When Rapid Mailing Services launched a national marketing program this fall, it had to do much more than add staff.
The “One Stop Mailing Shop” in Cuyahoga Falls, offers data management, design, printing, binding, job planning, presort paperwork and sort/drop services. The company was founded in 1991 and employs 21.
Gloria Buwala, president, says the company first tested and determined the demand for her firm’s services in other parts of the country. Before the campaign began, however, an inside sales force was hired and trained.
Marketing director for Rapid (and Gloria’s husband) Bob Buwala says training and operating an inside sales operation requires a different set of rules because there is usually no opportunity for face-to-face meetings with clients.
Buwala says the company defined its target for the national market as the new car industry, furniture retailers and the music industry.
“The national market is a different kind of sale,” Bob says. “If a local client calls with interest, we can jump in the car and go visit them. Now with the national markets, all communication is primarily over the fax, the phone line or through e-mail.”
The key to successful inside sales is superior customer service. Bob’s answer is always providing an interactive, human voice on Rapid’s end of the phone line.
“I don’t believe in voice mail,” he says. “If anyone calls, they talk to a human being. If the person they need isn’t there, they get back to them as soon as possible. Everyone has a cell phone or a pager, so it is possible to live without voice mail.”