Posts Tagged ‘telesales advice’
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?!
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: sales tips, telesales advice, telesales scripts, telesales top tips for free, tips on selling, training in telesales
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 »
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.
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 ;
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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: how to generate additional sales, increasing sales, telesales advice, telesales training, training for sales teams, travel sales agents, travel sales training, travel sector training
Posted in benchmarking telesales teams, business growth, sales development training, Selling advice, telesales, Travel industry training | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
7 things to help you close that sale. More things than steps to be honest.
We are all in situations where the sale is there to be taken. Some you will win, some you will lose. And that in itself is important not to get too hung up about.
Sure you should do everything you can to ensure you get the deal. I think you should also be aware of and monitor your win ratio. Certainly in our business To Market we track the percentage we win, the percentage we lose and the percentage where the order is never placed (to the best of our knowledge.) You should do the same to ensure the market isn’t changing without you being aware of it.
7 steps to selling more - make them yours
There are many things to do that will give you the best chance of winning more and losing less. And remember the more you win, the more it turns up the heat on your competitor doesn’t it ?!
- Be Subtle
Obviously, you don’t want to just shout out “Well, let’s get the order signed then shall we?!” You need to be subtle about the entire process and build trust with them.
If they throw objections your way, you MUST deal with them. Otherwise they will feel you’re not listening.
- Ask questions. Ask plenty of questions. These are vital for 2 reasons. First it shows interest in the other human being. They will like this and it builds trust. Secondly it allows you to gather all the information you need. In turn, this will make it more likely you will sell them the right product or service to fit their needs.
- Offer Choices
Your potential customer doesn’t want to feel like they’re being pushed into anything. You need to give them choices. This could be something like the specification of the product or service, the quantity, the colour, delivery options, upgrades etc.
• Demos and trials
One of the best ways to close a sale is to let the customer test the product or service. Show them how it works and how it fits into their lifestyle. Allow them to try it in their application, using it in the environment and way that they would normally. This allows them to ‘buy it’ in their mind. Once they’ve done that, you’re there!
- Use careful language
Remember to speak positively, and with benefits. But you must also keep your credibility intact. Making fantastic claims or using manipulative language won’t win you friends. Even using their language back to them (as you are taught within NLP) will help them feel you are just like them. It makes rapport building considerably easier.
- Ask for the order. Once you’ve done what you think you need to do to secure the order, just simply and smoothly run into the next bit which is to ask them if they want to go-ahead, or do the paperwork or book it in. Closing shouldn’t be scary and is merely the next part of the sales process.
- Build future sales opportunities. Keep in touch regularly and always be looking to build the next sale. This could be an upgrade, a new improved product, whatever. Bear them in mind for other things your company could offer them that would make their life better and also tie them in stronger with you.
In selling we never stop learning, but these are certainly 7 steps to ensure you win more, and lose less! The best of luck.
We cover sales and customer service training for clients around the UK including Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Solihull, Lichfield, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Stratford on Avon, Nottingham and Derby. Call us on 01858 461148 if you’d like more details.
Tags: advice on telemarketing, free sales tips, telemarketing training, telesales advice, telesales top tips for free, telesales training, tips on telephone selling
Posted in Cold calling, Field sales training, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »
Friday, February 18th, 2011
Benefit selling on the phone is really important. You only have 4 seconds to make that impact, and at that point the customer or client will decide whether to mentally switch off from what they were doing and ‘engage’ with you.
So you have to make it sound attractive.
Benefit selling on the phone - Master it - for better results
Make your call stand out from the crowd. Make them want to sit up and pay attention. Talk specifics where you can. Inane phrases such as “we’re one of the leading suppliers in the UK of ‘blah-blah’” doesn’t cut it any more. Anyone can say that and many do. However saying we supply 40 of the FTSE Top 100 companies would make me sit up and take notice. So would “we are the only company in the UK who offers a full 5 year warranty on our products” as would “we are the second largest company in the UK who ……”
Work on identifying what makes your company or products stand out from the crowd. Then nail it. Say it frequently and often (is that the same thing?!)
That’s the reason special offers and campaigns work. There is a benefit from buying it from me today!
Also use evocative adjectives to describe your products. Words like New, extended the range of, improved, now come with ……… and even ‘exciting’ if you feel comfortable using it are all words that will motivate the customer to want to listen. And if you achieve that, you’re half way there. The best of luck.
To Market runs a range of telephone sales courses all across the Midlands : Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Coalville, Milton Keynes covering this subject and a range of communications skills topics. Find our more here http://www.tomarket.co.uk/courses.php
Tags: advice on making cold calls, Benefits selling, features and benefits, free advice on telephone selling, increasing sales, sales advice, sales techniques, selling benefits, telesales advice
Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, telesales team management, Telesales tips | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Telesales closing technniques. It’s easy really, it’s only a question that’s all.
Closing techniques for telesales - easy really
I am often asked about closing tips and techniques for telesales and telemarketing people when clients commission me to run training courses for their sales teams. Sometimes people tell me that their sales team doesn’t close well enough, or that they are frightened of the close. Frightened of what ? Asking a question ? Surely not ?
No, the close should be the natural extension of the conversation you are having with the person you are talking to. The key to effective closing is really about doing the other bits right first. The only reason you should be going for the close, where you ask the prospect for their commitment is because you’ve done everything else and you think they should say yes.
The earlier parts of the sales process are where you ask questions at the identifying needs stage. Your questioning skills and listening skills are the most important elements here. Once you’ve listened to, and got clear about what the prospect’s needs really are, you can then offer your matching statements by telling them how you offer a product or service that matches their requirements. This will frequently involve reinforcing the fact that their requirements are entirely logical and that is why you offer that product or service.
You use the seek and speak circle to control the conversation, and benefit statements to create interest and hopefully a little excitement. That is the quality that will ultimately make them decide to commit NOW – today. This is what you want to aim for.
If you’re getting the right signs and the right level of interest, then you simply ask the question. There are many ways of doing this and your words will need to fit the situation, but they should sound soft and consensual, “Ok, so is this what you want to go for then ?” or “Shall I go ahead and set them up for you now ?” or “great let’s start the ball rolling then shall we ?”
The close really is only a question, nothing more, nothing less. Do your groundwork properly first, and greater conversion rates will be yours! The world definitely has room for one more superstar.
To Market runs telephone sales, telemarketing and customer service 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: closing advice, closing techniques, selling on the telephone, telephone techniques training, telesales advice, telesales top tips for free, telesales training, tips on closing
Posted in Cold calling, Field sales training, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Getting past the gatekeeper – 5 top tips. One of the parts of our interactive training sessions I particularly enjoy is when we brainstorm ideas as a group. This is one of the fun parts of our training work on getting past the gatekeeper, or getting past the receptionist as it often is.
Here are 5 top tips that have come from training groups we’ve run ;
- Build in continuity if you’ve spoken to them before “He asked me to call him” or if untrue, instead try “we agreed to speak round about now ……”
- Go via another department (accounts or HR for instance) and ask to be transferred. This also often helps get the name.
- Ask for them by name : directly, assertively and confidently. You could also simply ask for them by their first name if appropriate.
- Use the fear close. Spell out ‘dangers’ of not taking your call. Does depend on the industry you’re in. This can work with compliance industries such as Health & Safety. Not many receptionists will be brave enough to block you in response to lines such as “I just wanted to chat to him about the forthcoming legislation and I’ve got some information for him that will help you stay the right side of the law” will they ?!
- Be prepared to engage the receptionist or PA in conversation. Use their name back to them, and use words like help, advise and suggest. You will be appealing to their ego and sense of power.
There are many m0re of these tips and we are collecting more all the time, but I hope these help you. They certainly help us, and the countless people we work with. The best of luck, and I mean that most sincerely folks !
To Market runs training sessions to include this bane of our lives across the Midlands including Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Northampton, Corby, Kettering, Loughborough, Daventry, St Ives, Cambridge and wider parts of the East and West Midlands
Tags: advice for free on telephone selling, advice on telemarketing, free advice on telephone selling, telemarketing tips, telesales advice, telesales techniques, Telesales tips, telesales top tips for free, tips on selling, tips on telephone selling
Posted in communication skills, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Sadly sometimes it’s gonna happen. Despite your best efforts and the positive thoughts you had about this job, you find out you did not get it. At this point many salespeople simply give up and move on. After all there’s plenty more fish in the sea. However you’re a professional and so you’re keen to learn as much as you can from this situation. Good !
Professional telesales & lost orders
Often you will hear of this lost order indirectly. It seems customers don’t want to deliver bad news in person. So strangely if you’re going to get additional information about what happened and why, you will need to make it easy for them ! As I said – strange that !!
Contact them by phone, and explain that you’re keen to learn from the experience both personally and from the company’s point of view. Phrases such as “I’m interested in knowing about how we stand in the market place and so I’d like to ask you why on this occasion we weren’t successful in winning your business. Hopefully that way we can learn from it, and improve what we do in future.”
Because their guard is down, you will often find out valuable information. It will also tell you about what is important to them in choosing a supplier. You will be amazed how often it isn’t the price !
Having a dialogue with the customer is important too as it helps you start the dialogue for next time. And as many of your other competitors won’t be doing this, it starts to build your opportunities for next time. Also of course, if your victorious competitor lets them down, they’ll be on the hunt for an alternative supplier. And if you’ve already spoken to them and they know you’re not harbouring a grudge, they’re much more likely to try you aren’t they ?
To Market runs training for companies across the Midlands including Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Coventry, Leicester, Northampton, Wellingborough, Cambridge, St Ives, Corby, Kettering, Daventry and wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and the West Midlands
Tags: advice for free on telephone selling, free advice on telephone selling, free sales tips, free tips on telesales, telesales advice, telesales techniques, telesales top tips for free
Posted in communication skills, Independent audit of telemarketing team, sales development training, telemarketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, Telesales tips | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Questions really are the answer. It is true that good and effective questioning skills are key to building good relationships with your customers and prospects. And remember that everyone is a customer, it’s just that some of them haven’t bought from you yet !
Questioning skills are key to building good relationships with customers
I was with a customer yesterday who was talking about the fact that his sales team who deal with customers on the phone and on the trade counter don’t readily offer alternatives when a customer asks for a product which is out of stock. This is so important for a number of reasons.
First it is important to remember that a customer who calls you on the phone or in person really wants to go away with their problem solved. They don’t really want to have to try somewhere else or phone around. So in fact, by offering alternatives you are potentially solving a problem for them. Be proactive – it is good selling and good customer service.
Secondly a customer or client can often go away with a solution that they’re happy with, or in some instances happier with than what they thought they needed ! Use your experience and expertise to offer them other things they may not be aware of.
And the best way of offering advice and alternatives is by questioning. Only by using quality questioning skills will you be able to find out all you need to know about the customer’s application and their requirements. That is important as the advice you come back with, is likely to be more useful to them. They will also respect the fact that you’ve listened and shown some interest in them.
Questions then really are the answer, as they help you find out the things you need to know and at the same time it helps you build rapport because you show interest. It works for professionals such as lawyers, accountants, detectives and doctors. Let it work for you too.
To Market runs training sessions that include beefint up your questioning techniques across the West and East Midlands including Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Nottingham, Daventry, Solihull, Lichfield, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Leicester, Northampton and London
Tags: advice for free on telephone selling, free sales tips, sales advice, selling more on the phone, selling on the telephone, telesales advice
Posted in communication skills, customer handling, Customer Service tips, Field sales training, Selling advice, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »
Friday, November 27th, 2009
How to sell the delivery charge on small orders. Many clients are looking to protect margins in what are increasingly competitive markets at the moment. We recently completed some training and development work with a chemical supplies company. They supply a range of chemical based products to customers in varied market sectors. One item some members of the team struggled with was the newly introduced minimum order value for free delivery. In the report we wrote ;
telephone techniques - tips on increasing order value
“One small observation I would make is that I would prefer them to offer the alternative price inclusive of delivery rather than saying “and delivery will be an extra £13 if your order is less than £50.” What I am aiming at is to make it easy for the customer to know the total cost rather than making them very aware of what they are being asked to pay as delivery. So instead of it being “well that’s £25 plus a £13 delivery charge”, they could express it as “that will be “£25 or £38 delivered.” In my experience what we all want to know is how much something is going to cost us rather than how it is broken down. Also by saying how much the delivery charge is, you are focusing them on it as a stand alone item.
Another idea I had when sitting with Kate is to look for added value business as a way of ‘helping’ customers get around the delivery charge. Kate admitted that this hasn’t been tried. There must be items that are fairly low cost that everybody would have a use for. While I don’t know about all the items in your catalogue things like plasters, hand cleaning towels, and barrier creams would fit this description. So if someone is placing an order for £35 for instance you could at least ask the question to see if they would add such consumable items to their order to “take advantage of a lower delivery charge.“ In effect of course it means that these additional items are being discounted by £7.50, and you may just generate considerably more business from some of these low cost items.”
There are many ways of delivering lines to customers that will make them more appealing. It just requires a little thought, and some empathy for your customer. After all customers frequently just want life to be made easy for them. And if you appear to have the answers, you will often get the business from them with little drama.
To Market works with companies to help them sell delivery charges to more people more often across the East and West Midlands including Birmingham, Lichfield, Solihull, Tamworth, Coventry, Daventry, Northampton, Wellingborough, Corby, Kettering, Leicester, Loughborough, Coalville, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Derby, Nottingham, Oadby, Cambridge, Newmarket and London.
Tags: advice for free on telephone selling, telephone communications skills, Telephone skills, telesales advice, telesales top tips for free, telesales training, telesales tricks, tips on telephone selling
Posted in benchmarking telesales teams, communication skills, Independent audit of telemarketing team, Overcoming objections, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, telesales team management, Telesales tips | No Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
How to deal with – “I’m happy with my current supplier.” This is one of the most common objections you face in any form of selling. As a result it is worth building some ‘script’ in your head at least to help you combat it.
After all, if you can make 10% difference to your success in handling this objection, think what difference this would make to your sales results.
Happy with my current supplier - how to deal with that old chestnut
There are many things you can do and say to deal with such objections. Follow this link to the full article we’ve written on ezine http://ezinearticles.com/?Objection-Handling—Im-Happy-With-My-Current-Supplier-Thanks&id=3289726
It is also worth spending a little time with your colleagues brainstorming some ideas. Combining your ideas in this way builds synergy, creates team spirit and helps everyone. One of our clients has recently started doing this every Monday morning and is already seeing more positive results and a better team atmosphere.
Tags: dealing with objections, handling objections, overcoming objections, overcoming objections on the telephone, telephone selling, Telephone skills, telephone techniques, telephone techniques training, telesales advice, telesales training
Posted in Field sales training, Overcoming objections, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »
