Telesales personnel are a
growing number across the world
in an ever-widening range of
fields from Insurance,
Double-Glazing and Healthcare,
to Advertising, Building,
Manufacturing, and National and
Regional Newspapers. And the
list becomes more and more
extensive. Even Charities now
employ Telesales personnel to
increase donations.
Across the UK and
internationally, many companies
exist solely to contact people
via the telephone, with
contracts from a number of
businesses. At a conservative
estimate, there are many tens of
thousands of full and part-time
personnel engaged in the
Telesales industry in the UK
alone. Each of these wants to
earn good commission, (because
the basic wage is generally
low). Turnover of personnel is
high because of 'burn out' due
to insufficient training.
As fuel costs increase,
on-the-road sales personnel
become fewer. Telephone costs,
however, are coming down in cost
regularly, with more options
available from the independent
telephone companies.
Postage costs remain prohibitive
for the many, and e-commerce
does not
allow for person-to-person
contact. Telephone contact is
the viable option.
Every individual Telephone sales
person wants to earn more money.
Managers and Telesales personnel
alike want to highlight the
skills and techniques of
effective telesales management.
So what are the basics of
effective telesales and how do
you get them applied in your
telesales department?
Openers
Very early on in the telephone
conversation, your personnel
will have created one of two
effects: Interest or resistance.
And it's one or the other. Most
callers can create a resistance
almost immediately, bringing an
early close to the telephone
call and a sense of loss to the
caller. Listen. Nobody is
sitting in their office just
waiting for your telesales
department to call.
Most often, the person you're
calling is busy, and has little
time to speak on the telephone.
How often are you ready and
available to answer the
telephone - nothing else
happening, sitting comfortably
and nothing else to do? The
chances are that if those
circumstances fit you too often,
your P45 won't be too long
coming also.
Those first moments of telephone
communication are vital and
all-important.
Here's a good procedure for
telesales personnel:
Introduce themselves and their
organization.
Make a statement that stimulates
interest and creates a
curiosity, about some benefit
the prospective client could
gain from the telephone call.
Ask appropriate questions in
order to get the other person
involved in a conversation. Then
listen and respond with more
questions - appropriate ones.
Tell them that in order to
deliver the potential benefit,
you need to get information.
Here are examples; "My name is
Roger Aspen, with Apex
marketing. We specialize in
generating business for our
clients at the same time as
lowering their marketing costs.
I've got a few ideas I'd like to
discuss to see if this would be
of any value to you and your
company". Or: "This is Sophie
Grierson with Cleanways UK. I'm
calling because we may be able
to cut your expenses for the
exact same cleaning items you're
now buying. To determine this,
I'd like to find out what you're
using for . . .
Get your telesales personnel to
put themselves in the position
of the person hearing it, and
ask: "would you want to hear
more if you were the buyer?"
"Would you set aside whatever
you were doing and participate
in the call? If not, they need
to work out a new approach along
the same lines.
The opening line must say as
much as possible, with as few
words as possible - that's an
interesting exercise in itself.
By appealing to the prospective
clients' desire to gain, or his
fear of losing something, will
you cause them to spend
productive time with you, and
eventually buy from you?
Telephone image
Others form an image of the way
we are by our telephone manner.
Try it for yourself. The next
time you receive a telephone
call from someone you don't
know, grab a piece of paper and
a pen, and note down the
positive and negative images of
the other person which form in
your mind as the conversation
progresses. How does this affect
any decisions you have to make
about this person or their
company? Image is all-important.
Tone of voice, manner of
speaking, the words we choose,
all instantly position us in the
recipients' mind and cause
judgments to be made of which we
are unaware. Listen to yourself
on the telephone. How do you
rate telephone-image-wise? Have
your telesales personnel do this
as an exercise. It is very
revealing! Anyone who works with
words and voice, actors,
speakers, musicians, - all
listen to how they sound,
because they know it is so
vital.
Make time to review
Many telesales personnel make
one call after another, as if
there is a record to be broken.
Many telesales and telemarketing
companies give their personnel
targets to achieve (100 calls an
hour in some cases). To me,
these companies have given up on
true professional telesales. It
has become 'just a numbers game'
to them, so possibly this does
not apply to them.... My advice
here about reviewing your last
call is intended for the
telesales manager and caller who
wants to get it as right as he
or she can.
If you were unsuccessful in your
last call, if the potential
client put the telephone down on
you without 'giving you a
chance', ask yourself - Why?
What on earth did I do wrong
there? Review the call - What
did I like about this call? What
would I have done differently on
this call? Don't think your
personnel haven't the time to do
this on every call. You can't
afford not to.
Preparation
Take the time to know something
about the company you're
calling, and where your product
or service would fit in with the
likely needs and wants of that
company. Prepare in advance the
questions you will need to get
answered in order to further
qualify your potential customer.
Listening
Success on the 'phone does not
mean dominating the
conversation. Listening experts
say that most of us do not
listen most of the time. Often,
this is because we are so busy
thinking about what WE are going
to say next. Work on listening
skills. This is very easy, and
goes like this: Close mouth.
Listen. Keep mouth closed. Keep
listening.
The Receptionist
The Receptionist is there to
receive people and telephone
calls. That's what she is paid
for. Acknowledge this to
yourself. Make friends with
them. Don't be in such a mad
rush to get to the 'main man'
that you intimidate them or
'push their buttons' into
stopping you dead. To get to
your buyers, all you need to do
is help Receptionists to do
their job, which is to protect
their boss's time from wasteful
callers. "We're happy with who
we're buying from." Says the
Receptionist. "Well, I have some
ideas that have helped other
people in your industry cut down
on their advertising expenses
while generating more sales. I'd
like to ask Mr./Mrs. Roberts a
few questions to see if this
could apply here also...". Make
friends with the Receptionist.
She can often be of great
assistance, so get her on your
side. She knows what you want,
but remember, you're not paying
her wages....
Sending literature
"Send me literature" can be a
legitimate sign of interest.
Often, it is not. Literature
will never do your companies
selling for you, most often it
will never be read, even when it
has been requested. Good quality
literature will only ever be a
compliment to the sales skills
of your personnel. So sending
literature is often just another
way of deferring hearing 'no'
from the prospective client.
Have your people become more
willing to hear the word 'no'
and cut your overheads even more
by not wasting literature
Questioning
Instead of having a list of
features and benefits you're
intent on presenting, take all
your benefits and write them
down the side of a piece of
paper. Then draw two columns
down the page to the right of
the words. Label the first
column "Needs Filled/ problems
Solved." Then for each benefit
write out what need or problem
the corresponding benefit
satisfies. Label the right-hand
column "Questions to Ask." For
each need or problem write a
question that would determine
whether that situation existed.
Use these questions during your
call. Make sure you don't
present what you "think" is a
benefit until you've confirmed
it by asking the corresponding
questions. Use questions. Find
out.
Objections - legitimate or
illegitimate?
Many objections are created by
the Salesperson not qualifying
well enough in the first place.
An objection is usually defined
as 'the customer's reason for
not buying'. Many times, the
customer has just not been
qualified as a correct prospect
for this particular product or
service. Poor qualification of
prospects will always equal a
lot of objections and lots of
failed sales. When a potential
client does come up with
objections, they may not be real
to your telesales people, but to
that potential client, they are
very real.
Contrary to many books and sales
training courses, objections to
buying your product are not
always surmountable. It may be
an inappropriate product or
service; the client may
genuinely not be in a position
to purchase if he has a limited
budget. Most of all, he may not
really want your product or
service. Why not? The best thing
to do with genuine objections is
to talk them through with the
potential customer.
If the product or service is
genuinely not for that person at
this time, it will become
glaringly obvious. If you
continue to advise your sales
people that 'all objections can
be overcome' then sooner or
later, they will become
disaffected from you and the
company. Why? Because many
objections are legitimate
objections that place the
potential client out of reach of
your product or service for the
time being. Recognize it.
Ask for the order
'If you don't ask, you don't
get'. It's an old saying, but so
often true, particularly in
business. Your salespeople want
an order? Ask for it. They want
a definite date on which to call
again? Ask for it. Want to know
exactly who will be making the
decision? Ask. Find out. When
will this person be available?
Ask the question. Don't waffle,
get the information you need,
get the order if that's what the
call is about. You can't have
the order? Well, when can we
have an order? May we telephone
you on that date? What then,
would be a good time? Ask the
question and get the answer.
Professionalism in sales is for
all salespeople, not just the
Field Salesman. It is brought
about by really caring about
doing it right, finding out why,
when things don't work, and
wanting to sell appropriate
products or services to people
and companies who really want or
need them. This is achievable
over the telephone. Telesales
can be as professional as the
rest, nurture it!
Source: Stephen Kaye