Posts Tagged ‘tips on telephone selling’

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!

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Posted in Cold calling, communication skills, 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

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

7 steps to close the sale

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. 

sales training helps get better results

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.

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Posted in Cold calling, Field sales training, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | No Comments »

Telephone selling in commodity markets – ask for the order

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Telephone selling in commodity markets – ask for the order.

You may well work in some form of commodity market. I always feel selling in these situations is particularly challenging. You don’t get much chance to use your selling skills, and certainly limited opportunities to talk benefits. The customer is simply doing a phone round, and frankly unless you’re the cheapest – the lowest price, you’re unlikely to get the order. This may make you feel a bit downhearted like the lady in the picture below. 

Ask for the order - telephone sales tip
Ask for the order – telephone sales tip

It is important though to remember to ask for the order. Basic advice I know, but how often is it neglected? Especially when you’re already conditioned to think that they won’t want to buy from you, at least not until they’ve completed a phone round.

I was recently sat with a client who is in a commodity selling market. We have carried out a range of training and one of the key things has been to get the team of 7 to ask for the order whenever they quote. The client proudly told me that the team has generated 13% more sales in the 3 months since training than in the 3 months before! Admittedly this is not all down to the team just asking this one question. We’ve done a fair amount of training, and the client has also been proactive in developing more attractive packages and training on product knowledge. However a 13% increase in sales volume is good – however it has been achieved.
Part of my advice was to ensure that the question – asking for the order accompanied requests for quotes. Then back it up with a benefit statement. So it might sound like this “OK, I can supply that for you at £120 per kilo, and we can have it delivered for you by the day after tomorrow. Would you like me to organise that for you?”  After all, remember the old maxim if you don’t ask they can’t say yes!
You might be expecting a fob-off, but ask the question anyway, you’ll be surprised how many times it works. And what’s the worst that will happen? They’ll give you the fob-off anyway. Remember customers just want life to be made easy for them. And sometimes, they can’t really be bothered to carry on phoning around especially if what they may save is fairly small beer.
Remember fortune favours the brave! So be brave and you will be rewarded. Enjoy your selling.
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.

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Posted in Field sales training, sales development training, Selling advice, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | 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

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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

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Posted in communication skills, Getting past gatekeepers, Overcoming objections, sales development training, Selling advice, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales tips | 2 Comments »

Don’t apologise for your sales call

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Don’t apologise for your sales call. What you or your team does is an important job. It was Robert Louis Stevenson who said “everyone lives by selling something.” You should never feel guilty about doing a sales role. I notice from team audits sometimes http://www.tomarket.co.uk/teamaudits.php that telesales or telemarketing staff routinely apologise to the decision maker, but this gets the call off on a submissive foot.

When working with an I.T. software provider recently and carrying out some work to benchmark their team, Nicole said on one call “this is just a brief call.” 

Tips and advice on making telesales calls

Tips and advice on making telesales calls

I don’t particularly like this phrase as it undermines what you are doing. It makes it sound a bit apologetic, and therefore indicates you’re ready for them to say they haven’t got time to talk to you. On one call in particular, when the decision maker wasn’t ready to move forward, she used the phrase ‘no problem at all’ three or four times in quick succession.  To show that we are mentally engaged it is important that we don’t overuse phrases too much.

So be loud, be proud ! If someone doesn’t want to speak to you, that’s fine, but always find out as much as you can about why not. Perhaps another time would be more convenient. In any case the more you can find out the better placed you’ll be. If they don’t want to talk, there is always a reason why. It may be that they don’t have a use for your services or product, but then you want to know that don’t you ?

And whatever you do, don’t ever say “this is a courtesy call !” Or at least not in my earshot anyway. I strongly dislike this phrase ! After all, what IS a courtesy call. An apologetic sales call ? Don’t get me started ………..

We regularly carry out telesales and telemarketing team audits in Leicester, Northampton, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Loughborough, Coventry, Daventry, Birmingham, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, and Rugby and we now have a bank of team audit reports from industries such as vending machine suppliers, beverage systems, fork lift trucks, car leasing, car dealerships, plastics manufacturers, I.T. software developers, local councils, outsourced business services, telemarketing agencies, fire detection systems, industrial manufacturers and many more.

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Posted in communication skills, Independent audit of telemarketing team, sales development training, Selling advice, small business marketing, Telemarketing management, telephone techniques, telesales, Telesales team assessment, telesales team management, Telesales tips | No Comments »

How to sell the delivery charge on small orders

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

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.

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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 »

Structuring a powerful sales call opening

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Needless to say starting your outbound sales call with a good strong opening is particularly important. Because of course if the opening doesn’t grab their attention, then you won’t get past first base, and all the other wonderful things you want to tell them will be wasted !

So do I recommend starting with a powerful series of benefit statements ? Well ‘No,’ probably not in most instances. People like to be communicated with in a respectful, clear way. So make your call crystal clear.

You should start with 3 things in the first sentence. You say ;

  1. Your name
  2. Your organisations name
  3. The reason for your call

This allows the other person to be clear about the context for your call, and they’ll start to evaluate their responses. Be honest and open at the start and you will get more from the other person. This is one of the parts of the 2 day telesales course that we run. You can download a full course schedule by following this link http://www.tomarket.co.uk/course-schedules.php but the opening of the sales call is an important part of your ‘script’ so work hard to get it right.

And of course preparing the reason why  you’re calling also makes sure that you know why you’re making this call !

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Posted in communication skills, telemarketing, telephone techniques, telesales | No Comments »