Making a channel strategy framework is a hard task. The person in charge should think of it and be well versed with different marketing tactics to achieve its goals. Constructing its framework needs research and deep understanding of the market a business is in.
Since it is the way vendors or businesses reach out to sell their products and services to consumers and customers, it is limitless. As long as you know what you are doing and what you want to achieve.
As the digital age is reaching its peak, businesses are faced with different channels they can work with in order to interact with and satisfy their consumers. In a study conducted by Capgemini Consulting, they stated that “The number and type of channels that customers are using have rapidly grown to include the Internet, smartphones and a host of social media options.”
Aside from that, but there tons of channel strategy that existed even before the internet and social media. Most of them still thrive and are even more effective for many companies and small businesses.
Different types of channel strategy
Retail – it is when a business or brands open a physical store to reach its customers
E-commerce – selling products on the internet
Bricks and Clicks – a combination of the first two
Personal Selling – selling through personal connections or a group of people they personally know.
Direct Selling – the seller is directly selling their products and services to its customers
Reseller – a company, an individual, or other organization that are willing to sell your products
Franchising and Wholesale – partnering with another business or organization or individual by buying and selling bulk products.
Licensing – selling the brand to other people so they can use it for their business
Agent / Broker – selling through representatives or agents and brokers
Distributing Partners – partners that help you with distribution including sales and delivery of products, services, and customer experience.
How can call centers be integrated into all of these types of channel strategies?
Call centers are another medium or channel that can make a business work. Actually, in all of these channel strategies, different call center services could be used. Services such as lead generation and appointment setting would be great for franchising, wholesale, reseller, and licensing. There will be easier communication and even better workflow as the tasks will be appointed to the rightful maker.
For businesses that have products that cannot be directly sold to customers or cannot have its retail store can heavily rely on outsourcing call center services. Just like what was mentioned above, lead generation service, whether B2C or B2B would be a perfect fit for it.
Another service that is perfect is outbound and inbound sales. These services are perfect for retail, whether online or offline business; could be used for personal and direct selling too.
If the framework a business is going for has two or more vendors going through before the end, which is the customer, partnering with a call center would be great. Not only will the business be more organized but it can reach out to more business and other customers too.
