Do you want to improve your business quickly and easily?
Pay attention to the points of contact! They arise every time a client contacts the company in any way, and they have a decisive influence on whether he wants to do business with you. The more your company is on the Internet, the more points of contact are on the Web.
Igor Mann, Russian marketing guru, and his colleague Nadezhda Pominova will tell you all about how to get the most out of them and turn your visitors into buyers and buyers into loyal customers.
You will be surprised what resource of efficiency was hidden in the site you have known for a long time!

Why buy this book?

• Smart contact points will improve the customer experience of your company and therefore increase sales.
• You won't find a drop of water in the book - only specific points of contact, only chips, only tools, only inspiring examples.
• The authors have collected many examples from the experience of leading companies in Internet marketing and recognized experts in this field.

Reader Reviews

Entrepreneurs who have recently gone online or are planning to create their own website. You, ladies and gentlemen, need this book like no one else. As a general guide to internet marketing, website building guide and checklist at different stages of promotion.

Polina Beletskaya, Marketer, copywriter and translator. , http://web-likbez.com/

One of the most rewarding pursuits in marketing is communicating with your Clients, future, present and past. After all, it is for the Client that we all work. How can the Client contact the company? Exclusively through the points of contact. When you control and develop your points of contact online, you control the opinion of Customers about your company. After all, any review on a musty forum or a ridiculous picture of an employee in social. networks can put an end to the conquest of the next Client. Online contact points are a kind of checklist on how to put the company's image on the Internet in order and how to manage it. In this work, Igor and Nadezhda made the best leadership.

Vitaly Myshlyaev, Internet marketer, co-founder of the Internet marketing agency "LidMashina", author of the iMarketing system together with Igor Mann., Http://myshlaev.ru/

The system is built on a series of letters, and is good example … Points of contact. The letters are beautifully designed, arrive right on schedule and involve you in the work with the book. Moreover, through these letters, the book appears exclusively in a practical format - I had time between letters to think over what I had written, to discuss something and test it in practice.

Vadim Bugaev, founder of the projects "Books for Business" and "Reading for Practical Use", http://www.read4practice.ru/

The strong point of Points of Contact is in the structure: all tools are packed in sections. As a result, you get a checklist from which it remains to make a plan and implement what is not yet available.

Maria Leontieva, business consultant, author of the blog "Best solutions for business and career development", head of the educational project "Business Art"., Http://mariyaleontieva.com/

The book will definitely not become an academic textbook. According to it, wise teachers will not tell the theory to university students. Because there is no theory in the book.
Each chapter is written in the most practical way (take it and do it), and at the end of each chapter the authors "finish off" chips and tools that will help polish the point of contact discussed in the chapter.

What is it?

How to work with her?

For what?

What is it?
This is a notebook book (not to be confused with a folder book). Igor Mann's new invention!

How to work with her?
You read the "theory" and immediately take notes and also do practical tasks on specially designated fields.
Then you collect the thoughts of the book and your own ideas and implement.
One or three iterations (cycles) - and your marketing and business will not be recognized! They are getting much, much better!

For what?
The notebook will help you organize your work on your points of contact.
Points of contact are a variety of situations and places of contact between the client and your company. This can be a website, a sign, documentation, business cards, a secretary's voice, packaging, and so on.
99% of marketers do not apply the concept of touchpoints in practice. But in vain! It is where clients make a key decision - to work with you or not.

In this book, the authors:
systematize in the form of laws and observations all available knowledge about points of contact;
explain how and why different touchpoints affect your customers;
help you identify your points of contact;
and finally offer step by step plan working with them and improving them.
Read, write, analyze your points of contact and learn to manage them. Your marketing will become more effective!

Who is it for?
For entrepreneurs, company executives and marketers.

From the author
Since 2002, when my first book "Marketing 100%" was published, I have been developing and popularizing the topic of points of contact.
In my opinion, this is a grossly underestimated marketing asset.
Positioning, differentiation, segmentation, life cycle, marketing communications, marketing without a budget are covered in great detail, and the points of contact remain as before.
In seminars, I urge (and listeners can confirm this): "Start marketing from the points of contact!"
Points of contact were discussed in my books Marketing Arithmetic for CEOs and Marketing Without a Budget.
In our consulting projects, I and my partners in "LeadMachine", "Marketing Machine" or "Kongru" always start our work with audit of contact points.
In general, the topic is really important, necessary and eternal, but articles on points of contact began to appear only recently. There are no more than a couple of dozen worth publications.
The impetus for writing this book was an article by my co-author Dmitry Turusin in the magazine "Company Management", in which the laws and consequences of points of contact were formulated. Dmitry worked on this topic at the University of Edinburgh, devoting his bachelor's work to it.
I added to his materials a description of my own technology for working with points of contact, we argued about some rules (I had no questions about the laws), diluted our observations with examples, interviewed drivers of points of contact (unfortunately, these specialists are still few in our country ) - and, in my opinion, we got great book with very high efficiency.
Study it carefully.
Analyze your points of contact.
Think about the laws and regulations that apply to your business.
We are confident that the book will pay off a thousandfold in the first week of using the concept of points of contact and working on them.
Enjoy reading and improving your points of contact!
Take the first step and don't stop.
Our book will facilitate this path for you.
Improve.
There should be no excuses.

6th edition, revised.

This book appeared relatively long ago and is not the last work of Igor Mann. Nevertheless, one cannot pass by it, because it is devoted to a topic that for many (for some reason) is somewhere in prostration. And this book was written by Igor in collaboration with his young colleague Dmitry Turusin.

Points of contact are the first impression of your business. And as Coco Chanel said - "You don't have a second chance to make a first impression."

This book will definitely help you make a first good impression. It doesn't need to be read like fiction. It should be learned with every sentence.

Yes, it is relatively small in volume, but this does not touch its merits. At least, there is no "water" and philosophical reflections about what everyone knows without the author.

The book also won over the fact that a lot of phrases can be elevated to the rank of aphorisms.

So, "Points of Contact" ...

Every time a customer contacts the company, a certain “point of contact” arises. It may even be something that does not immediately come to mind:

• secretary's voice
• seal
• documentation
• instructions for using the goods
• website loading speed

In total, Igor and Dmitry distinguish a large number of points of contact, there is even a separate list, the beginning of which has already been filled in for you. All that remains is to continue filling it, taking into account the specifics of its activities. Are you ready to find 100 points, in each of which the fate is decided whether to be your client or not? Igor and Dmitry's book to help!

We understand that each business has a different number of points of contact.

A simple rule of thumb is that the larger the company, the more points of contact with customers. Imagine how many points of contact a retail network company national scale ...

The whole point is that each of these points must appear before the client in an appropriate way. And if at the very beginning I spoke only about the first impression, then the company's task is to maintain such a positive impression always, and not only at the moment of the first contact.

Because if the third or fourth contact of the client disappoints, there is a big risk immediately, whether there will be the fifth contact and all subsequent ones ...

The main advantage of this book is that after reading it, there is a desire to urgently revise your points of contact and put them in order. As if we were given some kind of magic pendel.

A separate bonus is the presence in the book of special fields (and even pages) for your own notes. Such a combination of a book with a workbook.

In principle, the book contains enough pleasant surprises for people with systems thinking.

Well, according to the laws of the review genre, I should now say what (in my subjective opinion) is missing in this book. Perhaps it would be great to add more real examples from our domestic marketing in the next edition. And show what is a bad point of contact and what is great (and why).

But, on the other hand, the presence of specific examples provokes a desire to imitate them. How good or bad it is - then decide for yourself.

10 iconic quotes from the book "Points of Contact" by Igor Mann, Dmitry Turusin

1. It is very bad if you are not different from your competitors: in business, being like everyone else is a losing strategy
2. There is no website - and those who actively use the Internet are no longer your customers
3. If the commercial proposal does not catch on, then it is immediately sent to the bucket, or to "deleted letters"
4. A business card can be made of metal or turned into a discount card - in this case, the likelihood of it ending up in the trash can is drastically reduced
5. It takes years to build trust - just one wrong move is enough
6. Almost nothing can be improved in 24 hours. Don't get excited - be patient
7. Ask your new hires - those who are not yet blurry - to walk the customer journey and criticize your points of contact
8. Contact points should never be finished
9. Nothing stimulates creativity and drive in a company like the quick implementation of ideas from brainstorming sessions
10. This or that point of contact may become more or less important depending on the time (seasonality, stage of the life cycle)

Verdict: Every marketer should have this book.

Current page: 1 (total of the book has 6 pages) [available passage for reading: 1 pages]

Igor Mann, Dmitry Turusin

Points of contact. Simple ideas to improve your marketing

Legal support of the publishing house is provided by law firm Vegas Lex.

© Igor Mann, Dmitry Turusin, 2013

© Edition, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2013

* * *

Introduction

Since 2002, when my first book "Marketing 100%" was published, I have been developing and popularizing the topic of points of contact.

In my opinion, this is a grossly underestimated marketing asset.

Positioning, differentiation, segmentation, life cycle, marketing communications, marketing without a budget are covered in great detail, and the points of contact remain as before.

In seminars, I urge (and listeners can confirm this): "Start marketing from the points of contact!"

Points of contact were discussed in my books Marketing Arithmetic for CEOs (2010) and Marketing Without a Budget (2011).

In our consulting projects, I and my partners in "LeadMachine", "Marketing Machine" or "Kongru" always start our work with audit of contact points.

In general, the topic is really important, necessary and eternal, but articles on points of contact began to appear only recently. There are no more than a couple of dozen official publications.

The impetus for writing this book was an article by my co-author Dmitry Turusin in the magazine "Company Management", in which the laws and consequences of points of contact were formulated. Dmitry worked on this topic at the University of Edinburgh, devoting his bachelor's work to it.

I added to his materials a description of my own technology for working with points of contact, we argued about some rules (I had no questions about the laws), diluted our observations with examples, interviewed drivers of points of contact (unfortunately, these specialists are still few in our country ) - and, in my opinion, we have got an excellent book with a very high efficiency.

Study it carefully.

Analyze your points of contact.

Think about the laws and regulations that apply to your business.

We are confident that the book will pay off a thousandfold in the first week of using the concept of points of contact and working on them.

Enjoy reading and improving your points of contact!

Take the first step and don't stop.

Our book will facilitate this path for you.

Improve.

There should be no excuses.

Igor Mann

What are points of contact?

Points of contact are numerous and varied situations, places and interfaces of customer contact with the company.

Every time a customer contacts the company in any way, at any time, a point of contact arises.

At the point of contact, customers make business-critical decisions:

Whether to start working with you or not;

Continue to partner with you or switch to your competitors.

Surprisingly, points of contact are of no interest to marketing theorists, and so few marketers (practitioners) apply this concept.

Research in the field of marketing communications, positioning, differentiation, marketing mix, segmentation is not so important (not at all important!) If you do not work with points of contact.

To paraphrase Chekhov's hero, in successful business all points of contact must be perfect. If the company does not have desired points contact or they are bad, then there are no customers, no income, no business.

Every entrepreneur, company executive, and marketer needs to know and manage the points of contact.

This is critical for business.

Points of contact are a kind of moments of truth.

Former Scandinavian Airlines CEO Jan Karlzon appears to have been the first to use the term "moments of truth" (and has a book of the same name - see Appendix 4).

By moments of truth, he means any contact during which the client has the opportunity to express an opinion about the quality of service.

Jan Karlzon declared: “We do not strive to do one thing 100% better. We want to make a thousand things 1% better. ”

Following this principle, he turned the struggling airline into one of the best in 22 months, which contradicted the theory of constraints, according to which it was necessary to improve in bottlenecks.

At the point of contact, the client may change their mind about working with you. At the point of contact, a competitor can bypass you (and immediately surpass you in terms of income).

At the point of contact, you can gain or lose a client, strengthen relations with him, confirm your high reputation, or, conversely, disappoint him.

The already textbook example of the book covers of the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", on the design of which Tyoma Lebedev worked.

White, bright, recognizable - they, as a point of contact, greatly contributed to the increase in sales of the "white" series of the publishing house and continue to do so.

Points of contact must be dealt with.

And do it systematically.

Your goal is to provide clear, emotionally strong and positive interactions with your customers at the points of contact, which will make them remember your company, tell others about it and buy your products.

Points of contact: three laws

Back in 1993, Jack Trout and Al Rice, in their book "22 Immutable Laws of Marketing," talked about the basic laws of marketing that they strongly recommended not to break. Jack Trout is still convinced that these laws do not change, either qualitatively or quantitatively.

But if they exist for marketing as a whole, then they can also exist for its individual tools.

Let's look at three laws that should guide you in touchpoint marketing.

If you see only one point of contact in the object that you are improving, then you definitely (don't go to the doctor!) Should rest and look at the object with a fresh eye a little later or ask colleagues to help you find other points of contact.

Let's illustrate for clarity.

Business Contact Points:

Product Contact Points:

packaging (perhaps just for the sake of evaluating Apple's packaging, it is worth purchasing something from this company's products), layout, design, name, barcode, operating instructions, warranty card.

Service Contact Points:

title, presentation, brochure, customer reviews, cases, publications ... and the staff who offer the service.

Employee points of contact:

height, complexion, smile, neat look, hairstyle, uniform, badge, posture, speech patterns.

Any point of contact consists of several smaller points of contact, and those, in turn, of even smaller ones.

Points of contact form a chain of contacts - this law should be known and used.

If a company needs a result in some process, then there must be someone who will manage this process (plan, execute, control).

Working with points of contact is no exception.

Start managing your points of contact properly - and your marketing and business will become more effective.

For example, the Atlant-M automobile holding has an employee who is responsible for the periodic assessment of the points of contact, as well as their continuous improvement.

Does your company have such an employee? You will have problems.

Any law - be it the law of physics or the state - presupposes consequences, amendments and rules that explain and supplement it.

If our book were a dissertation (Dmitry Turusin will probably continue to work on this topic), we would use the word "consequence" or "rule".

But we'll be simpler.

Let's call what we discovered while dealing with this topic and the three laws simply observations and share them with our readers.

One observation - one small chapter.

This structure of the book will help you focus on the most interesting points related to the points of contact and work more effectively with them.

Contact points: 23 and a half observation

Point of contact observations are grouped around the three laws above.

Law 1. Each object (business, product or service, division or employee of the company) has more than one point of contact

Observation 1. Any object (product, service, company, employee) has a unique set of points of contact.

Observation 2. Points of contact can be positive, neutral or negative.

Observation 3. Some companies have missing points of contact.

Observation 4. Points of contact differ in importance.

Observation 5. Points of contact are short-term and long-term.

Observation 6. Points of contact are instantaneous and repetitive.

Observation 7. There are online and offline points of contact.

Observation 8. Each point of contact has its own life cycle.

Observation 9. Points of contact are interconnected with our feelings.

Observation 10. Points of contact can be "live".

Observation 11. Important points of contact must have "chips".

Law 2. Points of contact form chains of contact

Observation 12. The chain of contact can contain start, intermediate and end points (links).

Observation 13. A negative point of contact (see observation 2) leads to the breaking of the chain.

Observation 14. There are always several chains of contact in a company.

Observation 15. Chains of contact vary in importance.

Observation 16. Chains of contact have their own life cycle (as well as the points of contact that form them - see observation 8).

Observation 17. The point and chain of contact is completed by the final chord.

Observation 17a (observation of Mikhail Chernyshev). The final chord gives rise to a new chain that can turn golden over time.

Law 3. Points of contact must be controlled

Observation 18. Points of contact can be viewed from the perspective of customers (from within) and the company (from outside).

Observation 19. Different clients and different representatives the same target audience perceives the same points of contact differently.

Observation 20. The importance and sequence of points and chains of contact are influenced by external and internal factors.

Observation 21. Some points of contact are independent of the company.

Observation 22 (observation of Roman Zemtsov). Each point of contact has its own audit deadline.

Observation 23. Contact points need a driver.

Observation 1. Any object (product, service, company, employee) has a unique set of points of contact

Any object (business, product, service, company employee, website) has unique points of contact.

Just as people are distinguished from each other by fingerprints and retinas, so business objects have different points of contact.

In other words, each company and each of its elements has its own set of points of contact.

There are universal points of contact that are found in almost all businesses. For example, many companies place advertisements, send commercial offers to potential clients and partners, print advertising materials, create websites, create groups in social networks, hiring employees, renting and decorating offices, connecting answering machines and using call centers.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details: one company differs from another both in the number of points of contact (suppose a company has an answering machine, but its competitor does not), and in their quality.

In one company, the answering machine says “Company A”. Leave a message if you need anything from us. "

And in the other: “Company“ B ”. Goodnight! Alas, we have to go home, but in the morning, as soon as we return, we will call you back immediately. Therefore, please leave your contact phone number and introduce yourself so that we know how to contact you. Good dreams! You don't have to call our competitors - they have an answering machine, but they don't listen to it. "

By the way, it's very bad if you are not different from your competitor: in business, being like everyone else is a losing strategy.

Let's take a look at some examples.

Your offer has one point of contact:

Appeal;

Layout;

Visualization;

System of discounts;

Contacts.

And your site is different:

Address (for example, www.igor-mann.ru);

Domain zone (say, ru, com or. Org);

Favicon (a small picture that appears next to the name of the site when you see it in the browser bar);

Contact page;

Such a parameter as "it is easy or difficult to get through to the company" is decomposed into the following points of contact:

Phone number (easy or difficult to remember the first time);

How quickly (after what beep) they pick up the phone;

Gender of the secretary (this can be a "chip" of the company);

Greetings (cf. "Hello" and "Good morning! Company A. How can we help you?").

Determine what points of contact you have, and break them down into components (how this is done will be discussed later).

Observation 2. Points of contact can be positive, neutral or negative

A customer's contact with a point or points of contact can elicit different reactions from your customers and other target audiences.

Positive reaction: the customer likes your point of contact.

He noticed her and reacted positively and emotionally to her.

He is delighted.

He is delighted.

His feelings can be expressed in exclamations: “class!”, “Wow!”, “Wow!”, “Cool!”, “Great!”, “Super!”, “Amazing!”, “Great!”, “Cool! ! ”,“ Finally! ”,“ Give! ”.

Let's call such a reaction "wow", and the points of contact that cause it - "wow" - points of contact.

We specifically introduce such a gradation.

Neutral reaction: the client did not pay attention to your point of contact, did not notice it, ignored it.

His possible reaction: "so-so", "like everyone else", "normal", "mediocre", "ok", "at the level", "as I expected", "ok".

Let's call this reaction "average."

We choose this word for your own good.

Few people want mediocre contact points.

At first glance, a neutral point of contact does not harm the business in any way, but in reality the company will at least lose opportunities that it could have realized with the help of the "wow" effect.

Negative reaction: the client is angry, frustrated, frustrated, frustrated, worn out by your points of contact.

He is shocked.

He is angry.

He has stress from your points of contact.

His possible reaction: "sucks", "catastrophe", "what are they thinking about?", "What are they thinking there?", "Do they have a head?", "Shitty", "quiet horror", "loud horror", "Nightmare!", "Where are they looking?", "Does anyone else go to them?" (Surprisingly, we found the most words and phrases to denote this reaction, although we used only normative vocabulary. What is the peculiarity of Russia?)

Call this reaction "sucks" and the points of contact suck (brutal, but you definitely won't want to hear it).

Every time a client hears "sucks", he jerks. But who are we going to feel sorry for?

Feeling sorry for ourselves in business and turning a blind eye to shortcomings, we risk in the end to face big problems.

Based on this, you should try:

1. Create "wow" contact points.

2. Eliminate sludge contact points.

3. Convert mediocre contact points to the "wow" category.

One of the most interesting consulting orders at Marketing Machine sounded like this: “Give us a wow-5:

"Wow" - commercial offer,

“Wow” presentation for the client,

"Wow" - a gift,

"Wow" business card

and a wow site. "

The customer was from the b2b market, where the “wow” factor is almost never used - the courage of the head of this company should be especially noted.

It was very interesting for us to work with such an order (our colleagues from LidMachina worked with the site), and the customer was very pleased!

The site was named the best in the industry by specialized journalists and IT specialists.

Business cards knocked secretaries and decision-makers on the spot (not exaggerating).

Legends began to circulate about gifts ...

We cannot provide statistics on the effectiveness of commercial offers and presentations, but the result was very, very positive.

Conclusion: "wow" -points of contact pay off quickly and always.

(Unfortunately, we cannot indicate the name of this company: the customer asked for anonymity so that he could enjoy the effect of using the "wow" tools longer.

In Russia, a country where every step of yours is instantly repeated by a competitor, there are two ways: to spark with “wow” techniques or to be modest. But that's a topic for another book.)

What are our points of contact ?:

Positive TC,

Neutral TCs,

Negative TC.

Observation 3. Some companies have missing points of contact

We talked about how important it is to see all the points of contact.

Missing, missing points of contact can be a problem for a business.

There is no answering machine - and the company receives less customers.

There is no website - and those who actively use the Internet are no longer your customers.

The employee does not have a business card with him - and the conversation he had with a potential client remained just a conversation. The interested interlocutor has no contacts, he will not be able to contact your company.

We think there are enough examples.

The moral of this observation is simple: a missed point of contact can turn into a business nightmare like a missed call in a horror movie.

Find something important that you don't already have, and turn it on.

We do not have the following TCs: ____________________

Observation 4. Points of contact vary in importance

This is obvious, but it is better to recall it again. In life, many either grab onto everything in a row, or take on the simplest.

And you need to focus on the most important (and often difficult).

It's the same in business (and it's understandable why, because people do it).

Let's take, for example, a company in the food sales (distribution) market. Her points of contact are sales staff, office (and especially a demo corner with products), commercial offer, price list, presentations for decision-makers, advertising brochure, website, receptionist, answering machine.

Everything is important, there is no dispute, but something on this list is critically necessary, and you can do without something.

Life will force you to prioritize. But it is better if you think about it yourself, and as early as possible.

The importance of the point of contact depends on many factors:

The level of competition in the market;

Market size and saturation;

Company size;

The level of the management team;

The degree to which customers are exacting and loyal to the company.

And not only! This or that point of contact may become more or less important depending on the time (seasonality, stage of the life cycle).

For example, for a startup, a good commercial offer is, without exaggeration, a matter of life and death, but for large companyoperating on the market for 20 years, it has not played a decisive role for a long time.

Observation 4 will be very useful to you when it comes to the technology of working with points of contact.

TCs that are important to us today: ____________________

TCs that are important to us next month: ____________________

TCs that are important for us next year: ____________________

Observation 5. Points of contact are short-term and long-term

More precisely, customer interaction with your company can be short-term (a second, a few seconds) and long-term (a minute, an hour, a day, a week).

We will not introduce the concept of medium-term points of contact - but in scientific research this temptation would be difficult to avoid. :-)

Examples of short-term contact points:

Business card (a few seconds - and the contact is either established or not);

Secretary's greeting (unlikely in some company it lasts more than 10 seconds);

A sign on the doors or at the door (they often do not pay attention to it - unless, of course, you came before the opening: "Lord, they only open in half an hour!", By the end of the working day or at lunchtime; and after all, the sign can make a "wow" - ask us how);

Product packaging.

Examples of long term contact points:

Music on hold (unfortunately, it is in this group, although it should be in short-term contact points);

Company website (everyone wants the average time spent on the site as long as possible);

Commercial offer (a good one, of course, a bad one does not pass the "trash can test": if the commercial offer does not catch on, then it is immediately sent to the bucket, or to "deleted letters");

Product use;

Presentation for a client or decision-makers (usually takes half an hour, the minimum presentation time in a print-heap format is 6 minutes 40 seconds).

Short-term points should create a "wow" effect, be remembered and hooked (Xia).

Long-term - to be useful, effective, functional, non-irritating, to remain “long-playing” or, conversely, as in the case of music on hold, to be reduced.

How long will the client remember your company name?

Some points of contact appear and die like fly-by-night butterflies, while others can outlive the company itself (most often this happens with names and brands, as well as with souvenirs).

I have a knife. A Swiss knife with the hallmark of a Swiss company that has changed its name twice in 20 years.

Maybe he will change it again - the knife is eternal, the name of the company is printed on conscience, the point of contact for life!

The lifespan of the contact points can be extended in different ways when needed.

The video will live longer if you upload it to YouTube or RuTube; presentation - if you post it to SlideShare.

A business card can be made of metal or turned into a discount card - in this case, the likelihood of it ending up in the trash can is drastically reduced.

You can use the “wow” factor - it almost always makes you go back to what we saw, copy it and share the “wow” impressions with others.

Our short-term TCs: ____________________

Our long-term TCs: ____________________

Attention! This is an introductory excerpt from the book.

If you liked the beginning of the book, then full version can be purchased from our partner - distributor of legal content LLC "Liters".