Your call center isn’t an island, so don’t let it feel “lost.” Make sure your telephone reps know what offers and promotions are going out to customers in all channels.

Lillian Vernon’s Virginia Beach call center reps receive copies of all the print catalogs mailed by the company to review, and get a phone briefing on current promotions each week, notes John Buleza, director of marketing for Current/Colorful Images/Lillian Vernon at Current USA Inc.

Customer service reps also help the Colorado Springs-based marketing team proof promotional e-mails, so they know exactly what the promotion is and how it works. The company’s e-mail strategy is typically promotional messages targeting segments of the file that have shown interest in a particular type of product — outdoor and patriotic messages hit this time of year, for example — and larger sale e-mails that hit a wide swath of the customer base. Lillian Vernon is also testing triggered e-mails such as welcome messages.

On the merchandising side, reps receive plenty of product information so they can answer questions about specific items.

Since 60% of orders now come in via the Web (30% are by phone and 10% by mail), reps are now also often tasked with answering questions about things like when items listed online as being backordered will be available, notes Buleza.

“All channels work together to keep the brand consistent,” he says, noting that Lillian Vernon has worked over the last few years to integrate all departments, including catalog circulation/marketing, Internet operations and merchandising, and to move away from a siloed organizational approach.

The 900,000-sq.-ft. facility in Virginia Beach employs about 200 staff year round and adds roughly 1,000 seasonal positions in the fall. In April, it was reported that Current USA will transition Lillian Vernon’s operations to other locations within its own parent company, Taylor Corp., by August 2011.

Got a telemarketing tip to share? Contact Beth Negus Viveiros at [email protected]

You may have been involved recently in pulling together your company’s holiday card list-and in doing so realized the difficulties of maintaining business-to-business data.

With the constant turnover in the work force…the rash of mergers, acquisitions and company repositionings…promotions, restructurings, and retitlings…relocations, new abbreviations and trendy acronyms for company names-can any of us really keep up with all that activity for our segments of the U.S. work force?

I suppose, but it has proven very difficult. Here’s some reasons why.

* Lack of ongoing relationships. The main reason B-to-B marketers have a hard time managing their customer data has nothing to do with ZIP code changes, company mergers or restructurings. Rather, most marketers do not have ongoing relationships with their customers, much less their prospects.

You’re fortunate if you have a prepaid subscription or membership relationship with customers. They may let you know when their contact information changes. But as a rule, marketers don’t have relationships that would cause customers to advise them when they may be moving within or outside their company. And when they do leave, we might not even notice. While we’re all striving for relationship management, customers retain the right of way.

* Infrequency of purchase. Some B-to-B marketers may not hear from their customers for six, 12 or even 24 months. Therefore, it may be hard to identify organizational changes for quite some time.

* The handoff. You may send a catalog to Mary Smith, and receive an order from Joe Right-at the same company. Most marketers would not probe whether Mary is gone. Rather, Mary would continue to receive catalogs and Joe would also be added to the mailing list. If Joe is actually serving Mary’s former role, Joe will now be receiving two of each of your marketing efforts.

* Many different purchasing roles. Sometimes, making a sale requires distribution of your promotional messages to a variety of people within an organization. There may be supporters, specifiers, decision makers, and buyers from different departments that have distinct roles. A purchasing department might handle the logistics, and may also be involved in decisions. The key is to understand how decisions are made, and where you need to expend your efforts.

* B-to-B address challenges. There are numerous complexities with B-to-B addresses that often cause duplication problems. For example, company names and abbreviations are constantly changing. Also, names and/or titles may be missing. You could have separate listings for Office Manager, SKZ Division, 123 Durango Way, Chicago, IL and, Mary Wise, Kelin Corp, Corporetum 3, Chicago, IL. Very different address and name information-but somehow, both refer to the same person.

* The mailroom. Many companies are enacting strict bulk mail policies that result in the mailroom tossing rather than delivering anything sent bulk or anything sent to a title rather than a name. One of our clients was threatened by one of its largest customers: Stop the direct mail or the relationship would end. When companies take such a stance, it obviously complicates the equation.

* B-to-B processing services. There are only a few vendors that do a great job on B-to-B processing, as it is significantly more complex than consumer processing. When it comes to address changes, the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address (NCOA) system is much stronger on consumers than on businesses. So processing alone can’t help us when we lose track of prospects and customers.

MAKING IT EASIER-AND BETTER All these problems can’t be solved overnight. Just the same, the process can be improved. Some suggestions follow.

Establish ongoing relationships. Could you sell subscriptions to your catalog? Get a prepaid commitment of any sort from your customers in exchange for a discount? Doing so would be worth a reduction in margin, as it would mean retaining a greater share of your customers.

Invest in research. Study purchasing roles within different organizations. Determine how decisions on your products and services might be made. Try to uncover how your competition might be approaching your customers. While you can’t control the dynamics of organizations, gaining a greater understanding of how things work can provide some direction on how to improve your contacts.

Collect more information. If Joe orders, when you know that Mary was sent a catalog and has been a past contact, by all means try to find out whether Mary is still a valid contact. A simple question can save you a lot in contact costs.

As time permits, also implement periodic list cleanup efforts with all your customers. These can be handled by phone, through the mail or electronically. Verify all contacts at least once a year with your clients.

Establish purchasing expectations. Estimate purchase frequency and company needs. If you get one $200 order each quarter, is that good or bad? It really depends on who you’re dealing with. One customer may buy over $200 of everything, more frequently than every quarter. But another company may be giving you all of its business with that quarterly $200 order. Which is the “better”customer?

Use these purchasing expectations to drive contact strategies, and also to determine “active”and “inactive”customer status.

Implement strategies to get beyond the mailroom. These could range from mailing first class to staggering the timing of mailings.

Purchase specialized B-to-B processing services or software. If you’re buying processing services, ensure that your vendor has strong B-to-B capabilities. Make certain it can demonstrate standardization, matching and consolidation routines to you. Just a couple of the core features you might look for in processing software include person-site-enterprise logic, and matching on company-name reversals and abbreviations.

It’s never going to be easy. The work force changes too quickly to keep marketers posted on its status. Therefore, marketers have to be proactive and innovative in order to keep tabs on their market.