Call Center Training Articles
Our Consultant team produced all of the articles below. Please e-mail us if there is a topic you would like to see. We will be happy to send you an article on that topic, if we have it.
Telephone Selling Skills: Inbound and Outbound [ View Archives ]
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Telephone Sales Mastery: Outbound Fundamentals
The following fundamentals come directly from our Telephone Sales Mastery workshop. These ideas and suggestions can help you make better use of every customer contact. Please e-mail us when you have had success with any of the tips that follow.… Read More » |
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B2B Selling: What Do Small Businesses Think About All Day Long?
Recently, I was listening to client calls at their Inbound sales call center. They sell bank products like checks, endorsement stamps, deposit slips and other such items. They also sell promotional products like pens, shirts, notepads and other items their clients can purchase with their own logo nicely printed on the product. Many companies use some products like these to promote business.… Read More » |
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Why Not Try A Fallback Offer?
If your call center makes selling attempts in any capacity, Fallback Offers can significantly increase your total sales and your average revenue per sale. Fallback Offers are not new, but few call centers maximize this important sales tool. By implementing the ideas in this article, your center can be well on its way to your best sales year ever.… Read More » |
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Your Price Objection Is Less Than You Think
Your customer tells you that $2395.00 for that product is more than they wanted to spend. “Mike, I just can’t fork out that much money right now, even though I know these cabinets have all the bells and whistles.”… Read More » |
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Permission To Sell? You Already Have It
We have all heard a telephone associate say, "Before I let you go, can I tell you about a promotion we're offering?" Doesn't that question make you a little itchy, just reading this article? That is what permission questions do on the phone as well. Some say, "It's the only polite way to begin selling." The only thing we know for sure is that a single permission question can eliminate up to 80% of your prospective clients from buying. That's because eight of ten callers will be off the phone before we can say, "Have a nice day."… Read More » |
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Why Make A Sales Offer On Every Call?
We often hear telephone associates wondering aloud why they have to make a sales offer every time they speak to a caller. They say, "I can tell who is going to buy and who isn't." Unfortunately, the research that we have done just doesn't back that statement. If you observe telephone calls on a regular basis, you will hear very friendly callers saying, "No," to sales offers and many less friendly, somewhat distant callers saying, "Yes." The truth is that you just can't tell who is going to say, "Yes," until you make the offer.… Read More » |
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Telemarketers: "I'm Not Interested."
Being in the industry, I understand the vital role that telemarketing centers play for many organizations. What I will never understand is how easy it is to get off the phone with most telemarketers when they call. We all have our typical way of trying to dust off telemarketing attempts, especially if they call during dinner. If I am not in the mood to speak to a telemarketer, in a somewhat strong voice, I say, "Not interested, thank you." That's my thing. I don't even have to think about it. What troubles me is just how well that statement, or any objection statement, works. The percentage of telemarketing associates that are stumped by, "Not interested, thank you," baffles me. How can they not expect it? How can that one stump them?… Read More » |
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Are Customers Reacting Negatively To Your Questions? Try a Positioning Statement.
Would you like to hear one of the simplest sales techniques ever thought up? It is called a Positioning Statement. Here goes. “Mrs. Jackson, as we take care of your account today, I’ll be asking you some questions, just to make sure we get you everything you need.” It seems too simple to be effective, or worth trying, but read on.… Read More » |
Floor-Coaching and Management [ View Archives ]
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Supervisors: You Are The Key To Call Center Success
Contact centers can measure virtually everything. There are the obvious measurements, like average call lengths, sales, and customer satisfaction ratings. Some centers have vast Quality Assurance groups that observe each telephone agent a minimum number of times each month and create reports for management. Workforce management software systems are now the rage, offering great ways to save money and new ways to measure performance. No matter what your center focuses on, though, the supervisor or floor manager is the key to success.… Read More » |
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Is Your Center A True Sales Center?
Sometimes companies want their people to sell, but either don't provide telephone associates with the right tools and compensation, or they try not to make a big deal of the sales component. Introducing sales expectations will be a big deal. Whether or not to introduce sales is a question that every company will attempt to answer. And sales is not for everybody. But if we are going to do it, it is imperative that we do it right.… Read More » |
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Call Center Floor Management: Coaching Fundamentals
The following fundamentals come directly from our Call Center Floor Management workshop. Each one will help you with a different aspect of coaching on the call center floor. Please e-mail us when you have had success with any of the tips that follow.Read More » |
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Successful Coaching Strategies: "On-The-Fly" Coaching
Of all the coaching processes, strategies and tips that we have seen or introduced throughout our client base, this one tops them all. "On-The-Fly" coaching is unrivaled by other coaching techniques, even if your supervisors and floor managers are not great coaches at the outset.… Read More » |
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Making Your Service-To-Sales Center Thrive
Service and support centers are unique when it comes to sales. Many centers have introduced sales and sales quotas long after the service element has been cemented into the minds of the telephone associates (customer service reps). "I wasn't hired to sell," or, "Pushing products on callers isn't providing excellent service," are common complaints.… Read More » |
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Overcoming Resistance to Selling or Anything Else
In most inbound sales or customer service call centers supervisors struggle with resistance. Some telephone associates resist selling because they “weren’t hired to sell.” Others resist because they believe that callers will buy what they want to buy, and everything else is just “pushing products on them.” Even in inbound sales centers (e.g. catalogue sales), many telephone associates will resist offering the top-end product first or cross-selling attempts.… Read More » |
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Strategies For Managing Difficult Agents
We have all had the experience of working with an employee that just doesn't seem to care. Many of these employees cause cancers within the center that are far worse than they seem on the surface. Other associates start to side with the negative employee. The supervisor becomes more distant and doesn't approach the employee. In the end, everyone loses.… Read More » |
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Transform Your Center By Celebrating Sales!
In many call centers, “Sales” is a dirty word. “We’ll call the agents ‘product specialists,’ not sales people.” Telephone associates dread the idea that they are selling anything to callers. Claims are made that all callers hate to hear cross-sell attempts and these attempts “blow up in our faces,” every time we try. If you ask just a few people you will hear all the reasons why selling is a bad idea.… Read More » |
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Ten Actions You Can Take Right Now To Improve Your Center's Sales Results
If it is time to increase your sales results, try several of the following techniques. Do not be hesitant to try some of the tougher ones. They will help you "mature" both your sales force and your floor-management.… Read More » |
Customer Service Skills [ View Archives ]
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Proactive Statements Calm Angry Callers
Success in customer service is contingent on two areas, competence and care . A service associate must be proficient at processing customer requests and at expressing a natural sense of care and compassion for the caller's situation. Studies show that most buyers switch companies due to a lack of interest from the current vendor when they are on the phone. Far fewer customers leave their current vendors when they have been handled well. We realize that being handled "well" is far short of a raving fan or having your socks knocked off by service quality, but it really is enough to maintain your customer base.… Read More » |
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Your Voice Determines How Every Call is Going to Go
If you are an agent, you are probably thinking, “Maybe my voice makes a small difference, but it doesn’t determine how every call is going to go”. Your voice has more power than you think. It is true that some callers are going to be upset when they dial in. Some callers are going to be friendly. Your voice will impact both of those calls, and every other one you take today.… Read More » |
