Telephone Techniques | To Market Blog

Posts Tagged ‘telephone techniques’

Selling and account management – take a long term sales view

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

With selling and account management it is really important to take the long view. How easy is it to give up on a business account because you feel you’re getting nowhere ? Sometimes you feel it is impossible to build rapport with the key decision-maker.

Even sales people following up a quotation or proposal will try the contact once, but then frequently give up if they don’t get through. This is madness in my view. Given that you’ve put the trouble into preparing a quote for them, the easiest thing is to then keep in touch. They should also be your best opportunities for business in the short term.

If you’ve decided an account is worth pursuing because it meets the necessary criteria, then it is worth pursuing! This means a structured, thought through communication plan. And no this doesn’t mean you need to contact them every day or every week – it has to be what is appropriate. Contact them too much and they’ll start to get irritated. So that is clearly counterproductive. As we’ve now become a published author at the articles base site you can follow this link to read the fuller version of this blog on selling and account management

If you’ve decided an account is worth pursuing because it meets the necessary criteria, then it is worth pursuing! This means a structured, thought through communication plan. And no this doesn’t mean you need to contact them every day or every week – it has to be what is appropriate. Contact them too much and they’ll start to get irritated. So that is clearly counterproductive. We’ve now become a published author at articles base an online source of many useful and interesting topics. Follow this link to find the fuller version of this blog. http://www.articlesbase.com/training-articles/selling-and-account-management-its-all-about-taking-the-long-view-808465.html

Tags: account sales, advance selling, Sales account management, sales techniques, selling to major accounts, telemarketing skills, telephone techniques, telesales training
Posted in Field sales training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telesales | No Comments »

Shall I leave a voicemail ? Tips for telesales and telemarketing teams

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Shall I leave a voice-mail message is a question I get asked a lot. And it is complicated in that the answer is “it depends !”

Certainly when I am training telephone sales and telemarketing people or anyone making outbound calls I suggest that you have to consider it on a case by case example. Not very helpful you may think. But let me explain. Generally, and the majority of the time if you get put through to someone’s voice-mail I suggest not leaving a message. First of all if you did this on every call where this happened, it would take more time. Admittedly it might only take 45 seconds or so, but imagine if you did that 50 times in a day, that’s nearly 40 minutes gone that will never come back. Most of the time people won’t call back anyway.

The second reason for not leaving voice-mail messages is that if you’re leaving them frequently it makes you sound more desperate. And whatever the reality you certainly don’t want to give that impression ! Added to that of course if you keep leaving messages you remove the incentive for them to call you back. They’ll be thinking “I do want to talk to Tom, but he keeps on calling so I’ll wait for him to call again.”

So that’s the advice – don’t leave voicemail messages. HOWEVER there are exceptions, and here are the main 3 I work with.

1. This is a new prospect you’ve not spoken to before. You will often be calling people you have no previous call history with. It could be a brand new company, or perhaps more likely it may be a new contact at an existing company. Either way you have no dialogue with this person. And remember it’s people who buy your products and services not companies or organisations. So in this instance it may be a good idea to leave a message on their answerphone. Because it may just be that they are looking around for the types of products or services that you supply. And if they don’t know about you, well ………. they don’t know about you, do they ? Don’t rely on the fact that you sent the previous job holder an e-mail or brochure a year ago either. Somebody new into a role will frequently look to stir things up a bit and look at new ways of doing things. Now is your time to strike ! In this instance leave them a message to let them know what you do, and of course leave your contact details.

2. You’re following up a proposal. Frequently you will be following up some work you’ve done on their behalf, such as a proposal, or a demonstration, or you’ve sent a brochure with product details and prices. In this instance it is worth leaving a message as you have had a dialogue with them about something specific. People buy more frequently if you make it easy for them to buy. So leave your details. It also shows you’re professional. That is what professional people do – they follow things up, and see them through – so be a professional. Professionals get paid more because they are more successful more of the time. Finally you’ve put some time and effort into this person and their company and so you have a reasonable right to expect something back, in the form of some feedback from them and a definitive response. Otherwise you’ve just wasted your time haven’t you? It certainly doesn’t mean they owe you an order (however much effort you’ve put in), but it does mean that you have the right to expect a response. So leave a specific message that you’re “following up the recent proposal I sent you through…………. and I was wondering if you’d had anymore thoughts on it.” That sort of thing.

3. It’s been a while since you’ve spoken. Marketing is all about brand awareness and so you do want to make sure they remember you, and recall you if they’re in the market or even talking about it within their company. So if it has been a long time since you’ve spoken to them, or you’ve taken the advice in section 1 here and not left a message on the previous 8 times you’ve called them over the last 6 weeks, it might be a good time to do it now. You want to avoid a situation where you lose an order simply because you weren’t talking to them at the right time – especially if you’ve been trying to make contact and can never get through.

We run training courses all around the UK, both in-house and off site open courses, follow this link to the telesales and telemarketing training page http://www.tomarket.co.uk/training.php

Tags: advice on telemarketing, free advice on telephone selling, free tips on telesales, telemarketing training, telephone sales, telephone techniques, telesales training
Posted in Field sales training, Getting past gatekeepers, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

Telesales training masterclass – 9th & 10th September 2009 – Leicester, Northampton, Coventry

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

Telesales masterclass on 9th & 10th September – so straight after the school holidays ! This course is ideal for anyone in Leicester, Northampton, Coventry, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Peterborough, Milton Keynes, or wider parts of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.

This 2 day telesales and telemarketing training course is for anyone who wants to be selling more on the phone, and covers a range of selling techniques, telephone selling, and closing the sale. The telesales course will be a lively, fun 2 days helping you adopt new communication skills techniques.

We will be covering how to open a sales call, telephone techniques plus communication topics such as questioning skills, identifying needs, probing, dealing with objections, selling benefits.

You can e-mail us for more details including course schedule and fees at info@tomarket.co.uk. If required you can reserve a place at no obligation and then let us know if you want to book. This course will be run by Andrew Seaward – Senior Trainer at To Market

Tags: corby, coventry, kettering, leicester, Leicestershire, northampton, Northamptonshire, sales skills, selling on the telephone, selling techniques, telemarketing training, Telephone skills, telephone techniques, telesales training Leicester, training in telesales, Wellingborough
Posted in communication skills, Forthcoming courses, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, Selling advice, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

Telesales and telemarketing training UK – Leicester, Northampton, Cambridge, Birmingham

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

To Market runs telesales and telemarketing training courses in the UK and we frequently train in Leicester, Northampton, Coventry, Cambridge and Birmingham.

Andrew Seaward of To Market explains in sales training for telesales teams that the elevator speech is where you explain what your organisation offers in the time it takes to ride in an elevator or lift (as we call it.) It is really important to hone this so that it is clear and concise. We all naturally have a short attention span and will mentally ‘glaze over’ within a minute or so.

At To Market we help businesses deal more effectively with their customers over the phone. That’s it. If you want to know more we also explain that we offer telesales and telemarketing training courses to business all around the UK, especially in the Midlands covering Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Peterborough, Solihull, Lichfield, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Nottingham and Derby as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands and West Midlands.

Telesales and telemarketing is at the forefront of identifying new business, and ensuring business growth. Make sure your team is at the top of their game. To Market training for telesales and telemarketing includes closing the sale, overcoming objections, handling objections, getting past the gatekeeper and buying signals. So make sure you invest in the most important part of your business- the front end – your telesales or telemarketing team. To Market telesales training courses will help you achieve this. Click here to find out more http://www.tomarket.co.uk/training.php

So wherever you are in the UK, especially the Midlands, Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Peterborough, Solihull, Lichfield, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Nottingham and Derby as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands and West Midlands, we look forward to speaking to you.

Tags: appointment setting by phone, selling more on the phone, selling skills on the phone, telemarketing training, telephone selling, telephone techniques, telesales courses, telesales training, teleselling training
Posted in communication skills, Field sales training, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

new business development – now is the time to get organised

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

I was talking to a team in plastics and packaging recently, and some interesting things came out of my observations.

If you are involved in new business development and you have an internal sales team or telesales team or even a sales team that you are getting into the office to do more proactive calls, it is really important to have a process around this work.

You MUST have a system that allows you to note some brief details about what happened on the call, and when the contact should be contacted next. That way a call is only ever a cold call once. It doesn’t have to be sophisticated - we set up our system in Excel initially.

It is also important to keep a record of which marketing initiatives you send them (letters, marketing e-mails, brochures etc.) That way you always have something to talk about, and you can also manage your customer base to ensure that they are getting sales and marketing messages from you. After all you don’t want to forget anyone. If there is business to be had, you at least want to be in with a shout.

We have an audio CD that covers the subject of how to set up an effective telemarketing team, how to keep it working successfully and in a motivated way. You can click for more details here http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=2

Tags: communication skills, new business development, new business team training, telemarketing training, telephone communications skills, telephone techniques, telesales training
Posted in communication skills, Field sales training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, telesales team management | No Comments »

Tailored customer service and telesales training

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

To Market offers tailored customer service and telesales training to companies and organisations around the UK.

Tailored training for your customer service or telesales team

Our trainers have more years experience in specialist industry and commercial sectors than they care to remember. While we base our training around acknowledged good business practice, we have worked extensively in ; capital goods selling, automotive market, truck rental, fork lift truck industry, leasing, plastics manufacturing, packaging, board and paper, car dealerships, marketing agencies, educational products suppliers, health insurance, software developers, I.T. comms cos plus a host of others.

Our trainer Alan Cook has over 20 years experience working within the travel industry having worked as a trainer within Thomas Cook and Page & Moy in Leicester (now part of the Market Harborough based Travelsphere group.) He has worked with sales teams improving conversion rates and has worked with award winning travel companies.

The benefit to you of working with specialists is that we can learn about what you do and then show you how to benefit from industry best practice.

We run customer service and telephone sales courses at your offices anywhere in the UK, or at local venues across the Midlands including Leicester, Northampton, Derby, Nottingham, Coventry, Birmingham, Loughborough, Coalville, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Peterborough, Stamford and wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Cambridgeshire. Talk to us on 01858 461148 to discuss your ideas.

Tags: telemarketing skills, telemarketing training, Telephone behaviour, telephone techniques, telesales training, training for telemarketing
Posted in communication skills, customer handling, Customer service management, customer services, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »

Telesales training courses at your premises in East Midlands, Leicester, Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Peterborough

Monday, November 24th, 2008

Telesales training courses can be run in-house at your premises. We also run a range of open telesales courses around the Midlands : in Leicester, Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Peterborough, Cambridge, Nottingham, Derby plus other sites in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, West Midlands, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Milton Keynes, East Midlands

Our telesales training courses and training programmes are designed to help you sell more on the telephone by getting round the gatekeeper, objection handling plus we cover buying signals, closing the sale, getting the deal. We run strongly interactive courses to help questioning skills and questioning techniques, how to direct the conversation plus understanding the impact of the human voice as well as listening skills, and telephone professionalism. Full details are available at the To Market website.

The training company is telesales and telemarketing training specialists and is headed by Andrew Seaward who has more than 20 years experience within customer service and telesales team development. He is supported by Alan Cook who is a training specialist in the travel industry having worked
in telephone skills training for many travel agents over the years.

Tags: increasing telephone sales results, selling more on the phone, telemarketing training, telephone sales, telephone techniques, telesales courses, telesales training
Posted in benchmarking telesales teams, Field sales training, Getting past gatekeepers, Independent audit of telemarketing team, Overcoming objections, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, telesales team management | No Comments »

Customer Service training UK – Leicester, Northampton, Cambridge, Birmingham

Friday, October 24th, 2008

To Market offers customer service training in the UK and we frequently train in Leicester, Northampton, Cambridge and Birmingham.

The elevator speech is where you explain what your organisation offers in the time it takes to ride in an elevator or lift (as we call it.) It is really important to hone this so that it is clear and concise. We all naturally have a short attention span and will mentally ‘glaze over’ within a minute or so.

At To Market we help businesses deal more effectively with their customers over the phone. That’s it – or elevator speech! If you want to know more we also explain that we offer customer service training to business all around the UK, especially in the Midlands covering Coventry, Birmingham, Leicester, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Peterborough, Solihull, Lichfield, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Nottingham and Derby as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands and West Midlands.

Customer Service is at the heart of keeping the customers you have and being attractive to those deciding where to buy. So make sure your customer service standards are exceptional and you will develop new business and maintain customer loyalty. To Market customer service training courses give help in dealing with difficult customers, handling conflict and overcoming objections. Click here to find out more http://www.tomarket.co.uk/customer-service-training.php

Tags: how to be good at telemarketing, telemarketing training, telephone sales skills, telephone techniques, telesales scripts, telesales training, tips on selling
Posted in communication skills, customer handling, customer services, telephone techniques | No Comments »

Smile – if you want your customers to bother with you !

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

This one is a great piece of common sense advice for customer service agents and for call centre training. Sonia Brookes came on a course in Burton on Trent recently and sent this story in.

”Recently I had a lady call me from a market research company. I have worked in market research, so I usually give them my time. However in this instance I refused, based on the fact listening to her monotone voice was a little short of depressing. The moral of the story is always smile whilst your talking to a customer and it reflects in your voice.”

This is one of the key things we discuss early on our training courses for telesales, telemarketing and customer service teams. Remember the grey voice ?! (an exercise those of you have attended the course will no doubt remember.) This is so important that in this instance it prevented the caller even getting past first base ! Dreadful ! There is an audio CD that covers this subject on the Associated Learning Systems website. Check it out http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=20 For just £16.99 you will hear about the fundamentals of communication. This person obviously hadn’t !

Tags: telemarketing, Telephone behaviour, telephone techniques
Posted in communication skills, customer services | No Comments »

Positive attitude – develop one !

Friday, April 25th, 2008

It’s really important to have a positive attitude in your dealings with your customers. In customer service training this is one of the most important points that comes out of our training. So if the customer service personnel think it’s key – it’s key !

Tags: Customer service, Customer Service free tips, customer service training, retail, Telephone behaviour, telephone techniques
Posted in customer services | No Comments »

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