Two ways this telemarketing/ telesales course can help you
The Managing Director of a small but growing IT Services Company had identified Phil, a "keen as mustard" youngster, whom he decided to take on to do telephone sales. Phil had already worked in IT for about a year and had masses of potential.
The Sales Director of another company had some months previously promoted Lynn, an existing employee to a telesales role yet, despite having been sent on a sales training course, she was struggling to get past first base.
Each Director purchased Telemarket Your Way To Success for his employee to:
- Give the employee the best “on the job” training and chance of success
- Swiftly assess the employee’s potential in the job
Phil’s story…
On the face of it this should have been a gem yet it became obvious within the first couple of weeks of purchasing the course that "keen as mustard" Phil:
- Had quite a high (and totally unjustified as it turned out) opinion of his sales abilities
- Hadn't much of a clue what he wanted to achieve
- Was actually bone idle (this from his call log)
- Had no interest in or aptitude for learning or improvement
- Either hadn't read the course Modules pertaining to the worksheets he submitted, let alone do the exercises in them, or plain didn't understand them
Between us, the managing Director and I gave that lad every opportunity to learn, apply and shine but it was not to be. Result? Exit bone idle Phil sharpish.
It wasn't the result any of us would have wished for but at least the course helped to speedily expose the inherent problem which was that Phil didn't have the desire, ability or attitude to ever amount to anything in sales.
We cut the company's losses and saved the MD from extra months of salary going down the drain. There was little damage done except a small hole in the MD's company's coffers (but much less than it might have been!) and the determination on his part to devote a more objective and analytical approach to recruitment in the future...
The second company had a completely different outcome. Here it is.
Lynn’s story…
on the other hand turned out to be a case of telephone despair into telephone triumph in 4 weeks!
This was an urgent case, the Sales Director of a company that sells mainly to trade store managers contacted us. Lynn had been a loyal employee for years and had convinced him to promote her to the role of telesales. Despite having attended a sales course, she wasn’t achieving any success, most of her calls lasted less than a minute, she was losing heart and was on the point of walking out.
Could we help?
Did she want to learn? Yes, she was desperate. Okay, let’s go for it.
The following are some of her comments, taken from her Telemarket Your Way To Success Course Introduction worksheet:
Overall sales ability: 4 out of a potential 10.
"I know I need help in conversational skills - although I am an outgoing person I struggle to keep the conversation going. New customers are hard for me and although I know in my head the questions I should ask as soon as they put the barriers up I am lost."
"… I know I can do this job better with the right help and training."
"I struggle to get through to the decision maker… And then once through I struggle to keep the conversation going… I also struggle with existing customers, to have the confidence to ask the right questions when I know they are using our competitors."
What was great was that, as you can see, Lynn was so open about her problems. She was also focused with the objectives she set herself, for example:
- Getting past gatekeepers: 1 week
- Gaining new business from the contacts I already have: 3 months
- Having the confidence to close the sale: 2 weeks
- Having more conversational skills: 1 week
She set herself some pretty tight time schedules but her needs were pressing and she had the full support of her Office Sales Manager and Sales Director. So we took her through all of the Modules in 3 weeks.
Lynn would spend a couple of hours Monday mornings reading and learning from selected course Modules, doing the exercises and completing and submitting the worksheets. I’d respond with feedback, she’d then apply the new skills and techniques for the rest of the week and we'd debrief at the end of the week.
This was great as during the fourth week it gave us time to revisit areas where she hadn’t quite "got" one or more messages from a specific Module and was a bit weak in applying certain skills.
Some of Lynn’s comments 4 weeks from starting her course:
Overall sales ability now: 8 out of a potential 10.
Overall course value: 10 out of 10.
"I have been on 2 previous telesales courses, where I went and had one to one tuition and I learnt nothing. On this course I was given different scenarios and the way to deal with them and I learnt a great deal. The course was broken down into different sections of how to deal with the call. It also helped to build my confidence."
Clarity and quality of training: 9 out of 10.
"I did struggle to understand some of the elements and the questions but once I went back over them it became clear."
One on one mentoring: 10 out of 10.
"All the feedback was positive and very helpful, when I got it wrong there was always an answer that made sense and also how to improve on the answer I had given. When talking to Linda, she was always very helpful and gave me a lot of tips on how to deal with different situations."
Likelihood of recommendation to another: 10 out of 10.
“Before I did this course I thought I was useless at telesales, now I know I didn't have the right tools for the job. Thank you I now want to continue in my job.”
If you have someone on your team who is responsible for telesales or telemarketing
– whether to obtain the sale or to make qualified appointments for for a colleague –
and that person is struggling to represent your company effectively and successfully, this course will solve the problem - one way or the other!
Call us on 020 7209 1284 or
