A one-day workshop
In today’s fast-moving competitive environment, sales are often made or lost on the strength of a telephone conversation or a brief email. This means that not only is customer service everyone’s responsibility – so is sales. Customer service staff are failing the customer if they don’t think about sales. And sales staff are failing customers if they don’t think about service. And anyone failing a customer is failing both themselves and their employer.
Too often, customer service staff feel neither capable nor empowered to recognise or capitalise upon a sales opportunity. Too often, sales people pursue the short-term opportunity at the expense of the bigger picture.
The good news is – it doesn’t have to be this way! Sales and customer service skills can be acquired, developed and polished just like any other skill. This tried-and-tested programme shows you how to do it.
- Take control of a customer conversation, with confidence
- Refresh and polish their customer service and sales performance
- Recognise and develop a sales opportunity
- Engage the customer and build rapport
- Identify a customer’s needs
- Match the customer’s needs to the organisation’s products or services
- Handle objections confidently
- Ask for the order
Expert trainer
Colette has over 25 years’ experience and expertise in sales, customer care and presentation skills. With a background in sales and customer service management (as Regional Sales Manager for Royal Mail Parcelforce, Telesales Manager and Sales Manager at Thames Valley Auto Trader and interim Call Centre Manager for Legal & General Direct), she brings real-world examples and skills into the training environment and enables participants to transfer them easily back to the workplace.
Session outline
1. Introduction
- Course overview, objectives and introductions
2. Serving or selling?
- Feelings and attitudes:
- How we can affect the outcome by our feelings and behaviour
- What is selling?
- Selling is helping people to buy
- Identifying the opportunities that exist within the conversation to develop the customer’s interest in our products or services
3. Developing the right skills
- Communication:
- The impact of body language, voice tone and words
- How to make the best impression on the customer and create a ‘buying environment’
- Rapport-building:
- What makes a good working relationship?
- What do customers look for when they call us?
- How can we match their expectations in terms of our own interpersonal skills?
- Relating to different types of people by identifying and matching their communication style on the telephone
4. Making it easy for the customer
- Starting it right:
- Opening the conversation positively
- Building rapport
- How to develop interest in our products or services
- Gaining and clarifying information:
- Questioning skills and questioning style
- What do we need to know from the customer?
- How can we use that information in the conversation?
- Active listening:
- The most under-rated skill of all
- Picking up on the ‘Golden Moments’ when a customer shows they may be interested
- Presenting information confidently:
- Knowing the benefits of our products or services
- How to tell the customer what they need to know in order to enable them to buy
- Closing on a positive note:
- When and how to ask for commitment
- Dealing with the customer’s objections and concerns in a positive manner
5. Course summary and action plans
- Review of main learning points
- Presentation of personal action plans
