Who are your Telesales and Customer Care All Stars?

Last night’s All Star game was an exciting game, right up to the last inning.  For baseball fans and non baseball fans alike, it provides an excellent backdrop for recognizing the performance of your top telephone representatives.  Be sure to take advantage of the All Star break to shout out the contributions of your All Stars, whether top individual performers, top team contributors, subject matter experts…....the list is endless.  Seasonal, themed recognition is easy to create and the media coverage provides a supporting backdrop.

Put a Little Fun in the Game of Teleselling

In his book “Management by Baseball”, Jeff Angus highlights FUN as the key ingredient for Rule 14.99 (page 231).  ‘Fun drives effective change.  An organization that wants to drive change has a better chance if it promotes playful attitudes and ideas....’ ( Jeff Angus’ blog). 

A teleselling environment is an ideal environment for introducing stress-reducing fun into the game of selling. 

If you are looking for suggestions on how to add FUN to your telesales meetings and training offerings, grab a copy of The Big Book of Sales Games by Peggy Carlaw and Vasudha K. Deming. 

Telesales Training:  Questions to ask when selecting a training company

There are many excellent Sales Training options available, however not all have the talent or expertise to train Telesales Representatives.  When selecting a training company for your Telesales team, look for a Telesales track record.

Be sure to ask the following:
1.  What percentage of your training engagements involve training Telesales representatives?
2.  How many of those engagements are exclusively Telesales Training (as opposed to training in combination with Field Sales training)?
3.  How is your Teleselling training different than your other Sales training offerings?
4.  What specific Telesales techniques do you include in your training?

Asking a few Telesales-specific questions at the beginning of the search will result in a shorter list of applicable Telesales Training resources.

Question:  What’s the best way to determine if a candidate can handle a telesales position?

Answer:  Conduct a telephone interview.

A short, targeted initial telephone screening will provide you with insights into the tele talents of the candidate. 

Teletip:  Break the interview into two segments:  a short, introductory segment and a second, more involved series of interview questions.  This enables you and your managers to end an interview gracefully if the candidate is not a fit and/or does not project a professional teleselling image.

Stay on top of your Customer’s experience:  Conduct a quick Customer Service Tele Checkup

(1) Do you know what your customers and prospects hear when they call your company?
(2) Are your Customer Service representatives and/or the person answering your main number courteous, knowledgeable, and professional?
(3) Are you sure your customers and prospects are getting the best service and the right information each and every time they call your company?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know’, consider implementing a regular tele checkup program. Every week, make a few calls to your company’s main number and to your Customer Service line. Make the calls on different days, at different times of the day. And come to the calls prepared with specific questions. This exercise will provide with the answers to questions (1), (2). & (3) and more.

Teletip: If you have a distinctive voice, it would be worth the investment to hire a ‘secret shopper’ to do these calls on your behalf.