Tele Sales – Tips for Success –

Tele Sales – Tips for Success – Chapter 1This article presents the first in a series of reviews that examine the basics for success in Tele Sales. For people new to Tele Sales it provides a guide to good practice and for the more experienced Tele Sales professionals it can be used to review and refresh your current approach.
POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE To succeed in any form of Sales and Marketing profession, you need to manage your mind set and apply yourself with a positive attitude. Whilst we may all have days we would rather forget or even not bother getting out of bed for, we still have a professional obligation to present an enthusiastic and cheerful face to our customers. Maintain a conscious awareness of the positive aspects and importance of your role. The importance of Tele Sales is the vital part it plays in the company’s success through the generation of income and wealth. Remember that one definition of selling is ‘transferring enthusiasm’ for a product and service, or both. There is only one thing that is arguably as contagious as ‘enthusiasm’ and that is the lack of it!The dynamics of telephone communication naturally dilute and diffuse the usual impact of non-verbal communication signals, when communicating face to face. The way we say something is significantly more important over the phone and you have to work harder to ensure you transmit the energy required to give the impression you are enthused by what you are saying. The oldest tip in any text book is to smile when you talk; it makes you sound happy if not at least content. If you’ve never done this, try it, it works! With respect to what you say, you must also be ready to ‘own’ the call you are handling, take responsibility for complaints and issues that arise from your dealings with the customer. Be prepared to follow up matters until they are resolved and don’t pass the buck. Additionally, where the autonomy of your role allows, work hard to exceed the customer’s expectations with the level of service you provide. In simple terms, be willing and self-motivated to do more than they expect, keep promises and keep them informed.
PERSONAL DRIVETo regularly focus your mindset, identify ways in which you can remind and motivate yourself to apply the positive attitude to carry out your role in a consistent professional and enthusiastic manner. Ideas to do this include – selecting and displaying visual images on your workstation that you feel will elicit positive feelings about your job or why you are doing your job, write a checklist of positive facts or factors as to why you do your job, surround yourself with things that make you feel good.Set yourself goals, targets for your personal achievement. Not just company targets, but personal targets like the number of calls you will take or make, number of appointments or sales you are to achieve in the day and/or week. Compete with your colleagues. Reward yourself for the achievements you make. Remember to have a positive expectation. Get the help of your colleagues to motivate and pick you up if you feel your attitude or motivation slipping. Collective support is often a crucial factor in developing and maintaining sales success. If the day or week starts well, don’t rest on your laurels and reduce or limit your expectations and aims for the remainder of the day/week. If your day or week does not start so well - keep your mindset positive that success will happen shortly.Develop and maintain confidence in the products and services you are promoting and selling. Ensure you are up to date with the unique selling points. Be a positive ambassador to what and who you represent. You have to believe in what you are selling or at worst you must be very convincing in acting and communicating that you represent a positive belief in what you sell. If you can look in the mirror and say to yourself that you would buy the type of product and services you offer and purchase at the price your company charges, because you believe them to be the best and offer the greatest value for money; then you ‘believe’.Remember the need to continually motivate yourself is crucial when working in the sales and marketing arena, because in sales, you are defined by what you achieve today and not what you know or achieve. Therefore the priority is always your next result and achievements.