Archive for the ‘telesales’ Category

« Older Entries

Talk specifics – people listen more

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

When you’re making your telesales or telemarketing calls talk specifics. Your prospects will listen more. You’re simply more persuasive if you give actual, real and specific examples.

Don’t use generalities. I often receive sales calls which include the time honoured line ”We’re one of the leading suppliers of blah-blah in the UK.” It is simply a load of words, because everyone can say that about their product or service – whether they are or not.  Or “we operate to professional standards.” Or “all our staff are experts in dealing with blah-blah.” Says who? Says you? ok, and of course you the salesperson are completely objective aren’t you?!

sales pitches on the phone

Talk specifics - no blah-blah

Instead talk about specific examples “we already supply our software to 11 of the 47 health trusts in England.” Or make bold but specific claims “our engineers are never more than 50 miles from any customer’s site.”

Even talking manufacturing output may give credence to the scale of your operation. “Yes we turn out 10,000 of those every day.”

The more obvious examples to boast about are where you’ve won awards (as by nature these are competitive) and show you must be good. “By royal appointment” will always carry a fair bit of clout, as will “we were class winners this year” in the fastest growing company in our industry sector at the annual awards in Birmingham last month.

There are always great things you can talk about, even if you can’t think of any examples at the moment. Develop them, weave them into your script and you will simply become more persuasive and someone your prospects will listen to.

If you want to develop a stronger, meatier sales approach to your sales calls give us a call on 01858 461148. We work with companies across the Midlands, in Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Oakham and wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, West Midlands and Cambridge.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Cold calling, Field sales training, sales development training, Sales tips, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales scripts, telesales team management, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Get all your sales quotes out within 48 hours

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Get all your sales quotes out within 48 hours. It is important to get into this vitally important habit. Quite simply it will get you more business. What other incentive could you need?!

I’m frequently amazed that clients do not have standards around this issue. They will often say that their telesales team members aren’t quick enough at following up proposals that they’ve sent out. Now, come on. Surely this should be an imposed standard, a minimum. Enforced if necessary. Really if you can’t get your team to follow these up quickly, you might as well pack up and go home.

Business is competitive

Beat your competitors - get your quotes in fast

Ensuring you have the 48 hour rule ensures you work to a standard. It keeps things moving. Momentum is good, especially in selling.

You will also find that frequently getting the quote or sales proposal out quickly will impress them. It will be fresher in their mind when they’re reading it, and if you get it there quicker than the competition, it might just help you get the order.

There are some other key reasons I find that help too. Writing and sending your sales proposal quickly gets it done while it’s freshest in your mind too. So you will probably be able to do it faster. It also gets it out of the way. You can clear the decks mentally. So if other things come up such as illness, meetings, work crises, you won’t have to go back to it.

And never ever leave it to do until after a holiday. But then you’d never do that anyway would you?

The lesson I’ve learned

Apart from all the above, I’ve never lost an order because the client thought I’d sent it in too quickly. However I have won many for this reason. Even within the last few months, an industrial distributor in Birmingham commissioned me to run a training programme for them as they got tired of waiting for the other 2 competitive quotes. Suits me and it’s simple.

Templates

To help you write and send out sales quotes and proposals quicker, have templates for proposals. Have a master template that you just edit.  This is much more effective than recreating the wheel each time. It will also save you time. Time you can use to go out on more sales calls selling.

 

 

Tags: , , ,
Posted in business development, business growth, Field sales training, sales development training, Sales tips, Selling advice, small business marketing, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telesales, telesales team management, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Telesales masterclass – 20th & 21st February 2012 – Leicester Northampton

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Telesales masterclass for telesales and telemarketing. Our next 2 day telesales masterclass will run on 20th & 21st  February 2012 at a venue in Leicestershire or Northamptonshire.

Telesales masterclass - February 2012

Telesales masterclass - 20th & 21st February 2012

The course will cover all the key elements of telephone techniques and communication skills, and how to structure an effective sales call. We’ll be covering top tips and techniques for dealing with objections, listening skills, and questioning skills – what the different questions are, when to use them and how to structure a powerful telephone sales call around good questioning. Add into that an introduction to the 2 stage process for directing the conversation, and a couple of hours on how to structure powerful telesales and telemarketing calls and you have the basic tools to make sure you convert more opportunities, for more value, more often.

Business conditions are challenging for many organisations at the moment. Those who are best at converting the opportunities that are there, will prosper. Contact us for more details on 01858 461148. You can download a copy of a telesales course schedule directly from the site http://www.tomarket.co.uk/course-schedules.php

Course fees are £399 + VAT per delegate for the 2 day course, although there are discounts for 2 or more delegates attending from the same company.

This 2 day course is ideal for telesales and telemarketing personnel in Leicester, Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Cambridge, Peterborough, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Oadby, Market Harborough, Hinckley, Oakham, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Stratford on Avon as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, West Midlands and East Midlands.

BOOK NOW for places on 20th - 21st February 2012 Telesales masterclass course. Get your sales year off to a promising start.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, Forthcoming courses, Internal sales, Overcoming objections, sales development training, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »

How to close a telesales call – properly!

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

How to close a telesales call – properly! It is easy to lose focus on your call at the end of your conversation with your customer or prospect. You know it’s about to end and so do they. However there are still certain things to do to ensure your telemarketing or telesales call is professional.

telesales verbal handshake

get the sign-off right at the end of the call

  • summarise
  • build in some ongoing continuity
  • the verbal handshake

Summarise

You may have had a long call, or maybe not. Either way remind them of what you’ve both agreed. You may have covered a lot of ground and it is unrealistic to expect the customer to remember it all. This way you’re starting to set some expectations of what you want from them too. “OK, so I’ll send you an introductory e-mail. I’ll get that out to you within the next hour or so. And then I’ll call you in the middle of next week, once you’ve had a chance to talk to Sarah about it.”

That way you’ve told them what to expect from you, and setting a timescale for when you’ll do it reinforces your professionalism and sense of action. Then it lets them know that they better speak to Sarah, because you’ll be on their case in a few days time! But all done respectfully, politely and professionally of course.

Build in some ongoing continuity

With the vast majority of outbound calls you make, you want to contact them again in the future. By seeking permission subtly to do this, you make sure your next call to them isn’t a cold call. “Ok, so you’ve got your board meeting at the end of the month, on the 28th then. Is it ok if I call you to find out what happened the middle of the following week?” Very, very seldom do people say No. It works. Try it. Furthermore remember that I always advocate asking questions. Questions are the answer. The fact that you’ve framed it as a question gives them the chance to offer you feedback. They might say, “I tell you what, make it the following week, because I’m away for a week straight after the meeting.” Or more promisingly “yes, and if the management team are keen on it, we’ll ask you to come in to discuss what you could do for us……” If you’ve not signed off with the question, they are less likely to volunteer information are they?

The verbal handshake

I am sure you will be polite at all times. This is important as you conclude your call. Even if they’ve given you chapter and verse on the 14 reasons they’d never buy from you, at least you’ve learned some interesting and potentially useful information. So thank them. “Thank you for your honesty and your feedback. I appreciate it.” And more common sign-offs may include “thank you for your time today” or “it’s been great catching up again.” Let them know that you as a human being respect them as a human being. Remember always that ‘people buy from people’ or other versions ‘people buy from people they like’ or ‘people buy from people like them.’

Follow this practice and you will ensure the last impression they have of you is a positive one. Happy selling!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, Sales tips, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Telesales & telemarketing masterclass – 12th & 13th December 2011

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Our next 2 day telesales masterclass will run on 12th & 13th December 2011 in Coventry.

Telesales telemarketing training

Telephone sales masterclass - December 2011 East Midlands

Just 3 weeks away.  This course will cover all the key elements of communication skills and how to structure an effective sales call. We’ll be covering top tips and techniques for dealing with objections, listening skills, questioning skills – what the different questions are, when to use them and how to structure a powerful telephone sales call around good questioning. Add into that an introduction to the 2 stage process for directing the conversation, and a couple of hours on how to structure powerful telesales and telemarketing calls and you have the basic tools to make sure you convert more opportunities, for more value, more often. Business conditions are challenging for many organisations at the moment. Those who are best at converting the opportunities that are there, will prosper. Contact us for more details on 01858 461148. You can download a copy of a telesales course schedule directly from the site http://www.tomarket.co.uk/course-schedules.php

Course fees are £399 + VAT per delegate for the 2 day course, although there are discounts for 2 or more delegates attending from the same company.

This 2 day course is ideal for anyone in Coventry, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Cambridge, Peterborough, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Oadby, Market Harborough, Hinckley, Oakham, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Stratford on Avon as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, West Midlands and East Midlands.

BOOK NOW for places on  12th - 13th December 2011 Telesales masterclass course.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, Forthcoming courses, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | 2 Comments »

Now is the time for small business to do your own telemarketing calls

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Top tips for small business to do your own business development calls. OK, so the business environment is challenging.

You can sit and wonder what to do to stimulate customers to come to you. Trouble is most of this costs : advertising, PR etc. A more cost effective way of doing it is to make your own sales calls. I always suggest starting with lapsed customers. These are the easiest to convert to becoming trading customers again.

Making small business proactive
Now is the time to become proactive

You can also spend time profiling people to call on Google. Why not do what we call twinning? Look at the customers you already have, and look for others like them. For instance if you do good business with pharmaceutical companies, look for more of them. If your business is geo-centric i.e. likely to be used by local businesses, look local.

It certainly isn’t worth putting together (or worse still) buying a list that is indiscriminate.  You’ll find it demoralising to keep talking to people who have no requirement for your product or service.  Certainly spending time analysing and building a good list to begin with will pay dividends.
Andrew is planning on running a range of marketing seminars over the coming months for owners of small businesses. Entitled ‘Selling your way out of recession’ it will focus on the easy approaches to selling that will give you the best opportunities to build your business or ensure it’s future (depending on where you are currently.)
Please drop us a note to info@tomarket.co.uk if you’d like more details about these sessions. They will be run in a series of locations, aimed at small business owners in Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coalville, Thrapston, Oakham, Uppingham and wider parts of the East and West Midlands.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in business development, business growth, Cold calling, Forthcoming courses, Marketing, owner managers directors, seminar, small business marketing | No Comments »

Inbound calls represent the best selling opportunities there are

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Inbound calls represent the best selling opportunities there are. They do really. Just consider it. They’ve decided to call you. Generally speaking they will be for one of a number of reasons ;

-                      To gather information or advice

-                      To enquire about a price or some other factor relating to a direct sale

-                      To check progress of their order

-                      To complain

Well let’s start by discounting the 4th one. You’ve got your customer service sorted, so you don’t receive many complaints right?! But seriously, you will have another process set up and designed to take care of this situation. Even this represents an opportunity. Good, caring customer service builds the relationship and increases your chances for sales next time. However don’t be too hard sell when they’ve got a problem or a crisis. You hold your ‘sales’ fire and the opportunity will come. But for the rest, make the most of the golden opportunity that has just landed in your lap.

Internal sales making the most of inbound opportunities

Internal sales - making the most of inbound opportunities

First, the very fact that they’ve called you is significant because it shows motivation. Everyone’s busy and so for them to have called you indicates a desire for action on their part. They’ve called for a bit of advice. Great. You can demonstrate your expertise and knowledge and guide them to a great solution for them based on good attentive listening and questioning. These 2 aspects of communication are underrated and will increase the chances of a sale greatly.

If they phone to get a price from you, or to check delivery times, that demonstrates at least that they’re thinking about your product or service. Again, demonstrate interest, spend some time with them on the phone, and who knows you may in many instances guide them to a better solution or alternative product – better perhaps than the one they thought they wanted. You can sense that they’re unlikely to go elsewhere once you’ve gone to all that trouble. Especially if they’ve contacted other suppliers already and been quoted for what they thought they wanted! They’re far less likely to go back and ask the other suppliers to requote. It is simply so much easier to give you the business. And quicker too.

Also be a bit intelligent about it too. If they’re a previous customer, use your questioning skills to mention or introduce new products. “I see you buy the xy machine from us, but do you know we also supply the consumables that go in it?” Or if they’re a brand new prospect, once you’ve found out a bit about them, you can use that to introduce relevant products. “oh, that’s interesting, so you’re in electronics? We already supply DEF Electronics and they buy a lot of product a & product b from us. Who do you get those products from at the moment?” 

This is one of the central themes that we cover on telephone sales training courses for inbound sales teams. These courses are run across the Midlands, in towns including Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Daventry, Wellingborough, Cambridge, St. Ives, Huntingdon, Milton Keynes, Leamington Spa, Warwick and Stratford on Avon. Contact us with info@  and then tomarket.co.uk or call us directly on 01858 461148 if you want to generate more business from your inbound sales calls.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in communication skills, Complaint handling, customer handling, Inbound sales, Internal sales, sales development training, Sales tips, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Why your elevator speech is important – sales advice

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

There are many reasons why your elevator speech is important. This is all part of effective sales advice.

First what is an elevator pitch? It is as you’ve probably guessed an American term, which we use in the UK unaltered. It is a finely honed script that you use when someone asks you what you do for a living. The theory is that you can deliver it in the time it takes to take a ride in an elevator (or lift if you’re British.) It is the sort of thing you do often – especially if you’re a business person who attends networking events.

How to prepare your elevator speech

Get your elevator speech nailed

How long should it be? Well I reckon 30 seconds should do it tops. Remember that although people ask you what you do, they’re not that interested – not really! What they really want to talk about is themselves.

Make your description short, and specific. I may use something like “…..I train telephone based teams. So telesales, telemarketing and customer service. In fact any group of people who spend all their working day talking to customers on the phone. And so it’s not industry specific. I work with many different industries. And what do you do?”

Avoid grand, wordy, vague descriptions. How often do I meet business consultants who say something like “….we help companies leverage more profit by helping them optimise the working performance of their employees…..” I don’t know what they generally say after that as I’ve already switched off! Apart from which that’s what all conusltancy based services do. And I’m still none the wiser about what you ACTUALLY do!

I came across this example recently, and this was an example of a GOOD WAY to do it. “…to do so effectively, I’d like to know more about you and your interest in my work. Then, I’ll have a context for telling you about my work and can relate what I do to your specific situation.” Ooh dear no ! It might work in America, but it’s not a wise strategy in the UK.

You may want to finish your introduction with an example of your work – name dropping a client if appropriate.

“I’m a web designer, specialising in e-commerce site and recently I worked on the new site for ABC Print.” or “I’m a freelance financial director and I was working on a large merger for DEF Engineering in Nottingham recently.

This all helps give you creedence.

Work on your elevator speech (or pitch), make it concise and then use the same one consitently so that it sounds natural – until such time as you decide to change it.

The best of luck. ‘Inspire me, don’t bore me’ is the motto!

To Market runs telephone sales and telemarketing training courses across the East Midlands, Peterborough, Cambridge, Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Peterborough, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Lincoln, East Midlands as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, Field sales training, Marketing, owner managers directors, Sales tips, Selling advice, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Telemarketing scripting – why it’s a good idea

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Telemarketing scripting – the case in favour. Scripts have a bad press. Many people recoil in horror at the very mention of the word – but wait – hear me out! The reason I suspect that many people don’t like scripts is because we associate them with half-witted telesales and telemarketing people calling us (often at home), not knowing what they’re talking about, with poor knowledge of their products or services. Furthermore if you DARE to ask them a question, they’re thrown, because you are taking them off script.

Telesales and telemarketing training

Telemarketing scripts maybe not such a bad idea

However, it is important to have a structure for your call.  So perhaps it’s semantics – we need a call guide rather than a script.   What is important though is that you sound like it’s your words. Learn to ‘act’ and ‘feel’ the script, not just ‘read’ it.  Remember all movies are scripted. Those presented with Academy awards and Oscars are not ad libbing. They are won by people who make the script sound real, they ‘act’ the script. This takes thought and practice, but it can be done.

Have a strong idea of what you want to say and where you want to the call to go.  This includes the ability to respond to any specific comment or qusestion your prospect asks. Deal with it, and then you can return to your script (sorry call guide.) Following this will ensure you make more consistent calls and surprise, surprise you’ll achieve more consistent results.

To Market runs telephone sales and telemarketing training courses across the East Midlands, Peterborough, Cambridge, Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Peterborough, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Lincoln, East Midlands as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Cold calling, sales development training, sales lead generation, Sales tips, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Travel industry – sell your way out of trouble

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Travel industry – sell your way out of trouble. As we recently saw another travel company fold, Holidays 4U trading as Aegean Flights, we understand that the travel industry is in choppy waters. These problems are all the more significant when you consider that the travel sector should be making money at this time of year. 

Travel sales training

Get more people here!

As all business people know making profit and survival is about increasing revenue, cutting costs and managing cashflow. Other sites will give you what you need on the latter 2 topics but here we’re interested in maintaining and increasing revenue.

Selling in the travel industry is about the following key principles ;

  1. Increasing conversion rates. It is vital that you convert as many enquiries as you can at the point when they’re on the phone (or in your shop, or on your website.) Training in closing and benefit selling is important to ensure they don’t go elsewhere for comparisons.
  2. Selling higher value products. Customers spend money on a whole package of services and it’s important your team looks for opportunities to sell these higher margin products. Do you adequately reward this to keep them focused on the goal?
  3. Better customer service experience.  With many operators seen as offering similar products and services, it all comes down to the customer experience doesn’t it. If they like your agent, they seem knowledgeable and keen to help, you’re much more likely to convert aren’t you? Make sure you give them adequate product training and you keep them motivated. If not, you’ll lose the business that floats under your nose.
  4. Better contact with past customers. So many industry sectors have haphazard plans in the way they deal with previous or lapsed customers. And yet they’re the easiest people to sell to. Check how you keep in touch with them after their holiday with you. Ensure you have a programme to make them feel valued. You want to be their number one choice before they even start looking around for their next holiday.

You and any business grows in 4 ways. By ;

  • Selling to more people
  • Increasing average order value
  • Selling to the same people more often
  • Reducing churn (the rate at which you lose customers)

Of course none of this is rocket science, but ask yourself if you really understand these metrics in your own business and make sure you have a plan to achieve each of these 4 things. Your livelihood depends on it.

To Market runs telephone sales and telemarketing training courses across the East Midlands, Peterborough, Cambridge, Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Peterborough, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, Milton Keynes, Lincoln, East Midlands as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in benchmarking telesales teams, business growth, sales development training, Selling advice, telesales, Travel industry training | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries