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Why do some sales calls work well while others
fail? Why do some sales people become misunderstood so often? Stephen
Kaye offers the guidelines to effective talesales management
We spend a major part of our lives talking,
listening and responding to the people around us. Good communication
does not ‘just happen’. When it does not happen—which
is much of the time, our tendency is to blame the other person or
simply accept that the conversation was somehow destined to fail.
There is another way. That is to take personal
responsibility for the quality of our conversations. If we put our
minds to it, we all have the power to influence every conversation
the better.
The ability to carry on effective conversations
is, in fact, the principle enabling skill of life. In other words,
it lies behind just about every other life skill. If this is true,
then surely it makes sense to be as good as we can at having conversations
that work out for the best.
Communication skills
Why do some sales calls work well while
others fail? Why do some sales people become misunderstood so often?
While nearly every sales person agrees that the way we communicate
is important, it is odd how little attention we devote to developing
our talents in this vital area. Unfortunately, communication skills
are not often taught at school, leaving many people, even sales
people, badly armed for the battles to be fought in the sales arena.
First, there is the role of the person
who wants to be understood as they tell a story, communicate a message
or explain a point of view. Let’s call this role the “Teller.”
The job of the Teller is to engage and
hold the attention of the other person and to make it as easy as
possible for the other person to get the main points clear in his
or her mind. The person who is absorbing the story, message, or
point of view plays the other role in dialogue. Let’s call
this role the “Understander.”
The job of the Understander is to work
hard at really understanding what the Teller is saying. This not
only involves listening carefully, but also asking for more information
and checking their understanding as the conversation goes along.
Communication and telesales
In telephone sales work, it becomes more
difficult to communicate because there is no body language for the
person communicating to gauge what effect their communication is
having upon the listener. The person communicating down the telephone
is, in fact, half-blind, so must develop a very keen sense of gauging
the reactions of others. This is done by listening and noting reactions
to your message by the pauses, tone of response or lack of it, and
a million other almost intuitive ways by which a professional experienced
telesales executive will know which way the conversation is headed.
A good telesales executive will learn to act quickly to maintain
the other’s interest level—assuming they have been interested
initially.
Good communicators know how important it
is to actively engage the other person’s attention and get
them involved in the conversation right from the start. Left on
our own, our attention often turns inward. In effect, we talk to
ourselves. We can get lost in our thoughts. It can take quite an
effort to redirect this attention towards someone else, especially
if we already have some important things on our mind. This is why
it is so essential for the person who is opening communication to
‘hook’ the other’s attention at the beginning of
a conversation.
When you open a newspaper or magazine,
what catches your attention is the headline. Headlines are extremely
useful because they tell you what the following article is all about.
You can utilise the same concept in sales calls to focus the attention
around specific topics, points and issues. Good telephone sales
people make sure they communicate clearly by including the right
balance of ingredients in their conversations. They realise how
important it is to fill in the picture with pertinent and interesting
facts about their products or services.
Scripts
Scripts are a good, workable method of
ensuring that your telesales people are getting across to the potential
customer all the key points in as short a time as possible. However,
few people can read from a script without it sounding just like
that—reading from a script. To the person at the other end
of the telephone line it becomes a total turn-off, and it demonstrates
in an instant to that person just how uninterested the caller really
is in talking to them.
Anyone reading this book has had such calls
him or herself. The response of many people to listening to a “scripted”
telephone call is to want to interrupt and end the telephone call
as soon as possible. Reading rotely from a script is almost rude.
If your telesales team cannot study a script, understand and absorb
the key points in it, and communicate the message in a natural way
down the telephone, then you may have to reconsider the training
and attributes of that teleseller.
Points to remember
It has been said many times that when we
speak, we communicate our attitude, confidence and competence across
the telephone line. Exhibiting telephone excellence can not only
be enjoyable, but can reap you incredible rewards, too.
- Be expressive.
- Be yourself.
- Speak as you would to a friend, or perhaps
more appropriate, a business colleague.
- Be personal, not impersonal.
- Smile. Even if the person at the other
end of a telephone line cannot see you smile, it still conveys
sincerity and enthusiasm.
- Volume is important. Use an appropriate
volume. Speak as if the person you are talking to were two or
three feet away.
- Be clear as you talk. Speak crisply.
Avoid slurring syllables or trailing off at the end.
- Check out your voice speed. Your speech
speed can indicate your attitude. The ideal rate is 150-160 words
per minute. If you speak faster, the person you are trying to
sell to may doubt your credibility. If you speak any slower, you
may bore your listener.
Train your people
A full week’s training would be the
absolute minimum for any new telesales executive before you would
“let them loose” on the telephone. It is important for
them to get to know team members, get to grips with the products
they are selling, possibly even working with the product itself
in some form to really increase familiarity and product knowledge.
Some companies even send their new telesales executives out with
field sales reps to gain field knowledge. Working in the production
department can increase product reality considerably. The methods
used within the telesales department may also be unfamiliar, even
if your personnel have a lot of experience in telesales. This can
include use of office computers and the methods you wish to use
or be used for recording and logging calls, orders, etc.
Until a new telesales executive is fully
trained and fully familiar with the product and the way your company
sells, you do not want them to be under pressure from targets. So
ease off with target setting until you are certain they know how
the job in your company, how the products and how the team, all
work. Then, you can ease over onto targets. This would normally
take two months.
Motivation and incentives
How does a good manager go about
motivating their telesales executives?
Your essential task as manager is to keep
your people motivated. This includes having a laugh, praising them
when appropriate, the “carrot and stick” approach—whatever
it takes. Your personnel need to know that when they’re doing
their jobs properly, when things are good and when they are not
succeeding.
Personnel also need to know that you can
be a tough manager. However, they also need to know that you will
understand their own individual needs. Motivation is different for
everyone. Some people come to work for money; others come to work
because they just like coming to work.
The person who comes to work purely for
money is not particularly interested in whether they like the job
or the environment—they just wants to get on and earn money.
There are as many different reasons for coming to work as there
are people.
Management through fear does not work (e.g.
“Get the results I demand or you are out of a job”). It
serves no purpose to become feared as a manager. Your personnel
are not only your greatest asset; they are the tools of your job
and the energy of the company. Without happy, effective, contented
personnel, nothing is possible.
The management of people is very individual.
There is a wealth of books on the subject of people management,
and some excellent references on managing are detailed at the end
of this book. Each individual has a slightly different style of
management and you have to work out for yourself how to incorporate
good management basics into your personal style and personality.
Excerpt from ‘Make Telesales Work’
by Stephen Kaye; Macmillan India Ltd
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