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.

Most importantly, have a purpose when you call. Know the highlights of the product, but don’t delve into the minutia. Most call center training experts will tell you that the objective of any first contact should be to introduce yourself, the company, the product and ask for a follow up call. However, many businesses hear their rep’s inundating callers with so much detail-oriented “stuff”, it oftentimes scares them off. Just sell the next appointment. After the greeting, have a purpose. Most call center training research indicates that people lose interest after a few seconds. So, keep it brief, polite, and to the point. Anyone who has been enrolled in any customer service training of any repute knows that most any call should begin, “Hello, the purpose of my call is”

Sell with some sizzlehave a big fat claim: You need a thirty second commercial, that is about 16-20 words that must be so compelling that they want to see you, i.e., “The purpose of my call today is to ask the opportunity to show you our new ..that will..and will.” This is where good call center training can make the difference between a successful business model and a business that fails inside the first two years of operating. You’re trying to peak their interest, not bore them with every last detail. You can’t do this without a good product. But good marketing is also required and so is good customer service training.

Close the call with the Alternate Choice Close: In asking for the appointment, call center training tells us that it is best to always give the prospect a choice of times, i.e., “Are mornings or afternoons usually better for you? Would Tues at 9am or Thurs at 8 am work better.” This technique keeps you in control of the call and helps avoid the “I’m too busy” The last thing you want to do is limit your customer’s choices. Giving them too few choices can push them away, and customer service training would tell us that this is never a good idea.

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.

Attitude. Is yours poor? How do customers react to your voice? Remember, they can hear when you’re smiling and when you’re frowning. Another important point to consider is the volume and tenor of your voice. If you’re a bossa profundo, you could be intimidating customers. If you’re a castrato, you could be annoying some customers. Whatever the case may be, just recognize when you need more or less bass in your voice. Good customer service training tells us to sound poised and professional. Always remember a prospect’s nickname. Take good care of your voice. Call center training experts know regular phone users have frequent aches in their necks and throats, so get exercise and NO ice with drinks, as it can constrict your voice. And most importantly, BREATHE. Have you ever spoken with a telemarketer that couldn’t stop to take a breath because they were too worried about you hanging up on them? And what did you do? Hang up. Use a confident pace.

Many of us have heard the term, “Gatekeeper”. This is not someone to avoid. Let’s face it – you probably couldn’t avoid them if you tried. So, if you can’t beat them, join them. Ally yourself with this individual and develop a rapport. They are usually calling the shots when it comes to choosing vendors. So, the nicer you are, the more they’ll remember you, and the more likely it will be that they will select you the next time a project comes up. Call center training instructors know this because at one time, they were these Gatekeepers. If you choose to follow this customer service training advice, you can dramatically improve dialed to scheduled ratio regardless of the industry.

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