A one-day workshop
This highly practical one-day workshop has been designed specifically to help maximise sales where customers make contact by telephone.
When customers contact us direct they have clearly already considered the possibility that they might buy from us, but we’re still only half-way to making a sale. Unless we fully understand their needs and make it easy for them to buy, we may not secure the business.
This workshop concentrates on the telephone skills and techniques needed to achieve the most positive outcome in any inbound customer call. A combination of excellent customer service skills and savvy sales awareness techniques will increase our chances of a successful outcome for both parties.
The programme features the unique INBOUND model, to help remember the key principles for effective inbound telephone sales:
Initial impressions
Needs of the customer
Bring them with you
Open up the conversation
Understand the triggers
Narrow down the solutions
Decision time!
The programme also covers how to deal with difficult calls and challenging people – after all, every complaint is a sales opportunity!
- Create the perfect interaction with any customer making contact by telephone
- Make every call count
- Build rapport quickly in any situation
- Handle difficult calls and challenging people
- Create sustainable and profitable relationships
- Increase your sales conversions
Expert trainer
An enthusiastic developer of people, Scott has been working as a sales trainer and coach since 1996. Operating from a solid foundation of over 20 years in retail banking, Scott has worked independently and also as an associate since 2000. Whilst working for NatWest he undertook a number of sales-related roles including Mortgage Advisor, Graduate Account Relationship Manager, FOCUS Sales Manager and Sales Coach in the London-based call centres.
Session outline
1. The inbound sales process
- Each customer who contacts us will be at a different stage of the sales process. Some might be making general enquiries whilst others will be ready to commit, having made most of their decisions already. Sales and customer service people need to be ready to find out the stage the customer has reached before helping them to make the right decision for them
2. Engaging with the customer
- Having clarified where the customer is on their journey to making a purchasing decision, our next responsibility is to create and build a trusting relationship on both sides. This involves establishing rapport quickly to ease the communication process, thus enabling smooth transactions, both now and in the future
3. Questioning and listening skills for gathering information
- Developing these skills requires practice so that the communication becomes natural for the customer. This helps the customer to feel comfortable with us and work with us towards an effective solution. We discuss different types of question and how to use high-gain questions to uncover key information. Active listening will ensure that we can really help customers get what they need
4. Overcoming objections and excuses
- If we have followed the process properly and really understood the customer, then there should no further objections or barriers to completing the transaction. The reality is that there will still be the occasional issue that needs clarifying, so we need to prepare for possible objections and questions that customers might have. This includes probing objections so that we fully understand the customer’s perspective before constructing suitable responses or solutions
5. Gaining commitment and ending the call
- Customers want to gain a solution to the issue they are facing and the sooner we can help them achieve that the better. Guiding the customer and helping them to believe in their own decision is part of our role. This section is dedicated to getting commitment all the way along the process, not just at the close
6. Dealing with difficult and challenging situations
- The realisation that everybody is different, with different personality types, different ways of looking at the world and different goals, is key to understanding sales. With this is mind we discuss these differences and how we adapt our approach to ease communication and maintain trust and understanding
7. Action plans
- Course summary and presentation of action plans
