Call Center Work
Call Center work and Sales
Call center work, (and sales in general), is about helping people make informed decisions. It is not just about saying anything to get the sale
By making people aware of the benefits and advantages of your products or services, you can make effective sales by presenting the information to your target audience in a way that persuades them that it’s the right product or service for them. The emphasis on sales in a call center role should always be on putting the needs of the customer first, and in doing so helping them get the products and services that are right for them. This is an important sentiment that a good interviewer in this line of work will always be looking for…
Regulated Industries
Important industries are regulated by special government rules and oversight to ensure they conform to appropriate standards. These include industries such as energy, telecommunications, insurance, healthcare, and banking to name but a few…
In any regulated industry, compliance is always a key factor wherever sales is involved. The compliance your employer must abide by means there will be specific information you are legally required to give customers whenever you make a sale, as well as certain instances where you will not be able to sell to a customer. That’s why, if you work in a regulated industry, audits of your work will be carried out regularly to ensure you are adhering to the proper industry standards. It’s very important you are aware of this and are prepared to talk about factors like this openly in the interview where required
Making your approach
One of the rules when selling is that you must always talk to the person with decision making authority. This is especially true in outbound call center work. That’s because when you’re making calls, you might not always get through to the person who has the authority to buy whatever it is you are selling. And it’s why following the advice below can be useful when it comes to making the sale:
Here we are introduced to the median person (whom you might more commonly refer to as an intermediary). This is a person you may have to deal with first before you get to see the actual person you need to speak with. An intermediary could be someone like a secretary or personal assistant
- The median person is someone who does not have any decision-making authority. Don’t try to sell to the median person. Firstly, you’ll be wasting your time, and secondly, this may reduce your chances of being connected to a person with decision-making authority
- Don’t view the median person as your enemy. That won’t do anything except create a negative psychological barrier between you. But do try to keep your dialogue with the median person as brief and concise as possible
- When you are on the phone try to sound knowledgeable. If a person thinks you are knowledgeable, they will regard what you have to say with more openness
- Always use a relaxed and calm voice and be sure to articulate your words clearly
Leaving Voicemails
Different call centers will have different policies for this, but remember that there is always the option of leaving a message or voicemail
If someone tells you that the person your seeking is busy or in a meeting, especially if you’ve called before, ask if they can put you through to a voicemail to save you bothering them further
When leaving a voicemail state your purpose – you need to give the person information, but, if possible, don’t give everything away. Try to word the message in a way that comes across as being intriguing as opposed to being straight to the point and factual. When pitching something, if it sounds interesting there’s more chance the person listening will be interested and call you back
Leaving a voicemail if you can’t get ahold of someone in many instances is a good idea. At worst, they will disregard your message and won’t call back. In such instances, you’ll always have the option of calling them back and making your pitch again if you choose
Using transitive verbs
Using effective language is very important in sales too. That’s where transitive verbs come in. A transitive verb is an actionable verb describing a doable activity like kick, throw, write, eat. And it always has a direct objective, meaning someone or something that is affected by the action of the verb
Example.
I threw the paper airplane to a co-worker
I wrote what we needed to do on the board
In sales, transitive verbs can be used to draw and hold the attention of your customer. In conjunction with positive language, they can be highly effective when making a pitch to your target audience. For that reason, you should try and use them as much as possible