This is a five-part series on Successful Stays and Career Advancement through call center selling.
Most call center sales agents do not succeed long-term in their vocation. Burnout is common. Job hopping from one center to the next is more common. Many supervisors add unnecessary stress and discomfort to the agent job due to their own lack of leadership experience or poor training. All of these factors make it difficult to achieve success for the long-term in a single position within a single call center.
The good news is that we do meet many agents who have had great success. Some are still in the same positions. Many have advanced to supervisor and even director-level positions. In this five-part series, we will discuss some of the key attitudes and drivers that have sustained these people while so many others have failed along the way.
We strongly recommend that you embrace these Success Factors and figure out how to apply them in your world ± today. You will be glad you did.
Success Factor Number One: Creating and Maintaining the Right Attitude
We speak to a lot of sales agents who feel that their specific job should have its own show or segment on Worlds Most Dangerous Jobs. Although there are many days that can tap the strength of even the worlds most enduring agent, the truth about the job is that it is merely mundane, a little boring and too structured for some. Once you look beyond that, the job has a lot of advantages; no stressful driving, a ready amount of customers to speak with and the chance to change peoples days for the better.
We have worked with many agents over the years to help them see the positives about the job. At the end of the day, it all boils down to attitude. Other jobs have mean bosses. Other employees are not getting rich either. Other jobs are boring, too (just ask the nighttime security guard that lives across the street from me).
For successful agents ± real, long-term success (not just a few good months) ± it is their attitudes about the position that sustain them on the bad days and help them have many more great days.
The Right Attitude is Cultivated Through our Responses to Situations
The attitude is their response to any circumstances thrown their way. The system goes down and we cannot take calls? Why not check out one of the training manuals and take advantage of the time. Call volume is too high to take a break? I may as well make a few more sales and this day is going to fly by.
Their attitude is also how they prepare themselves mentally, prior to starting their day. Some will set a high sales target for the day (much higher than the required target). Others look for a few of the positives in the job to lock in on until they build momentum for the day. They prepare their minds to either be successful or look for the positives so that they enjoy their days while others around feel pain and build lasting frustration.
Negative Attitudes Stick to Us From Job to Job
Many agents think, Once I get to a better job, then I will apply myself. Then I will give it my all. Not now, not to this company. Not in this crappy seat. The problem with this counterproductive attitude is that it impacts every aspect of the job, from client care and communication to sales results. Hating a job (or even merely sticking it out) is a crappy way to spend half of your waking life.
We regularly see these agents when they come into a new call center job. They do well and have a positive attitude for about the first week on the phones. Once they see the same problems the last job had, they quickly start to take on the same negativity they had at the last job. That is the real problem with a bad attitude. It is mobile and it sticks to us until we finally decide to jettison it from our lives.
For the job to go by quickly, an agent must embrace it and see the value in it. Unless you have an uncle in the right senior position, you will have to do the tough work of taking call after call. If you are smart, you will make it fun for yourself by embracing the caller and finding a way to make their day better. Your day will go by faster.
Necessary Paradigms for the Right Attitude to Foster
If you want your sales and commissions to increase, you will definitely have to take on the right attitude. There are two parts, two paradigms (truths) you must believe. 1) Working smarter will produce more sales. 2) Every call has an opportunity for a sale until the call terminates.
- Working Smarter: This means using your companys sales training, speaking with successful agents, listening to your own calls and improving your own personal sales skills. With the right attitude, you can do this very quickly.
- Every call has an opportunity: One of the most common reasons for agent failure is that many agents profile callers instantly. This guy is angry. He will never buy. Oh, great, a senior citizen. They dont use computers. Even if the beliefs are common and do turn out to be true some of the time, they lead to failure. You must see every call as having the possibility for a sale. If you do, you will make sales where most others fail.
The right attitude is the secret to getting through the rough days, but it is also the secret to excelling at sales – any type of sales. I have spent my life in sales, both on the phones and face-to-face selling. I have been blessed with a lot of success over the years, from the time I was 19 years old. One thing I had I have to credit to God. I have always had a belief that anything is possible, that good things can come my way, that I do not have to conform to the mediocrity that so many other sales people do. I have always had a simple philosophy; Why not me? It has always worked. This has been one of the real sustaining factors in my sales career.
One more piece to the right attitude. Make those around you better as a result of your presence. Enjoy the people you compete with. Enjoy the clients you speak with. The right attitude says, I owe this customer a great call. Make it fun. Make it fun for your peers. Do more for others. You will find that these last few attitude components can springboard you to a life worth living, which is even better than a job worth having.
Are you ready for tomorrow? Do you now have what it takes? Yes, you do. Go and have a great day.
