Anyone can get on a phone and read a phone sale script...right? Unfortunately that is a tremendously oversimplified approach to one of the most powerful marketing tools available to a company. Telephone sales is a comprehensive concept which addresses call centre activities and every phone call between employees and customers.

In other words, telemarketing is a marketing concept that encompasses customer service and customer relationships in order to build a market responsive company. Telemarketing concepts applied properly can lead to increased sales, increased customer retention, a steady influx of new customers, and more profits. Companies that approach telemarketing as strictly cold calling sales are missing an opportunity to use the contacts as a foundation for building a strong marketing program.

Yes, it's true that anyone without telephone sales training or developed telephone skills can get on a phone and read a sales script. But if the employee has no commitment to the company vision, the call will be simply a telephone call and not a marketing call. This is an important distinction and it takes telemarketing training courses, workshops, and sales coaching classes that begin with a foundation composed of the mission of the company.

A marketing program has many components and telephone sales can be one of the most important because it is an opportunity for direct and personalized contact with an existing or potential customer. It's an opportunity the company needs to take full advantage of so that the most marketing force is exerted.

It's easy to see that simply having someone not having taken telephone skills training seminars or courses reading from a script and not prepared to really promote the company can be counterproductive. In fact a poorly handled telemarketing call can result in lost business far beyond the potential customer on the other end of the line. People network with friends and families and can just as easily badmouth a business as they can promote it.

Telemarketing should be viewed as a chance to make the company marketing program work harder and longer but also in a more personal manner. So it's critical that telemarketing skills and that staff take a telesales training class or seminar so that the most benefit is achieved by the personal contact made with consumers or other businesses.
Developing effective telephone skills takes training in phone sales techniques in order to get maximum results.

A qualified phone sale trainer can provide valuable classes for developing selling skills using the company vision as the starting point.

* Develop effective sales approaches using the telephone
* Learn how to handle conflict
* Master turning a rejection into a sale
* Learn how to manage calls in a way that creates a sense of outstanding service quality
* Motivate salespeople within the organization
* Learn how to develop rapport with potential customer
* Develop cultural sensitivities
* Develop sales closing telephone skills

These are just a few of the telephone skills which can build a solid and successful sales program that supports a comprehensive marketing program. The telephone skills learned in a telesales training class or workshop for application in a call center are the same phone sale skills which should be used whenever a customer contact is made on the telephone. The call does not have to originate in a telephone sales department to be a marketing tool.

Throughout the company there are managers and staff on the phone with potential and existing customers all day long. They just need to recognize the amazing opportunities.

Source: Michael Wolf link

Related: Telephone Sales Training