1.1 The telephone is a vital, yet often misused, business tool.
In some industries, over 90% of customer interaction is over the telephone and a shocking 78% of customers report cancelling intended purchases after poor telephone interactions with businesses.
Poor communication causes endless problems in the world - from personal relationships, to business transactions. Ensuring the correct message is communicated effectively and sufficiently would save a lot of time, trouble and potential heartache too. A significant amount of human communication is via non-verbal prompts, including body language, which means telephone interactions have their own unique set of challenges and opportunities.
Improving your telephone talents requires dedication to developing the skills to deliver clear and direct communications through careful choice of words and appropriate use of tone and pitch in your delivery. Learning how to effectively converse over the telephone generates a huge personal and business asset, which will improve your telephone sales skills and your ability to communicate via all other mediums.
1.2 Telephone Sales
For those who learn to excel, telephone sales can be a very lucrative career. Basic salary and commission can exceed industry averages, based on age and experience -specifically during times of economic difficulty, as companies put additional resources into selling to maintain cash flow.
Globalization has increased the volume and revenue from telephone sales, as they have a reach far exceeding the possibilities of face to face interactions. Sales are crucial for any organization and exceptional sales people are highly valued for their ability to bring in money. Without sales, there would be no business.
For those who take the time to develop new skills and enhance existing ones, the rewards can be significant and there are many options for career progression within the role - including account and team management. The ability to develop relationships with your customers and maintain a positive attitude is fundamental to success in this role. This course will help you to develop the interpersonal skills required to enhance your ability to build trust with callers and sell products and services. Telephone communication is different to in-person discussions and requires highly structured and organized information presentation. You will also learn how to present your product, understand
your customer and enhance your ability to sell with confidence.
1.3 Telephone Doubt
Negative experiences, combined with a lack of confidence, can make telephone interactions a frightening and frustrating experience for many people. Fortunately, telephone confidence and competence are skills which you are going to learn and with practice and a little patience, you will see positive results - achieving sales and feeling more relaxed and capable over the telephone. Rejection is a common outcome for telephone sales calls and this can significantly dent self-belief.
However, top performing sales people learn not to take rejection personally and instead reflect on their experiences and successes to significantly out perform their colleagues. The best sales people outperform average performers by 2:1 and outperform low performers by 10:1- this huge difference is not by accident, but through diligent preparation, skill development and, most vitally, perseverance.
FACT
Only 2% of sales are made in the
first contact and this only increases to an average of 5% by the 3rdcontact.
The overwhelming majority of sales are made between the 5th and 12th contact
with a potential customer clearly highlighting the need for both persistence
and building a relationship with your prospect.
1.4 First Impressions
When interacting with clients, over the telephone or face to face, you are creating a lasting impression of yourself and the business you represent. The positive or negative image you generate will stick with your customers, so it is critical to get itright the first time.
Developing rapport, resolving problems and communicating confidently will generate satisfiedcustomers, who will make repeat purchases and, on average, tell 20 friends about their positiveexperience. Customers are looking fortelephone interactions where they feel the operative isgenuinely interested in solving their problems and meeting their needs.
Friendliness and a pleasant tone of voice are key to generating trust and taking personalresponsibility for solving problems is valued exceptionally highly; nobody likes being bouncedaround departments to resolve their problems. Rapid resolution of issues and answering enquiriesquickly also enhance customer experience and satisfaction.
There are several phrases that customers simply do not want to hear - these include “No”, “I don'tknow”, “That's not my job/department”, “Calm down”, “I'm busy”, “Call me back”, “That's not myfault” and ”You need to talk to my supervisor”.Instead, taking the time to listen to your customers and resolving their problems personally, willgain you valuable respect and future sales.
General politeness and manners go a long way toimproving customer experience. Using a customer's name and remembering to say please and thankyou makes a bigger difference than many people realise, often on a subconscious level. Remarkably,even without face to face interaction we have an innate ability to sense the mood and even facialgestures of callers. Remembering to smile when you are speaking is an excellent emotional ice-breaker.
1.5 Telephone Beliefs
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Reflecting on your own experience of making and receiving telephone calls, specifically sales calls, will identify your own beliefs (both positive and negative) about this method of interaction.
If you have limiting beliefs, for example “everybody hates receiving sales calls”, you will find that you carry this belief into your customer interactions. Just like a self-fulfilling prophecy, pre-empting failure and assuming nobody wants to hear your pitch, will generate exactly that experience.
1.6 Exercise: Your Telephone Blueprint
Estimated Time: 15 minutes
To identify your own beliefs and expectations, ask yourself the following questions and simply reflect on your responses:
Do people generally like receiving sales calls? Why is this?
Who benefits from sales calls? Why is this?
How do you feel about RECEIVING sales calls?
How do you feel about MAKING sales calls?
What emotions are triggered when you think about making sales calls?
If your answers do not support the idea that sales calls are an essential element to business and customer interaction which are valued by BOTH parties, then you would benefit from reframing some of your own beliefs. The reputation of sales calls has been damaged by inadequate staff training and a lack of business and customer alignment and most of us have had poor experiences with sales calls - but it doesn't have to be this way.
When correctly targeted, planned and delivered, many customers are pleased to receive the personal attention – especially when coupled with a genuine desire to meet their needs in a timely and effective manner. Decide how YOUR sales calls are going to deliver positive customer experiences, gaining trust and developing a relationship with your potential client.
Answer the following questions about your FUTURE sales self, with the confidence and charisma to exceed your sales targets and satisfy your customers.
Who will benefit from YOUR sales calls? Why is this?
How will you feel about RECEIVING sales calls?
How will you feel about MAKING sales calls?
What emotions do you want to be triggered when you think about sales calls?
Deciding how your calls will be different and anticipating the quality and value that you are going to deliver, will establish the positive expectations that define your ability to successfully master this method of customer interaction.
1.7 The Skill Set Required for Successful Telesales
Developing the ability to effectively communicate is a core skill that, once in place, enhances all forms of interaction and relationship development. To become the best possible telephone sales person, additional skills and qualities can be developed which improve not only the customer interaction, but also the ability to plan and achieve sales targets, manage time effectively and also build meaningful customer relationships.
The below following table highlights essential skills which, when developed, will improve salesresults and enhance your customer's experience in interactions with you. Job satisfaction andresilience to stress, is greatly enhanced by setting personal development targets, which better equipyou to perform well in telephone sales roles.
The unfulfilling or negative experiences some individuals experience in this role are typically the result of poor training and inadequate support and not directly attributable to the role itself. When reviewing the skills required, make an honest and objective appraisal of areas which you would benefit from developing, which you can add to your own development plan. Developing the skills and strengths to enable you to perform effectively in this role will gradually build your confidence, increase job satisfaction and vitally deliver positive results and financial benefits in the form of commissions. Attention to continued personal development is a critical competency which makes any job more satisfying.
Equipping yourself with the correct tools to perform your role with impeccability will increase job satisfaction and reduce stress. At the end of this training, you are provided with the opportunity to define the personal development objectives that will further enhance your skills and shape your future success.
SKILL VALUE ADDED
Active listening
Feeling listened to is important to all of us, specifically customers on the telephone. In face to face interactions, non-verbal cues communicate that the other person is listening, for example, nodding the head and making positive noises like “ummm hmmm”. During telephone interactions, different methodologies need to be employed to ensure the customer feels valued and heard in the interaction. Active listening is more than simply hearing what is being said, it generates a depth of understanding including emotional needs and uncommunicated requirements – teasing out information, until you can genuinely see and feel the situation from the other person's perspective.
Articulate
Being able to successfully get your meaning across requires a depth of vocabulary and dedication to effective communication. People do not like having their time wasted on the telephone and learning how to succinctly communicate requires the appropriate vocabulary and often industry specific terminology. If you feel your language skills are lacking and you find expressing yourself difficult, then taking the time to read more and, specifically, learning new words, will enhance your abilities and your confidence.
Confidence
How you feel about your own skills, strengths and qualities determines your performance. People who believe in themselves and work on enhancing their self-esteem, outperform colleagues who doubt their abilities. Fortunately, self-esteem is more like a muscle than a bone and can be developed with the right tools and support. Learning new skills and following a structured personal development plan will both enhance personal belief and job confidence, which in turn improves results – creating a positive feedback loop that enhances success. A general lack of personal confidence will negatively impact your ability to succeed throughout life and taking the time to appreciate the unique qualities, skills and gifts you provide will highlight the positives and identify potential areas for growth. Confidence and success go hand in hand and both are grown organically over time. Feeling confident in your ability to successfully interact with people is communicated in your tone and will be picked up by your callers. The more confident you feel, the easier it is for your customers to relax and gain trust, enhancing both your experience and theirs. Initially, this confidence may have to be forced (“fake it until you make it”), but gradually you will develop more self-assurance and feel relaxed and confident in your interactions. Dedicated development and practice, combined with reflection on what works for you personally, will gradually increase the belief in your capacity to meet personal goals and business targets.
Determination
To be successful in sales requires a lot of determination and perseverance. Rejection can be frequent and learning to accept it without taking it personally requires significant resolve. Honest and frequent personal reflection will help you find areas for growth and enhance your skills. Telephone sales can be stressful if you allow it to be. Taking rejections personally and seeing them as failures will prevent you from spotting and enhancing ways in which you
are successful. To be effective in sales requires personal determination to succeed and the ability to move on and pick yourself up after unsuccessful interactions. With perseverance, you will quickly realise that sales is a numbers game – a game which can be influenced by the skills you demonstrate and the attitude you bring to your telephone interactions. Starting each call with a fresh and positive expectation will dramatically influence your results.
Focussed
Focussing on a conversation when the other person is not physically present with you requires concentration. Stilling the mental chatter and eliminating distractions will demonstrate that you are listening and help you to pick out the information expressed, or withheld, by your caller. Listening fully and ensuring you have understood requires a significant level of attention and mental strength, to allow the other person to be fully heard. The ability to maintain focus on a single task requires a mental discipline many people do not take the time to learn. Although we are able to multi-task, research clearly shows we do not perform at our best when we do.
Our fast-paced lives and multiple distractions, including technology grabbing our attention, mean we are simply not used to singular focus and without active mental management your caller will pick up on this. Practically, this means you need to remove distractions from your working environment and find ways to enhance your ability to maintain your attention. Mindfulness practices and meditation both strengthen your ability to reign in your “monkey mind” and train it to maintain concentration. Putting all your mental energy into one task, instead of sharing between multiple or irrelevant thoughts, will enhance your ability to maintain focus, listen to and meet your caller's needs.
Intrapersonal skills
Demonstrating respect and showing courtesy to your callers will support your development of meaningful relationships over time. Cultural or social differences as a result of different upbringings need to be understood and overcome, to bridge the gap between individuals with different backgrounds and experiences. Depending on the interactions you are going to be having, culturally specific training maybe needed to ensure your intrapersonal skills are appropriate for your customers.
Selecting the appropriate greetings, tone and friendless requires an understanding of potential differences and social norms. Correctly judging the required formality of an interaction will effectively bring people together, while incorrectly gaging it with an inappropriate selection of words or tone, can alienate your potential customers and create unnecessary conflict and distrust.
Organized
The volume of repeated interactions required to generate successful sales requires organization and planning. Ensuring you follow up with customers is vital, as the vast majority of sales come from relationships which have been actively worked on and not from the first interaction. Fortunately, sales technology such as Customer Relationship Management systems will help you record and manage the repeat interactions that are necessary to achieve results.
Moving prospects through the sales funnel requires targeted and purposeful interactions, delivered in a timely manner. Personal organization and planning are needed to ensure your time is used effectively. Setting goals and targets will help you to maintain motivation and feel a sense of accomplishment, which will motivate you to continue. Without organization, it is difficult to see progress, which will, in turn, reduce motivation and impact your results.
Perspective
Overcoming the distance between
you and your telephone customer requires seeing things from their perspective.
Without the physical closeness of face to face contact, it is easy to lose
sight of the fact that you are having a real interaction with another human
being who has practical and emotional needs which require support. Robotically interacting with customers is one
of the many reasons cited for negative telephone experiences, made worse by
enforced rigidity to call scripts. Remembering that you are dealing with
somebody who requires your help and attention and seeing the situation from
their perspective, will enhance your communications and
ensure your customer feels
valued.
Reflection
The best sales people develop
their own personal style and focus on what works for them. To do this, frequent
and honest personal reflection is needed. Taking a reflective, rather than critical,
perspective on your skills and strengths will help you dedicate time to the
areas of personal growth which would benefit you the most. Ignoring problems
and patterns will gradually wear down your sales esteem and prevent you from
performing the analysis which would improve your results. In addition to
reviewing your own experiences, gathering feedback is the key to enhancing your
skills. Learning to accept, reflect and respond to both positive and negative
critique is a rapid path to personal growth, naturally enhancing your business
success.
Research
Understanding your target market
and your own business and products is essential to correctly mapping customer
needs to your product or services capacity to meet those needs. If you neither
understand who you are selling to, nor what you are selling, then there is very
little chance you will be able to persuade your prospect that you have something they need. Researching
your target market and asking a lot of questions when you interact will help you understand their real needs,
instead of assuming you know what they want. The more you know about your
potential customers and the products or services you are selling, the easier it
is for your callers to gain confidence in your ability to help them.
Self-motivated
Sales are an active skill - you simply cannot sit back and wait for sales to happen. Self-motivation is needed to keep you focused, avoid procrastination and stick to goals. Setting your own goals and giving yourself rewards will maintain motivation, especially when sales are less frequent.
Solutions focussed
Taking the initiative and looking for solutions to create win-win situations will be greatly appreciated by your customers, who value you putting them first and looking for creative ways to help them.
Time management
To manage a large number of interactions requires careful planning and time management. Without attention to where your own time goes, you can waste significant amounts in activities which are not fruitful. Monitoring your own time and correlating it to your results can help you see which activities require more of your attention. Do you need to spend more time in a specific area of the sales process, such as generating leads, or are you missing out on valuable follow-up calls? With many people and tasks requiring your attention, you need to be strict in how you choose to spend your time.
Huge amounts of valuable time can be eaten up by activities which do not add value, if you do not plan how your time is best spent. Depending on the nature of the sales calls you are making, significant time may be needed to invest in developing personal relationships - the value of which is often underestimated. Finding a balance between time which develops obvious revenue and time which is invested in relationship development is important for getting immediate results, whilst securing the foundation for future transactions which can deliver a higher value. Measuring your own return on investment (from a time perspective) can be an eye opening experience. The first step is monitoring and analysing where your time goes and there are many free productivity tools, such as Toggl, which will help you do this.
1.8 Telephone Etiquette
There are some general rules which can be applied to telephone interactions, which fall under the category of etiquette. Quite different from how you would engage with friends or colleagues over the telephone, there is a level of formality and politeness that is expected and appreciated by your callers.
For example:
Always ask (not tell) the caller if you can put them on hold and wait for their response. Also ensure they are aware of how long they are likely to be on hold for and critically, why you are
Thank your callers for their time, specifically if they have been kept waiting before their call is answered or they have been on hold When you need to transfer a call, explain to the caller why this is needed and confirm this is ok. Customers typically prefer to deal with less points of contact so if you are able to deal with the enquiry yourself, it will improve the customer's experience. If the caller has already been transferred around multiple departments, expect them to resist being transferred yet again and see if you can determine why they are not getting the information or service they need to resolve their enquiry. If you are taking messages for a colleague, ensure you briefly (and professionally!) explain why they are not available and the anticipated response time. If you are able to assist the caller
yourself, offer to do this and let the customer determine how they would like to proceed.
1.9 Tone of Voice
Developing a friendly and
positive telephone manner is a highly cost-effective way to produce better
customer service and with it, improved sales. Your tone of voice can
communicate more than the words you are using, so specific attention and
practice is required to ensure your message is delivered with the intonation
you intend. If your tone of voice is too flat then you sound bored, giving out
the wrong signals to your customer.
Ideally, you would choose to sound like you
are enjoying the interaction and are happy to be helping the caller. If your
speech is too slow, you communicate a lack of enthusiasm for what you are
doing, which will not help the customer get excited about buying something from
you! Talking too loudly denotes aggression and talking too quietly conveys a
lack of confidence (and belief in your product) whilst frustrating the caller,
as they cannot hear what is being said. Conveying enthusiasm and excitement
with variations in the pitch of your voice (and avoiding lower pitches), will
help your customers develop the same emotional responses. Essentially, they will
mirror your positivity and enthusiasm for the product or service - helping them naturally want to make a
purchase.
1.10 Personal Experience
Your own experience of using the telephone has a significant impact on your personal style. Both positive and negative experiences of making or receiving calls, shapes your beliefs - which steer expectations and determine actual results. Fortunately, you get to decide how you are going to be on the telephone and taking the time to develop a specific persona or character to get into during your interactions, can make it easier to maintain the tone and charisma needed to win sales.
1.11 Exercise – Developing your Telephone Personal
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
Review your own telephone experiences to pick out highlights and lowlights and use this to begin to develop the persona you would like to communicate in your sales calls. Describe one or more negative telephone interactions/experiences you have had with a business.
What skills or qualities were lacking in this interaction?
Describe one or more positive telephone interactions/experiences you have had with a business.
Why was this experience positive for you?
What skills or qualities were demonstrated in this interaction?
Now reflect on what qualities, attributes, skills and strengths YOU want to bring to your interactions with callers. How will you ensure that you make a lasting positive impression on your potential customers? Define and describe your telephone personality in as much depth as possible - you can even give your new persona a different name and use a prop to help you get into character. You will be amazed at how much more confidence you can feel by “wearing” a new personality whilst you are on the telephone. Who are you going to be?
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