When selling feels good for the customer

Last night I had cause to call my bank. Unusually, for a call to a customer services line it was a rewarding experience. Even more unusually, I enjoyed being sold to.

In all the talk of GDPR, tracking, targeting and cookies in the press recently, the tone has been very much that being sold to is a ‘bad thing.’ This call reminded me that quite to the contrary, being on the receiving end of a good sales pitch can be both entertaining and valuable – when proper attention is paid to who we are and what we want.

The reason for my call was a mundane one: a new debit card had got lost in the system during a house move. The issue was dealt with quickly and efficiently. But while I was on the call, the handler took a look at the rest of my affairs and made a recommendation: I would get a much higher rate of interest if I moved a sum of money from a savings account into an ISA. In less than ten minutes she had set up my new account and transferred the money across.

Now I am sure that the handler was incentivised to promote ISAs where appropriate. And I am sure that there is a good reason for the bank to be incentivising her to do so. They will both be rewarded and I have been sold to. But, it felt good.

Here’s why:

The pitch was personalised to me

The account handler had information about me, my financial behaviour, and my current account status. She used this information to select a product for me and use the right messages to promote it to me: increased interest but also an improved credit score with the bank.

The tone was personalised to me

The account handler also did a very good job of picking up on the less explicit signals about me and my nature. She mirrored my conversational tone, asked prudent questions that gave her more context about me. Very quickly she made me feel at ease while remaining professional.

It was done efficiently

Few things wind me up more than wasting time on the phone or online. Because the operator knew plenty about me before I picked up the phone, she was able to meet my initial need and sell me an additional product before my patience could be tested.

We believe CANDDi can enable websites to meet these three challenges: tailoring the content and the tone to each individual, and doing it efficiently. Imagine what impact that could have on your business – and your customers.