As someone who’s been working online a few years I’ve noticed there are no standards when it comes to pricing services. Bri and I can discuss this very topic until we’re sick of it. One of our clients is having a new ecommerce site built. It’s nothing fancy and it’s not big. It sells less than 200 items so it’s definitely not a big shopping cart by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the only big thing about this site is the cost.

There seems to be price variation based on the state in which you do business. So, in California for instance, you can easily pay $150 per hour for a web designer and in Arizona you’d pay $60 per hour for the exact same thing. How do I know this you ask? Because I’ve outsourced ecommerce sites to a fantastic developer in Arizona and she is every bit as a competent, if not more so, than the California developer I am currently working with who charges $150 per hour.  In the offline world this is completely acceptable.  You expect higher rates based on the cost of living in your area. But in the online world the playing field changes because there is too much choice and variety. It’s not necessary to have your web developer live in the same city as you. And you can’t just assume that all designers charge the same rate, because they don’t.

If you’re a consumer looking to buy web design and development services, you’d be best to do your research first. Just because someone charges a lot of money doesn’t mean they’re worth it. And vice versa. There are plenty of fabulous designers and developers who will create what you want without breaking your bank.  And with the world becoming increasingly smaller because of the internet, the proliferation of designers will only increase.

Finding a good designer is essential. But it doesn’t mean you need to mortgage the house to do it.

Why is it that Dave from Duct Cleaning decided to call me, not once but twice, right in the middle of when I was making dinner for my husband and 2 kids? And why does Dave call me “the home owner” rather than Shari, which is my name? I’ll tell you why….it’s because Dave doesn’t care about me. And neither does his employer, Duct Cleaning. If Dave really cared about me, THE CONSUMER , he wouldn’t be calling me at dinner time and he wouldn’t be calling me “the home owner”.

In all fairness to Dave, he’s just doing his job. But, he’s not doing it well. And that’s the problem with telemarketers in general. I blame that on the companies who these people represent. The companies don’t train their staff very well in the art of customer service.  In fact, I doubt they train them at all. I score them a big ZERO on the customer happiness scale.  Not a great way to get sales in my opinion.

In all the years that telemarketing has been legal, (and I really wish it wasn’t) I have only ever encountered a handful of callers who actually cared about me enough to at least acknowledge that dinner time wasn’t the best time to be calling and could they call me back at a more convenient time. But not Dave. No, Dave continued his spiel even though I told him that I was making dinner. Dave made me hang up on him.  Not a great way to forge a long lasting customer relationship Dave.

So much for the Do Not Call List in Canada because it really is a joke.  I get that telemarketing companies are in business to make money. But there are better ways to market a business.  How about investing some of your hard earned cash in some honest to goodness inbound marketing. You know, the kind that doesn’t infringe on people’s privacy? The kind that lets me, the consumer, decide when to buy your products and services. I bet you’ll make A LOT more sales that way.

So guess what’s going to happen the next time I need my ducts cleaned? (that kinda sounds disgusting but lets not go there right now)  I won’t be calling Duct Cleaning and Dave won’t be making any commission off me! See how well telemarketing works.

To the telemarketers of the world, let me just say this: stop it. Stop it right now. Give me back my dinner hour with my family. Stop taking it from us. It’s not yours and you can’t have it. If you really want my money then you’re going about it the wrong way.

I’ll just ask you this – who is doing all the shopping for the holiday season even as I write this post? Moms. Mothers. Madres. That’s right. Mamas are hot in the marketing world right now, as more and more companies are taking note of the purchasing power of mothers.

One company in particular is targeting moms in a new, exciting, and beneficial way. Vocalpoint, which is owned by Proctor and Gamble’s word-of-mouth marketing company called Tremor, takes a unique approach to finding out what consumers really think about products, while using moms to do most of the marketing. Who knew one mom’s voice could be considered so powerful?

Tremor’s branding encompasses movement, like waves, tremors, etc. by word-of-mouth marketing. They use Vocalpoint to get their clients’ products in front of over 500,000 mothers who have selected their interests via their Vocalpoint profile. This helps them target specific groups even more. The goal is to sign up mothers who spend time online. Moms who are online are generally interested in news, products, and sharing their experiences. Tremor and Vocalpoint capitalize on those aspects.

Vocalpoint signs moms up with the promise of recieving samples and being able to review the products they sample. And boy, do they deliver! I’ve received samples of Kashi cereal, granola bars, and countless coupons for Del Monte fruit and other food products. I’ve even written a few reviews.

The most recent piece I received in the mail is what caused me to write this article. It’s an incredible marketing piece, designed to look like a DVD (but not in a plastic case). Here’s a sampling of the printed piece’s design. You have to see it in person to get the full effect, but this link is a start.

A small, lift up flap made to look like a clapper board from a movie set contains valuable coupons for Del Monte fruit. Clever. Who wouldn’t want to open a piece of mail that looks so tempting? But that’s not all. Inside, where the DVD would reside, was a rubber-gripped jar opener, designed to look like a DVD. It’s in my utility drawer in my kitchen right now. Every time I look at it, I see Del Monte fruit. Talk about brand resonance!

All that being said, I think Proctor and Gamble, Tremor and Vocalpoint have discovered the valuable and unlimited power that moms and their word-of-mouth recommendations can bring. More companies should harness this power. The possibilities are literally endless.