You may have the right prospects, the right value statements, and yet your sales are not increasing.
So why is that you fail at making sales calls even though the script sounds fine?
It may be because of short attention spans, tight competitors, and skeptic customers.
Being aggressive will not work for salespeople as customers will not hear you, resent being pressured, and will be turned off from the sale.
Therefore, salespeople must be well versed in the product, sound empathetic, familiarise themselves with customers and be appreciative of their time. Doing so improves customer experience and boosts sales.
In this article, I have put down 6 ways to help you increase call center sales.
Be well versed in the product
First of all, agents must gain expertise and knowledge of the product or service they are selling. They should be up-to-date and aware of their customer base. Agents must possess the necessary skills to answer questions and address the concerns of the customers. The more they know about the product, the better they will be at selling it.
Pro tip: Spend time training agents and helping them understand the product or service. Help them understand the technical aspects of the product, the limitations, and compatibility issues if any. Agents must also be updated on current issues and features.
Know your customers
Before placing a call you need to know your customer. Step into their shoes and understand what they want and what they don’t need.
So, take a few minutes to research your customer. Check your CRM, hit the company website, and look through their LinkedIn profile to find a specific pain point. Your acknowledgment of this point can help drive sales.
Then, come up with a connecting statement for your call, making you more attractive to your customer.
A good opener must be followed by a connecting statement. It could be something like:
Before I dive into why I’m calling, I wanted to congratulate you on the recent acquisition of a growing technology company! I read about it on Cosmopolitan. I have some information that may be useful to you.
Use good call openers
When cold calling customers, you need to use a good opening line to keep the customer’s attention. It needs to be polite and must be of value to the customer. They must feel like they’ve received some benefit from not hanging up.
Example of a good opener:
Hi Smith, this is Adam from <name of company>. Hope your day is going well and that the Chicago trade show was a success for you.
This kind of opener is friendly and helps to build a rapport between the agent and the customer.
Personalize every conversation
To excel at sales, agents must offer their name, build a personal relationship and tailor their conversation to the needs of the customer. This increases the comfort level, helps build trust and is beneficial for making a sale.
Next, you need to know how to speak to customers, i.e., mimic their tone and vocabulary. Matching caller tone makes them feel like they’re talking to individuals, makes up for the lack of visual cues, shows you’re listening, and are more likely to become loyal customers. This also means you’ve understood what the customer has experienced and you empathize with them.
You also need to distinguish between different customer personalities to improve business relationships. For instance, a customer who prefers direct communication differs in personality from the one who enjoys sharing opinions. So, dive right into the problem you strive to solve while pitching to the former.
Pro tip: Make sure that your agents are well prepared with an outbound call center software which displays the history of the customer when the call is placed, helping nurture better relationships.
Make a sale after a service call
After resolving a service call, agents can sell related products or services. Such follow-up calls give you an opportunity to suggest products that relate to the purpose of the call.
For instance, if a customer dials into tech support because their scanner wasn’t working, they will receive assistance to fix it. Once the problem is resolved, and it satisfies the customer, you can sell a maintenance plan that covers future malfunctions.
Consider why your customers are calling and how you can help them. Do this in the form of a follow-up call, email, or text message, and the more personalized it is, the more likely agents are at making a sale.
Don’t undermine customers’ choice
If a customer says they are using your competitor do not undermine their choice as it comes out as rude and is off-putting. Rather distinguish your product from that of your competition without mudslinging.
This makes way for another conversation down the line to prove what your product does and show why they need it.
Once you’ve convinced the customer, you can talk making a switch.
Example:
That’s good to hear <competitor> is a great company. In fact, we share a lot of mutual customers and companies that use both our product find it easier to accomplish <goal> much easier.
Show Appreciation
You need to make your customers feel appreciated. Basic things like expressing gratitude and saying please resonates well with customers.
You can also send customers an occasional update on your industry. This shows that you work hard to stay ahead of trends and illustrates the importance of your product or service.
Once they’re given top-notch services and feel appreciated, it becomes easier to sell them a product. You can build appreciation into recorded messages and send them via a voice broadcasting solution, emails, and even follow-up text messages after you have completed a call.
Remember, making a sale isn’t a one-time thing. It’s a process of nurturing a relationship over time, built on trust and respect. following the aforementioned steps will help you increase your call center sales.
