This month, we introduce Mark Hevingham, of BPS Teleperformance, one of the leading call center outsourcing providers in the UK. As Team Manager, his role includes the induction, training, daily management and motivation of outbound sales teams.
Improving The Art Of Speaking On The Telephone
Let's face it – telemarketing still has a great deal of excess baggage in the bad news department of the public consciousness. I have made a few changes to the way in which I train my new callers, which may also help you in your call center.
My thinking is that if I received a telemarketing call, how would I want it to go? If I had not thought about buying a service before the call, what would persuade me to turn off the 'Weakest Link' (a UK TV game show) and listen? For anyone who has ever received a telemarketing call, there can be no worse sound than the lazy and disinterested voice of the weak TSR. For many people, the telephone is an every day part of life, but in a similar way to the VCR, not everyone who owns one, knows how to use it to its optimum potential. We are all keenly aware that the telephone is an extremely powerful – and lucrative – sales tool but it could be even better.
As a Team Manager, for a world-wide teleservices company, I have a lot of involvement in the training and ongoing development of staff. I firmly believe that success lies not necessarily in what we say to the customer but in the way in which we say it. I have seen – and indeed been party to -training programs which employ various principles and memory jogging phrases that are designed to grab the customers attention, or handle the difficult rebuttal. Since the beginning of 2001, I have dropped many of these methods – which I now firmly believe are as outdated a concept as calling from lists on sheets of paper.
Presentation of the service or product is as important as the features and benefits of the item itself. In order to help TSRs sell these items, I do not drone on for hours with slides or handouts.
Instead, I use three simple props in sales training:
- a tape recorder
- a photocopier
- a daily newspaper
With these three invaluable tools, it is possible to guide the weakest TSR towards excellent delivery and gaining the empathy of the customer.
Here's the plan; simply set up your tape recorder, then select a short, general interest piece from the newspaper.
Now, photocopy the article. Leave one as printed, then on the other, draw lines where you believe an interest-generating pause could sit. This may or may not coincide with the existing punctuation.
Next, one by one, take the TSRs from the training area, and ask them first to read the article, exactly as they would normally, then again, with the new pause generating lines that break up the text. Ask the TSR to wait in a neutral area, so that they cannot alert the next agent to what is going on. At this point they can grab a coffee whilst they wait for their team mates - this always goes down well!
When you have finished, play back the tape to the entire team. Not only will this create amusement, and begin to lower the barriers created with a new team, it will also quickly begin to highlight the correct way in which to speak over the telephone, and generate discussion.
Remind the TSRs, that whilst on the call, both they and the customer are deprived of four of the five senses, relying on just hearing. Finally, introduce a product for the team to sell – completely divorced from the product you offer, but show the concepts of introduction, information gathering, the pitch, and asking for the sale. These universal constants can be applied to any sales pitch.
Talk about scenarios that will strike a chord with the callers - mention a film or TV show they will know with great acting, then mention one with poor acting. Ask them to discuss how different acting methods color their appreciation of that production. Does the bad actor stand out? Can the same be said for the poor caller? For what reasons would the customer want stay on the telephone if the agent sounds flat and bored? This will ignite excellent discussions and the callers will connect with the concepts of presentation far more easily than if the trainer uses diagrams and handouts.
By the time you introduce any scripted guidelines you expect used in a call, the process will seem second nature. In this way, trainers can speed up the elimination of the drab and lifeless presentation that may be inherent with certain new team members.
Try it – it works!
Many thanks to Mark Hevingham for his contribution.
If you are a leading outbound specialist, why not win a bottle of champagne by contributing to our Tip of the Month column?
Just send us an email.
