Advice from Call Center Training Consultants
What is a dial worth to your company? What percentage of calls do you schedule for appointments? And could you sell more if you saw more prospects? While most of us see the inherent value of a phone call as a potential lead, if we cannot sell the appointment, we might never get the chance to tell pitch product benefits. Understand that you have an open line of communication between you and the prospect, so be prepared when a live one picks up. Call Center Training can help your organization tackle any challenges you may have been experiencing with respect to caller dropout or dissatisfaction. This article attempts to cover the basic premises of phone etiquette and how to deal with difficult customers and situations through preparation and good customer service training.
The number one piece of advice you will hear during any good call center training workshop is to KNOW your purpose on any given call. Ask yourself, “What are my intentions for this phone call?” Is it your first call with the caller? If so, you’re only goal should be to set up an appointment to discuss the finer details that are MOST important to them. As such, you should only highlight the product benefits, not cover them in great detail. Most call center training research will tell you that the objective of the first call is to introduce yourself, your company and the product – THEN ask to follow up with another call. Yet, most businesses don’t hear their employees doing this. Instead, they are tyring to close the deal in one call. While this may be possible with the elite phone salesman, it is certainly not the case with phone novice. Just get the appointment. After greeting them, state your purpose immediately. Call center training research indicates people tend not to pay attention more than a few seconds. Again, keep these maxims close to heart: keep it brief, friendly but concise. Good customer service training will show you the only way of accomplishing this is to practice, practice, practice. Every call should begin, “Hello, the purpose of my call is”
Have a snappy and catchy slogan or claim. Speak for thirty seconds on the product benefits and then ask the caller to respond in some way. This keeps them involved, not just zoned out. Start the call with “Have you heard about the Widget from any of your friends yet? We were mentioned in the news recently and I just wondered if you had seen usThe purpose of my call is basically to familiarize you with this new widget and see if it might be a good fit for you..” This is exactly what you will hear during call center training workshops. The biggest task is piquing their interest without giving away too much. If a customer is really interested right away, he or she may drill you for hours on the minutia that ultimately never sells anything. But if you know this customer’s social style, which is probably highly analytic, you’ll know that by appealing to this person’s intellect and pride, in some cases, is usually the best approach to closing any deal, according to most customer service training experts.
Presenting alternative choices always gets better results, so always wrap up every call with an Alternate Choice Close. To ask for an appointment, say something to the effect of , “What’s better for you, morning or mid-day? And would Thursday or Friday be good?” This prevents them from simply saying “NO”. This is why call center training consultants recommend we always use open-ended questions, because limiting one’s choices tends to aggravate most people. Show that you are considerate of their time and you appreciate the thought they are giving the matter by assuming that they are, in fact, giving the matter some thought. Customer service training from the pro’s will help your personnel drastically improve the firm’s top-line results.
Get the best objections out of the way by preparing for them upfront. KNOW your rebuttals. I’m sure we’ve all seen Boiler Room a thousand times over, and the advice is so true. You have to be able to predict what the customer will say before they say it. By doing this, you calm the prospect and ease any fears they may have that you don’t “know your stuff”. Call center training experts can teach you these vital skills because most have had years and years of experience addressing objections – some with merit, and some without. And even customer service training courses teach you that oftentimes using simple analogies or metaphors can assuage any fears they may have, even when they do not relate directly to the product or situation: people like stories.
What’s your “aura”? Good customer service training tells us you must always sound professional. Use the prospects name and know the name they like to be called. Take care of your voice and project a positive confident “aura.” Speak just a little louder, a lot clearer and just a little faster. Call center training experts agree that if you use the phone a great deal for your work, exercise your neck regularly. Drink water without ice cubes, (cold water constricts the voice), breath from your abdomen, avoid dairy products and heavy meals prior to calling time, and most of all be sure to smile. Prospects will welcome enthusiastic, energetic positive people that have a planned call.
And any experienced call center training professional will tell you that you must get “to” the Gatekeeper vs. “past” the Gatekeeper. Too often sales rep’s try to get past the gatekeeper. Make them your ally. Get their name. Ask for that gatekeeper on the second try, and ask them when you should try back. Chances are they’re more likely to remember you, and if you can leave a good impression, this can only open up the lines of communication. They may even recommend you the next time their tasked with a project by their manager. Hopefully these customer service training tips can make your calling time more productive and your bottom line results more profitable.