How Do You Manage Your Calls?

Many smaller businesses do not have a full time telesales team. You may only have a part time team. Or perhaps making the phone calls falls on whoever has time to fit them in.

However telesales is carried out within your business, it needs to be managed if it's to be used effectively and get you the results you need. If it isn't managed, the calls won't be made when they need to be; targets won't be set for the number of calls that need to be made; prospects will be lost because you didn't follow up your proposal with them, when they were expecting to hear from you.

You don't need to take on a full time telesales manager to keep track of your calls. What you need is a 'virtual' manager, who can give you the flexible help you need, backed up with plenty of experience. You can use a virtual telesales manager for as many or few hours each month, either face to face or over the phone, depending on the size of your business and the number of people making telesales calls. You can get help for specific projects as and when you need them.

Selling in Stages

Ask Back - always find out if what is being said is the REAL objection. It's important that you are absolutely clear about what is being asked of you. For example, your prospect says that your price is too high. This could mean that somebody else is cheaper, it's more expensive than they thought, they can't afford it, they want a discount, they’re not the decision maker or they don't really want it.

Before you can overcome an objection, ask back to clarify your understand. Use a question such as “In relation to what?”, “How much is too much?” or “May I ask you why you think it's too high?”

Keep questioning each statement until you get to the real objection.

Agree and Outweigh - when you understand the real objection, you can move on. Don’t just agree with the objection – saying "Yes, I agree it's too expensive" will lose you the sale. Agree with your prospect’s thought process and the reasoning that led him or her towards that core objection, by saying:

"I can understand your reason for saying that, but it has since been proved that …"

"I used to think the same but I have since discovered ..."

"It's interesting that you should say that. Some of my best customers used to think that as well but they have found ..."

Provide the Answer - the third stage involves answering the objection to your prospect's satisfaction, remembering all the time that they WANT to be convinced. They wouldn't still be on the telephone to you otherwise!

No Time for Telesales

A small business in Oxfordshire has three telesales staff - two who are responsible for selling and one who has the job of setting appointments. The company’s sales manager looks after the field sales team, but does not have experience in managing telesales staff.

Communiqué Associates provides the virtual management and support that the team needs, to help the members work effectively. Every two weeks, they hold a conference call at which they discuss their targets and the results they have achieved. Advice is given on specific issues and problems are worked through. The results of this call are then reported to the sales manager, to keep the telesales team working as part of the sales function of the business.

"I don't like making phone calls."

An independent consultant knows that he needs to use the phone to make appointments for the coming month, to keep the work coming in. The problem is that he doesn’t enjoy making those phone calls and will put off doing them. Every month, someone from Communiqué Associates spends time with him, to listen to the calls he makes, which helps him to maintain his motivation for making the calls. He receives practical, on the spot feedback and training, enabling him to make more effective calls throughout the day.

The Virtual Offer

To help you manage your telesales - whatever the number of people involved and the number of calls you need to make - we have a special offer for you.

For every four hours of virtual management you buy by the end of March, we'll give you another hour completely free. That's an extra 25% free! Click here or call 01628 400 603 to tell us more about the help you need.