, by showing an interest in your callers conversation and by sharing laughter and lighthearted moments when the opportunity to do so arises during the call.  Enjoy your rapport building it will make your calls more productive and pleasant for both you and your caller.

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1)     Prevent yourself from being distracted by colleagues or external noises and concentrate on what your caller is saying.

2)     Listen to the emotion in your callers voice, does it match or endorse the words they are using?

3)     Ask questions to gain more information on points you need to clarify.

4)     You listen more effectively when you’re not talking so refrain from interrupting your caller,  let them finish what they are saying, interruptions may break their train of thought.

5)     Avoid pre-empting what your caller is going to say, chances are you will be wrong and miss some of the content of their conversation.

6)     Summarise and reflect back to check you have heard the key facts and content of the callers conversation correctly. It also lets the caller know you have understood them. Use statements such as  “What I’m hearing is…” and “Sounds like you are saying…” are great ways to reflect back and summarise.

7)     If you are having difficulty listening make the necessary adjustments. You might say, “I’m sorry I missed that last point. Please repeat that for me.”

     Have a pen and paper to hand and get into the habit of making short quick references to any questions you want to ask or points you wish to raise or comment on. When your caller has finished speaking refer back to your notes and take action. If you are thinking of answers and responses whilst the caller is speaking, you are not listening.

9)     Avoid stereotyping individuals by making assumptions about how you expect them to act and what you expect them to say. This will bias your listening.

10) Listen for the key words, nouns and verbs – they are the words that deliver the main content of a sentence. 

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Communication is such a fascinating subject and despite language barriers, builds great friendships and relationships.

A massive 55% of a message is transferred via body language, 38% by the vocal characteristics and just 7% through the words used.

Whenever Beyond The Box delivers communication courses, delegates are amazed at the small part words play and fascinated by the role of body language. It becomes apparant how important body language is if you can recall an occasion when you were visiting another country and found yourself having a great ‘conversation’ with someone who didn’t speak a word of your language and you couldn’t speak a word of theirs. The content of the conversation will have been transferred by body language, along with the tone, emphasis and pace applied to the words used.

Of course some topics such as football are universal and can always bring about animated and productive conversations!

Some gestures made with the body are a langauge of their own and whilst completing some research on the subject I came across this video on You Tube. It’s worth taking a look not only for the content but for the entertainment value it provides when it’s demonstrating the origin of some well used gestures! I’d be interested to know if anyone can expand on the content and the accuracy behind it. It appears convincing in its theory when it explains how certain gestures have evolved, but can we be sure?

Here is the video

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Avoid introducing technical jargon as much as possible. You want to get support for the product, not provide excuses for not selling it. Also, all questions should be welcomed and not ridiculed. Some questions may appear trivial and foolish at times but our intention is to overcome all hurdles.  

Provide “Hands On” Training - it is important to give an explanation of how the product works, but it is also important for users to actually “touch and feel” the product. They may not come away from the training class as experts, but at least you will have overcome their fears.

Get Management Support - If staff sense the slightest lack of support for a product, they will use it as an excuse not to sell it.

Create excitement to sell the new product - this can be achieved by incentives and bonus schemes. Another option is to train the staff in stages, e.g., taking key “features and benefits” and making them proficient in them. Let the trained staff spread the word to the rest of the employees. This allows the other staff to get an unbiased opinion as it were.

Some general tips you should be aware of as a trainer:

Be organised - prepare a well thought out agenda and stick to it. I used to be a big believer of the tell, tell, tell approach. This is great for presentations but I found that when I was being trained using this approach; it used to go over my head. As my knowledge of being a trainer increased so did my training style. I know use the ask, ask, ask approach. This gets the trainee involvement and helps me identify their learning styles.

Know your audience - understand their intelligence level and interests, and design a training program around them. By working within their limitations you will be able to accomplish more.

Dress and speak appropriately - your appearance and how you present yourself says a lot to the trainees about your product. If you dress and act like a geek, the staff may look at this as another harebrained scheme by the Manufacturer. The appearance and presentation of the trainer reflects the credibility of not only the speaker, but of the brand and product as well.

Stimulate the trainees - keep the training positive and upbeat; inject humor where necessary.  Allow periodic breaks, but keep them short and sweet. Make use of other aids like metaphors and games to embed messages and get the mind working.

Provide training aids - such as handouts, brochures or perhaps a CD/DVD with a copy of the presentation.

Get feedback from the training program - allow the trainees to evaluate the training course. Their feedback will hint as to your success and may point out problem areas that need to be addressed.

In conclusion the trainer’s mission, therefore, is to explain, demonstrate, and convince the trainees how the new products will not only benefit the company, but the customers as well; and communicate it in a way that the trainees will understand. Remember; keep it simple as lots of technical jargon impresses no one.

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Transactional - a communication or activity between two or more people that influences and affects all of them  Analysis – Study investigation Transactional Analysis (TA) focuses on the interaction between two or more people. By understanding how we communicate Eric Bearne the founder of TA discovered that changing the interaction was a way of solving emotional issues that could hinder a positive outcome of a conversation.Bearne, a psychoanalytic-trained psychiatrist believed in making a commitment to “curing” his patients rather than just understanding them. TA describes how people are structured psychologically. It uses a simple Parent-Adult-Child model to do this which indicates that at any given time, a person manifests their personality through a mixture of behaviours which fall into one of the three categories, Parent Adult Child, known as Ego states

Parent ego state: represents the occasions when during conversations we respond in a manner that copies the behaviours and actions of parental or influential figures from our lifetime. Can you recall instances when you hear yourself thinking ‘I sound just like my mother/father/teacher’? You are reflecting and copying their behaviour.For example, during a conversation a person may display anger by shouting at someone because they learnt from an early age that when the parent shouts the child takes notice.

Adult ego state: represents the occasions when during conversations we draw on our lifetime of experiences as an adult to guide us objectively to a positive outcome. When we are in our Adult state we see, hear and respond to people as they really are, and have an understanding of why they are reacting as they do, rather than accepting at face value the way they choose to communicate. For example, during a telephone call our organisation were to be criticised we would respond with a calm, logical response which aimed to reduce or remove the emotion from the discussion in order to resolve issues in a logical and factual manner. We would adopt this state having learnt throughout our lifetime that shouting, sulking, answering back or other emotional states will detract from, and add an extension to the time when a resolution is reached.

Child ego state: represents the occasions when during conversations we revert to behaving, feeling and thinking similarly to how we did in childhood. For example, during a conversation a person who receives criticism may react as they did in their childhood when they were reprimanded. This reaction may take on an emotional form, crying, sulking, answering back or perhaps feeling ashamed or angry.When we adopt an ego state it is generally through an immediate and unconscious action an action that is based on how we responded to a similar situation during our early formative years. Example: an angry customer calls your organisation with a complaint. The customer has adopted the Parental state, learning from an early age that when his parents shouted at him, he took notice and felt bad and did all he could to make amends. By mimicking what he learnt and shouting at you he is banking on you taking notice of him, feeling bad and making amends, probably by way of an apology, refund, replacement or compensation. You have also had childhood learning’s and your childhood learning’s may have taken one of the following routes:

1)      you responded to someone shouting at you, by shouting back

2)      you responded to someone shouting at you in the same way as your caller did as a child by feeling bad and doing all you could to make amends

3)      you responded to someone shouting at you in an adult manner, by remaining calm, and using facts and logic to achieve a harmonious outcome for everyone.

If you respond with route 1 you will surprise your customer, he wasn’t expecting that sort of response, his past learning’s have taught him that you would take notice, feel bad and make amends. His next response is to try again this time, shouting even louder and continuing to do so until he gets the response he was looking for and expected. When he doesn’t he may ask for a manager so he can try with someone else. Eventually if he continues to get the ‘route 1’ response, he ‘burns out’ and either ends the call defeated or hangs up in frustration.

If you respond with route 2 your customer will get the reaction he expected and he has moved to a position of control. He will retain his Parent ego state until he has achieved the outcome that he wanted from the call.

By responding with routes 1 or 2 it is possible that the outcome may not be suitable to your organisation. The customer may not have the correct facts, he may be ‘trying it on’, or he may have good reason to be angry. Whatever his justification whilst you are both operating in Adult ego states as in route 1 or Adult and Child states as in route 2 you are not in a position to negotiate and bring the conversation to a positive conclusion for all parties. The result is either, an outcome where the customer is happy but your organisation is working at a loss, or an outcome which leads to a dissatisfied and even angrier customer which could potentially damage the reputation of your organisation.

If you respond with route 3 you will be drawing on all your experiences of handling a parental ego state and reaching a resolution that is fair and just. You may have to negotiate to achieve a suitable outcome for both parties but negotiation can only take place when both callers are acting from their adult ego states.  

No doubt the training and guidance you have received for dealing with difficult customers is based on maintaining an Adult state. Initially it is suggested that you: 1) Listen to your callers issues and apologise, whether it’s your fault or not. It may not come easily to you but an apology is the first step to resolving the issue in an Adult state. Even if, based on the information your caller has just given to you it is clear that your organisation is not at fault, apologise of the fact that the caller feels the way they do. “I’m sorry you feel this way……………………..”

2) Sit tight until they have finished complaining. Prior to making the call your customer  will no doubt have practiced what they intended to say and no amount of interrupting will stop them from saying it! It may be possible that based on your childhood experiences you feel you want to answer back or become emotionally upset. To react in either of these ways will prolong the point of resolution. 

3) Once your customer realizes you are not going to respond in the way he anticipated he will start to move from Parent state to Adult state, when his logic to the current situation is realised. He will have nothing left to say and has no need to repeat anything because you have demonstrated that you have listened to him, and taken on board his reasons for being angry and upset.

4) Once you are sure he has finished his ‘script’ you can address any points that need clarification. Communicating in Adult state will require you at to ask questions so that you can fully understand all the facts. 5) Once you are in possession of al the facts you are in a position to resolve the situation. Entering the conversation in Adult state and maintaining it will have a positive effect on your caller. Initially they may adopt a Parent state but if you choose not to respond in Parent or even Child state you will encourage him to move to Adult mode too.

There are two ego states to Parent:

1)      Controlling Parent

2)      Nurturing Parent

Controlling parent will most likely be adopted by and angry customer as they draw on the experiences of an angry adult from their childhood. There are occasions when a Controlling Parent state is a positive approach to communication. It is perfect to introduce into the conversation when you need to offer direct, constructive criticism, communicate boundaries or present a caring but firm attitude.

As it implies anyone adopting the

Nurturing

Parent

State communicates in a caring manner. There are probably few instances when a customer would need to communicate with you in this state, but there may be occasions when you do. If a caller contacts your organisation and is clearly in a state of emotional distress and possible even tearful it would be appropriate to move into Nurturing Parent state to calm them down. As you progress though the conversation move into Adult state and maintain it. This will encourage your customer to follow you so that you can resolve the issue for them. If they choose to remain emotionally distressed it will affect their ability to work with you. Take care when adopting Nurturing Parent state, if it is used in an inappropriate manner or time your customer could interpret it as sarcasm or a condescending manner.

An emotionally distressed customer has chosen to adopt the Child state, likewise a customer who makes proclamations such as ‘It’s not fair, I’ve paid good money for this’. Should it be apparent that your customer is in such a Child state, it is still important that you allow them to say what they had planned. You may have to move into Nurturing Parent initially to engage them before moving to Adult state, when you can respond positively to their call. Just as Parent states can be useful so too can Child.

There are two ego states to Child

1)      Adapted

2)      Free

An Adapted Child state can manifest itself in either a positive way when the person is co-operative or negative when they show resistance to something.

A Free Child state can show straits of spontaneity or demonstrate immaturity.We all have experiences to draw on which will cause us to act in a Parent or Child states whichever our unconscious deems appropriate at the time. We may achieve the outcome we want and it may or may not serve us well in the long term.  We start using the Adult state at ten months old. The subsequent years provide more and more experiences for our unconscious minds to draw on. Though the Parent and Child states can serve us well, it is in the Adult state that most conflicts will be resolved to good effect and timely resolutions which may include negotiation, achieved.  Adopting Adult state to handle difficult customers will go a long way to supporting your intention of good customer service, with shorter and more productive call times.

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Email and text messages have taken communication into a whole new dimension. They are fast, economical and in some instances enable friends to keep in touch far more frequently than the ‘pen pal process’ ever did. Could such marvellous inventions possibly have any downsides? Well, yes they do. Consider the process of communication. When we are talking face to face with someone we understand what they are saying by three channels:1)      watching body language, 2)      understanding the words used3)      listening to the way the words are said (pitch, tone, emphasis, pace and inflection).Statistics indicate that, when we communicate face to face, body language helps us understand 55%, words 7%, and the way the words are said 38% of the message. So what does this mean when we are interpreting written communication? We cannot see the originators body language therefore we cannot pick up on any of the clues body language gives us (55%), neither can we interpret a message by the way it’s being said, (38%). Fortunately something called punctuation was invented so the sender could visually demonstrate emphasis, tone, inflection etc, in the written word. Commas, exclamation marks, brackets, full stops and all those other small but highly effective symbols help us to fill in the blanks left when we are trying to interpret a written message and body language and verbal emotions are not available to assist us. Thank goodness for punctuation! Great! Except that when people text or email, grammar and punctuation seem to have gone out of the window which totally changes the meaning of a message.  

Here is a well known example of how that can happen. An English professor wrote thesewords on the chalkboard:A woman without her man is nothing and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.All of the males in the class wrote:         A woman, without her man, is nothing.

All the females in the class wrote:          A woman: without her, man is nothing.Punctuation is everything. So that leaves us with 7% of the words – let’s be thankful for small mercies! Ah! Well no, that’s not the case. How many quickly and carelessly sent texts or emails have left the reader scratching their head in a ball of frustration as they try to second guess what the sender was trying to say? Interpreting the mass of hieroglyphics that makes up the message leaves us wondering when the sender started working for MI5. Trying to decipher shortened text can add minutes to understanding what the sender is trying to say.   Where am I going with all of this you may be wondering? The world changes and we should be prepared to change with it and embrace technology. I agree with that sentiment. I would simply like to suggest that is no wonder that ‘poor communication’ continues to be blamed in the workplace for reducing the standard customer service, low morale, misunderstandings and mistakes some of which are very expensive.  One cannot dismiss the benefits email and text messages have brought to communication, but equally they have brought confusion, frustration and costly mistakes which could drastically be improved by taking time to compose the message carefully, and with thought.  When writing a business letter most people will take time with punctuation, spelling mistakes and its composition. Despite all of this it can still be misinterpreted. It seems though that when we write a text or email we consider it acceptable to forget all the attributes that help make the written word easily understood. We seem to have accepted that fast methods of communication can be discharged with fast input and limited attention to simple tools that would make the content sensible and legible. Is it any wonder we misinterpret instructions, guidelines, methods, and simple messages? Is it any wonder mistakes are made at great expense?   I believe it is the sender’s responsibility to ensure that the content of their message has been fully understood. Sadly, many of us seem to think that with the simple press of a button the responsibility of understanding the message now falls solely upon the recipient.  For years we have all poured scorn on legal documents because they are written in ways we don’t understand and now we have invented our own version. It just doesn’t take as long to compose!

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For many people the response to this would be ‘no’ – as how can body language be important if the caller can’t see the person they are talking to?  Before this question can be fully answered, we need to understand the part body language plays during the communication process. 

First of all let’s get down to basics.  A message (conversation) is communicated to the receiver by words, the way the words are spoken and body language.  

People are surprised when they are introduced to the statistics which indicate that only 7% of the message is transferred and understood by actual words used, 38% is transferred as a result of the way the words are spoken and a massive 55% by body language. Incidentally these statistics refer to a conversation that is face to face. Logic tells us that if the conversation is over the telephone the body cannot be seen which means that a massive 55% of the method for transferring the message is lost. To that end, one could argue therefore that body language does not even come into the equation when talking on the telephone. That isn’t the case though – the body also has a massive effect on our breathing pattern which in turn has a massive effect on the way the words are spoken. 

When body language is used as a method to understanding the meaning of a message being communicated to us, it makes reference not only to the actions of the body, but also to facial expressions.  If someone is gesturing wildly, with arms and hands pointing towards us with a firm action and being repeated at speed, we will assume that they are not very happy. Without hearing any words we can conclude that these are the actions of an angry man. How we react to that is based on our own responses. People could react quite differently to an angry looking person. The anger could be reflected back with the person on the receiving end, responding with fear or nervousness - and some may even burst in to laughter as a way of responding. Whatever the response, the message indicated is loud and clear and without the use of words. That’s how powerful body language can be, when communication takes place in an environment where the receiver can see the message sender.  

If the telephone is introduced into the process the receiver cannot see the message sender. This means that a massive 55% of the transfer process is lost – we can’t see the message sender’s body so how can it be used to transfer a message to us. Most certainly, if we take the example above where the man communicated anger without actually saying anything the introduction of the telephone would have prevented the receiver from understanding the message. People rarely pick up the phone to communicate and say nothing, words or sounds are generally uttered. Words will be introduced into the conversation – no doubt if we continue with the same example of the angry person, the words will endorse and match his feelings. In addition the way he says the words will also replicate his feelings. It would be quite unlikely that someone with enraged anger displayed by body actions and endorsed with words would be able to say those words in a calm and collected manner.  

If we are angry, it is evident by our facial expression. If we are happy, it is evident by our facial expression. The muscles in our face are numerous – we have more muscles from our shoulders up than from our shoulders down! Movement of muscles will affect the sound of the voice.  We have all heard the comment – you can hear someone smiling and it is true. If we smile our voice is lighter, higher and indicates happiness.  

If we show anger on our faces the muscles affect our voice too, it will be deeper and more stressed.  Facial expressions affect our voice and our voice transfers key parts of a message to help the receiver understand what is being communicated. Whether the conversation takes place on the telephone or face to face, the facial expression which is part of body language plays a major role in the communication process. 

The pace of their voice maybe faster than normal, their voice may be deeper than normal, the words may be clipped and sharp in the way they were spoken, their breathing would no doubt be faster which would also have an effect on how the words were uttered. Quite simply their body language would have a massive effect on how the words were said and that contribute to the 38% of the message transfer.   When someone is speaking on the telephone their body language will still reflect their mood and feelings. It happens unconsciously. Who would stop to think; “Ah the person I’m talking to cannot see me so there is no need to move my arms and used facial expressions”? 

Breathing patterns play a major role in how words are spoken. As the air from our lungs is exhaled, it passes over the vocal chords which vibrate to make a sound. This sound affects the way we say words. Breathe either quickly or slowly and it has a major effect on the vibration. Breath in a shallow manner and that too has an effect on the vibration. For the exhaled air to pass over the vocal chords the passage way has to be clear. Crunch your body and the passage way starts to become restricted. Restriction starts to happen when we sit down. This is because our normal reaction is to lower our head and shoulders. Try this simple exercise. 1)      Stand up so the air passage is open and say ‘good morning’. 2)      Sit down and relax into your chair so that your shoulders and chin are relaxed and say ‘good morning’. Can you hear the difference?3)      Remain seated sit up in your chair, look ahead and repeat ‘good morning’ again. Can you hear the difference this time? Quite clearly the position of the body has a fundamental effect on how words sound. When our shoulders and chin are dropped the words are more muffled. This could give someone listening to us the impression that we sound unhappy, unconcerned or even bored and uninterested. This may not be the case – in fact it probably isn’t but that is the message that the person we are talking to will receive.  

So this is one instance when body language plays an important part when we communicate over the telephone. A recent example was someone who received a call from the hospital where their mother had been admitted after a stroke. Someone from the hospital made a telephone call to the daughter. The caller spoke with a very slow pace and the pitch of their voice was very low and the tone very deep. This slow, deep tone of the voice meant the patients’ daughter think she was hearing bad news. She didn’t hear the words that were spoken, just by way they were said. The caller was in fact notifying the daughter that her mother had been transferred to another word. If the words had been spoken with a faster pace and a higher pitch she would have concluded it was a regular call with some general information – no cause to worry.  This is a classic example of how the tone, pitch and pace of the voice are affected by body language which as a result gives the incorrect meaning to the words spoken.  

So we have considered three ways that body language affects the voice which in turn affects the way the words are spoken. This in turn is a key way that the receiver understands the message being sent in a conversation.  1)      Gestures – lead to facial expression. Facial expressions affect the voice and the way the voice says the words 2)      Breathing patterns – affect they way words are spoken and can give false messages Be aware of your body language, the way you sit stand when on the telephone, and your breathing patterns. They all affect how you speak. Body language clearly does matter on the telephone if we want to send messages that are clearly and correctly understood.

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Be yourself, be relaxed, and break down the barriers with staff. Display the behaviours that you want your staff to demonstrate, at the same time be adaptable, and show that you can be flexible when needed 

Build trust by being sincere and open with staff. Be firm but fair, treat everyone equally and on merit; always do what you say you will do.  

Always give your people the credit for your successes and take responsibility for your people’s mistakes. 

Treat people how you expect/want to be treated; lead by example, work along side your staff, don’t expect them to do something you wouldn’t do yourself, a good leader wears his authority lightly. 

Be a good listener, really get to know and understand your staff, show that you understand them.

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I have been to the Food & Drink Expo exhibition today at the NEC. The purpose of my visit was to complete some research on how companies used promotion teams at exhibition events.

I was talking to the managing director of a food company, a lovely lady who set up her business just 12 months ago. Her take on promotion teams put a smile on my face, her response was ‘my product sells itself, I don’t need scantilly clad young women to do that for me’.

It took me back to a time when I worked for Hotpoint, I was told by my colleagues that a previous well respected owner of the business Mr. Schrieber refused to attend fancy exhibtions at wonderful venues, preferring instead to promote the brand at the company’s own premises in London. It worked, customers came in droves to attend any new product launches, because the brand was so well respected. No gimmicks, no fancy frills or scantilly clad ladies, just a product with a great reputation.

Times move on, competition gets stronger, and new markets need to be courted. Promotion teams can play a huge contribution to counteract this especially at exhibitions. ‘Scantilly clad’ might be the route some brands pursue, it may be relevant for the product or market, and no one can deny that it can attract footfall onto the stand. 

For me though, whether it’s minimal clothing, dressed for the Winter or wearing a promotional outfit, the first and most important thing is for any promotion person to wear a smile, it’s a perfect way to break the ice and encourge customers to take notice. Secondly the ability to communicate with customers is a must and will start to deliver value for money, a good return on the clients investment in a promotion team. Make sure they have a suitable level of product knowledge and they soon become your first line salespeople.

I hope that the conversation I had with the lady helped change her mind about promotion teams. Employed correctly, they can make some real valuable contributions to a business, and ensure that important client doesn’t pass your stand. To top it all most take such a pride in their appearance, have fabulous personalities and display a real passion for their work that ’scantilly clad’ or not they brighten the day for visitors and for other exhibitors!

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I asked Christine how she would describe tactical marketing, and here’s what she said:

“My interpretation of tactical marketing is the planned marketing activity that companies execute.

An example was Hoover setting up the Training and merchandising team and choosing to outsource it.

Companies attending exhibitions demonstrates tactical marketing along with the provision of promotional staff in place to support achieving objectives.

Leaflet drops, advertising, merchandising, direct mail, and other marketing activities are included in tactical marketing.”

James Bell makes a nice comparison between Strategic versus tactical marketing here, and makes an important point:

“Just putting a marketing message in an appropriate medium for John Smith to hear or read is not good enough. The strategy must derive from an understanding of what’s important to John Smith. Otherwise, this tactical part of the marketing process will be much less effective, resulting in ads that under-perform.”

The Times 100 has an article that compares the two, and comes to a slightly different conclusion - that strategic marketing is the overall long term plan of where an organisation wants to be, and tactical marketing involves using the elements of the Marketing Mix to get there.

They also have a great summary of marketing techniques that should give you a better understanding of how you should plan your marketing activity to include research, strategy & tactics.

You can read more about what Christine did with the Hoover team to improve their tactical marketing activities here.

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