If it's done properly, telesales is an effective way to help your business grow. This series of telesales articles sets out some of the telesales basics that can make the difference between being one of the best or one of the rest.

The Importance of Telesales
Telesales is the oldest profession, we are often told that something else is the oldest profession, but that is only a sub-set of sales anyway. The reality is that unless someone produces something and someone sells it - nothing happens, so as a telesales professional, you should be proud of your profession. As with most things in life, the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) applies. This states that 80% of sales are achieved by 20% of sales people.
You should aim to be in the top 20% of your profession and to achieve this you need to develop a winning mentality.

Principles of Successful Selling
In order to be successful in sales there are some principles that you need to be aware of.

It's not "How do I sell" it's "Why do they buy."

Nobody likes to be sold to, but everyone likes to buy.

There are only two reasons why people buy - Pain or Gain. You need to understand the buyer's motives to sell effectively.

Aim for a Win/Win solution

Build Rapport and show empathy.

People buy from people - and buy more often from people that they like.

Give your customer the opportunity to buy.

Understand the Limitations

It is important to recognize the limitations of the telephone and to modify your telesales technique and content accordingly. You should also bear in mind that telesales style is more important than content. Studies have shown that where communication is concerned 55% is attributed to physiology. This encompasses how you look, how you dress, body language and other forms of non verbal communication. 38% is down to tonality, which is how you sound, your tone of voice, accentuation etc. This leaves only 7% attributable to content.

Unfortunately as far as telesales in concerned, this means that over half of the tools that we employ in face to face sales are not available to us when using the telephone. It also means that we have to use what is available to us to full effect.

Source: Bernard Richards link