Corporate E-Learning

Welcome to the Call Center Training Workshop. A well-trained Call Center is the heart of any operation. Call center employees who know how to handle the great variety of situations that present themselves with skill and professionalism will be an asset to the organization as well as being able to profit themselves in terms of salaries and performance bonuses. Call Center Training will allow the employee to enter their work area with confidence that they are equipped to answer questions and overcome objections and ultimately close the deal.

Every telephone sales associate wants to increase productivity. Constant changes and innovations in the marketplace are sometimes hard to keep up with. The reason people elect to buy is often not a result of logic and planning but rather emotion or felt need. Effective sales associates try to identify the Dominant Buying Motive (DBM) of the buyer on the other end of the phone. Discovering this takes careful listening skills and the suspension of the idea that people always do things for logical reasons.

There are different types of conversations that we all use to function in everyday life. The different types of conversation are required in different situations. When attempting to converse, whether person to person or in a group or organization, it is essential to understand the different types of conversations and how each type functions.

Practicing proper telephone etiquette is the key in improving and maintaining a high level of sales and customer service. Knowing how to effectively and courteously answer the phone, initiate a controlled conversation, and resolve the issue with the costumer on the other end of the line saves time and increases the level of customer satisfaction. Every business receives customer complaints over the telephone. Those that handle the complaints in a courteous and empathetic manner retain their customer base and gain new business by word of mouth referrals. There are many consultants, seminars, and training courses available to improve phone etiquette.

As in any profession, telemarketers and customer service representatives need some basic tools to practice their trade and to measure their success in doing so. Sales scripts can be an early training tool to get the novice marketer on the phone with a feeling that they have something of value to say. Later, this script becomes personalized where they hear themselves saying the words in their head, in their sleep. Their word choice, sentence structure, and tone are their own, and they no longer need the script to speak.

Speaking on the phone is public speaking to an audience of usually one. In order to make your words memorable and effective, you must decide to give a speech, “your personalized script” worth listening to. You do not have long to convince the person on the other end of the phone that you are indeed a Star and not a bore. Speaking like a Star involves capturing the listener’s attention at the beginning of the conversation and winning their confidence in following you to the end of the conversation where you close the sale or finalize the call.

There are six different types of questions: Open, Closed, Ignorant redirection, Positive redirection, Negative redirection, and Multiple choice redirection. Knowing how to ask and answer each of these types of questions is vital to speaking successfully like a STAR.

The importance of setting Benchmarks is indisputable for those seeking long term success. These are goals or plateaus at which a professional can see where they can reach a new level of achievement. These benchmarks serve as cross references to your company’s performance with that of other businesses in your field. It helps to see how you measure up against the competition in areas such as cost, quality, and time. Those that do the job better, faster and less expensively are the ones that excel.

In order to achieve goals, the goals must be well thought out and documented. This will not only hold a company accountable for its actions, but it will also give a visual presentation of what needs to be done, whether or not it has been attained and if modification is necessary. In order for goal setting to be most effective, the goals must be SMART and the company must remain focused and committed to achieving them.

There is another admonition to not “rest on your laurels”. Laurels were wreathed crowns won in the Roman Empire during athletic competition. They symbolized victory and the pain it takes to achieve. They were never intended to become pillows upon which to rest your head on your past accomplishments. There are several factors that success depends on to gain it and keep it. Many companies are learning the lesson the hard way to not let past achievement be any kind of guarantee of future success.

Ironically, closing more sales can give you that free time to spend with those you love. Not closing sales it what causes you to extend the hours you put in at the office. For the sake of those who you love, you must become a closer. The days of doing the opening work and handing the account over to a more efficient closer are over. You must take control of your phone and close every call that can be closed by anyone else. This takes full commitment to apply the principles found in this guide.

Although this workshop is coming to a close, we hope that your journey to improve your telephone communications skills is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update your action plan. This will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. We wish you the best of luck on the rest of your travels!