Posts Tagged ‘telesales techniques’

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 »

Telesales training Coventry – testimonials

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Telesales training Coventry – testimonials. Read about what some of the delegates on our courses have to say about the interactive 2 day telephone selling courses we run. We ran a telesales telephone techniques course recently for a Coventry based company in the I.T. services industry. They supply hardware, software and support packages. We had a lively couple of days and they made some interesting comments …..

Brad thought “practising sales conversations on the tape recorder was helpful.”
Andy wrote “Very good course, & very well presented, didn’t lose concentration once!”  He’d like our follow up work on “overcoming blocks and objections.”
Elizabeth noted “I feel this course has helped me understand a bit better, what and how I should be doing my sales job.” 
Jason said “..you were friendly and personable”
Telephone sales course Coventry
Telephone sales course Coventry
We’re looking forward to working with these guys again. If you are in Coventry and are interested in some ideas for how you can advance and develop your customer service, telephone sales, internal sales or telemarketing team give us a call. We’ll come to you, you supply us with the coffee and we can talk through some ideas. E-mail us at info@tomarket.co.uk
I.T. industry sales and customer service training run in Leicester, Coventry, Northampton, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Cambridge and Peterborough.

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

7 tips on how to make cold calls

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

7 tips on how to make cold calls. Need to make cold calls, but after some tips?

Making cold calls is an integral and therefore important part of growing your business. If you want new customers, you have to approach them for the first time (at some point !) If they come through advertising great, but if not, you’re going to have to pick the phone up and make that call. OK, so here’s some ideas on how to do it …….

 

Cold calling is an integral part of generating new business

Cold calling is an integral part of generating new business

1.  Remove the stigma of thinking of it as a cold call. It is just another business call that’s all. And remember everybody is your customer, it’s just that some of them haven’t bought from you yet.

2. Don’t have a script to use verbatim, but do have a call guide. A list of questions you ideally want to ask, and some words for the key message or messages you want to get across.

3.  Your main focus initially on the call should be to engage with the decision-maker on a human level, forget “trying to sell” for a moment and work to build a rapport, just as you would socially. Your first aim is to get them to warm to you.

 4.   Make sure your call is relevant to the target person, or make it relevant. If you can’t – don’t make the call, you’ll be wasting your time.

 5.   Be aware that as little as 5-20% of the impact of your communication comes from the words you use. The rest comes from the way you say it. So make sure you sound enthusiastic and believe in what you do. Refer to Jamie Oliver, Gok Wan and Mary Portas for details!

6.     Learn from every call you make. You’ll find phrases that people seem to respond well to, and perhaps benefits that don’t light people up. Change your approach as you learn.

 7.   Keep a record of all your call activity. So this includes number of calls, how many you get through to, and who you need to diarise for future contact. This will motivate you more even when you’re not getting the results. “At least I can see I’ve made 100 calls today ……..” Not every call gets you the perfect result, but sure as eggs is eggs, if you don’t make those 100 calls, you won’t get any of the perfect results!

 The best of luck.

To Market carries out telesales training and cold call training for teams across the West Midlands, East Midlands, as wll as Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Coventry, Birmingham, Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, St Ives, Cambridge, Newmarket, Oakham, Uppingham, Loughborough, Warwick, Stratford on Avon, Leamington Spa plus Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Suffolk.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in business growth, owner managers directors, sales development training, Selling advice, small business marketing, telemarketing, telephone techniques | No Comments »

Why do sales people fail to close ?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Why do sales people fail to close ? This is a question we spotted on a forum recently and it is an interesting question. With over 140 responses so far it has clearly got the juices going.

The key reason why sales people don’t close effectively is out of fear. They either don’t ask the question at all, or ask it at the wrong time.

Closing the sale - is all about overcoming the fear of rejection

Closing the sale - is all about overcoming the fear of rejection

For a sales person to close at the right time, all they need to do is understand where they are in the process and trust themselves and the process.

As a rule of thumb it is a good idea to open the prospect up by asking them some open questions (so that’s your 7 ‘W’s.) Then just listen attentively and pick up on both what they are saying and how they’re saying it. This will allow you to decide which aspects of your product or service are most relevant to them. You support this with some benefit statements explaining clearly and concisely why this is what they need – and then you watch for buying signals. Once you get a buying signal, the close should be the natural and logical next step.

And it should be remembered that the close is simply a question that’s all. No great drama, it’s just a closed question.

 If they decline at this stage you merely go back to asking questions to uncover more about their needs. To ask the question at the wrong time means you’ve not used the above process accurately enough.

Finally, remember that “everyone lives by selling something” so there should be no great shame attached to going for the close.

Like most things be relaxed, remember you’re a human, relate to them as a human and the close and successful selling should become a natural ‘next step.’

To Market offers telephone sales training, telesales training, telemarketing training for companies across the Midlands ; Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Daventry, Melton Mowbray, Cambridge, Newmarket, Warwick, Stratford on Avon, Leamington Spa, Loughborough, Nottingham, Derby, Solihull, Lichfield, and wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Suffolk plus the East and West Midlands

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

Getting past the gatekeeper – 5 top tips

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 ;

  1. 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 ……”
  2. Go via another department (accounts or HR for instance) and ask to be transferred. This also often helps get the name.
  3. Ask for them by name : directly, assertively and confidently. You could also simply ask for them by their first name if appropriate.
  4. 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 ?! 
  5. 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: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in communication skills, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | 2 Comments »

What to do if you lose an order

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

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: , , , , , ,
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 »

Keep telesales language and suggestions positive

Friday, January 8th, 2010

What you say on the phone is extremely important. And people you talk to will pick up on things without you or them even realising it ! Also remember that what you say reflects what is going on in your head, (the internal dialogue as NLP practitioners call it) so staying  positive is key.

When carrying out team audits with telesales, telemarketing and internal sales teams we often notice agents being apologetic or negative about the suggestions they are making. This is a great shame as it undermines what you are offering.

Positive language and suggestion will help you sell more

Positive language and suggestion will help you sell more

On one team audit we carried out for a Midlands based vending machine company we advised the client to brush up on some of the sales language. “Is there any way I can send some info out ?” suggests that you are asking them a big favour. It also implies you are expecting a ‘No’ too.  In training, we often talk about how asking a question framed as a suggestion sounds so much more assertive. An alternative therefore might be “OK, what I’d like to do is send you some information about our latest range of vending machines. I’ll then give you a call early next week when you’ve had the chance to have a look at it. Is that ok ?”  

I’m not pretending that making such changes to your ‘script’ is easy to do instinctively, being a good salesperson requires practice, and so does being an effective phoner. And remember your voice is the only tool you have to use.

On another team audit http://www.tomarket.co.uk/teamaudits.php with a company in the board packaging industry we noted the need to minimise negative language. One one call Tim said “I’ll find out what went wrong” in answer to a question from a customer who’d had problems with a previous product. There are other ways of wording this so that it doesn’t sound so serious. “Ok, I’ll have a look into that for you, and I’ll ask Sharon our product devlopment manager to give you a call to discuss it with you. Would that be ok ?” 

Finally when talking business with clients and prospects avoid provocative phrases “to avoid harassing you on a weekly basis.” Make it sound warm and human by all means but don’t ‘suggest’ things which have negative imagery. Unless you’re marketing Marmite – in which case “you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it” is probably ok !

This is a topic that comes up frequently in our courses in Leicester, Northampton, Birmingham, Coventry, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Daventry, Solihull, Lichfield, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Nottingham, Derby, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray as well as wider parts of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, the East and West Midlands

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in benchmarking telesales teams, communication skills, Independent audit of telemarketing team, Selling advice, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, vending | No Comments »

Selling in the recession

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Now is the time to ramp up your sales and marketing activity.

While it may seem the time to cut back and reduce cost, this is true in most areas – but with sales and marketing it is even more important to maintain and step up contact with customers.

Customers are in the stronger bargaining position at the moment and how will they decide who to spend their hard earned with ? The company who is nice to them and makes it easy to buy from.

And this needn’t cost lots either. There is a good chance that you have sales people in your organisation, and they are ideally placed to make some of this effort. Now is the time to spend more time in the office, park up the car and get on the phone, or send out some letters, or brainstorm some ideas between you on ways of repackaging and offering your products and services.

Our colleagues over at the Ideal Marketing Company in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire specialise in helping small to medium sized businesses develop great marketing ideas that work and either cost little or nothing at all. Follow this link www.idealmarketingcompany.co.uk to find out more about their PR and low cost marketing seminars that cover Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough and beyond !

We encourage some creative thinking too. We will be running a range of small scale marketing workshops and seminars soon covering telephone selling, how to develop better relationships over the phone, and customer service over the phone. Drop us a brief e-mail to info@tomarket.co.uk if you’d like us to make you aware of these events when the dates and venues are announced. They will cover Oxford, Banbury, Cambridge, Birmingham, Solihull, Leicester, Northampton, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and St. Ives

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in communication skills, customer services, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »