Despite being a controversial sales channel, telesales has proven to be a very successful strategy for generating quality leads and securing sales. However, it is true that reaching these goals is sometimes difficult and telesales agents must have their own unique strategy that works for them and shouldn’t be overlooked too quickly. If done right, telesales conversion rates can improve significantly.
To help you achieve your goals, we came up with a list of ten telesales tips that will help you stay on top of your telemarketing game. Follow them, adjust them, and make them work for you.
Top 11 telesales tips that work
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Don't sound scripted
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Keep the promises you’ve made to improve your teleselling conversion rate
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Ask questions
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Listen to the leads
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Continuously analyse data
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Record calls
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Set up personal goals
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Take courses to grow in your career
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Work with effective payment methods
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Take breaks - our favourite telesales tip!
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Don’t blame bad results on others
1. Don’t sound scripted — but do have a script
One of the factors that determines whether you will generate a new lead or close a sale is how much you engage the person on the other side of the line. That is why preparing a script that helps you lead the conversation and provides the prospect with all the information is crucial for your success. Remember that you don't have to stick fully to the script; some conversations might take a different direction right from the beginning; sometimes you might have to provide additional information, other times your leads might already know who you are and might jump into some questions.
However, it's even more important to not sound scripted, simply because you don't want your potential customer to think that you are reading directly from a cheat sheet. This would lead to a lack of trust from the prospect.
Instead, avoid sounding like a salesperson and try to take on a role of a consultant or advisor. A great way to kickstart a new call is to try and start a conversation rather than close a sale. This approach will make you sound more genuine and less selly, which is always a good way to engage your prospect in a two-way conversation.
2. Keep the promises you’ve made to improve your teleselling conversion rate
Oftentimes your conversations will lead to some kind of follow-up call, either to clarify the customer’s questions that you couldn’t answer at the time or maybe to schedule a new appointment. These kinds of promises are very crucial for you to keep. It’s also important that you follow up on these agreements in the right timeframe; if you say you will have a check-up call on a certain day and time, make sure you stick to it.
If you're using a CRM system to monitor your prospects' order status you might want to follow up with the customers that haven't completed the checkout. Chances are they've gotten busy with a chore or simply forgot to proceed with the payment. Dial the number to encourage them to complete the purchase or clarify questions that might have risen up after your conversation.
3. Ask questions
All of us have experienced calls from telesales agents where you just sit there and listen to their never-ending information and it all just feels like a one-way conversation. This is something you should avoid. Instead, you want to keep the potential customer engaged in the conversation by asking questions. This will help you understand them and their needs better. Encourage them to ask you questions as well so that you can provide further information and keep them on the call for a longer time. This will increase your chances of converting the potential customer into an actual sale.
For example, if you're promoting a new local gym, ask them questions about their fitness level and provide legitimate statistics about how fitness can lower blood pressure and cholesterol and improve overall well-being.
4. Listen to the leads
Apart from asking questions to get your potential customer to engage in the call, it’s also vital for you to listen to what they have to say. Merely being quiet when they’re talking and not interrupting is not enough. You need to actively listen to what the potential customer is saying, address their concerns, give the answers they are looking for and ensure them when they express doubts. It's also important to be updated on all the new offers and changes so that you can provide all the correct information.
5. Continuously analyse data
Analysing data can be very advantageous for your telemarketing conversion rates. Following market trends and being in the loop of what your competitors are doing is important for results-oriented industries like telesales. Even though this task might be more relevant for senior-level positions, tracking sales can give you important knowledge that you otherwise might have missed.
If you're using a CRM integrated with your payment method, analyse the order statuses. You might notice a pattern between unpaid and paid orders and realise that some of your strategies work better than others.
6. Record calls
Even though you might feel uncomfortable with listening to voice recordings of your calls, it’s very beneficial for growth purposes. By recording your sales calls and listening to them afterwards, you can see what works and what doesn’t. Are you delivering the right information in the right way? Are you focusing on the most important parts? And you can evaluate your performance. Additionally, a lot of us have a bad habit of using filler expressions such as “uhmm” or “mmh” or “like” which can disrupt the flow of your message. By listening to your recordings you can detect these behaviours and become more aware of them. Ultimately, in the future, you can completely avoid them and try to substitute these expressions with pauses instead.
Another benefit of recording your calls is that you let your potential customer know that the conversation is being recorded, that way you can ensure them that they are receiving the best possible service.
7. Set up personal goals
If you just do your job without any goals or objectives for what you want to accomplish, it’s difficult to stay motivated and see what differences and improvements your approach needs. By making your calls, what are the results you want to gain from them? Brand awareness? Increase in sales? Lead generation? Establish a customer base? After you’ve set up your goal, you should adjust your script and figure out how you’re going to measure and evaluate the results.
8. Take courses to improve your telesales conversion rates
In order for you to grow and develop in your position as a telesales agent, it’s also important to continuously educate yourself on the subject. Therefore, taking courses, attending lectures or other related events are good ideas. This way, you’ll learn the most recent trends and best practices of your job to improve your performance further.
Another good idea is to stay up to date with relevant statistics so that you can provide interesting information to your potential customers.
9. Work with effective payment methods to convert more customers
Do some of your potential customers drop off when it comes to paying for the product or service? Don't start thinking that it's your fault. In some cases, prospects don't proceed with the payment because they've changed their mind, in other situations they've simply forgotten to complete the purchase. However, chances are that some of them might not know where to start. Some payment options are a bit complicated and may confuse customers, especially older ones. Typing in long accounts or card numbers might be tricky and offputting. Hence working with payment methods that are easy to follow and complete increases your chances of converting prospects into paying customers.
10. Take breaks - our favourite telesales tip!
Making call after call without taking breaks can be detrimental to your success with potential customers. Breaks are important for staying alert and attentive and avoiding unnecessary mistakes. To be able to show our best selves, we all need to take a breather from time to time, and that’s totally okay. In the long run, you’re not doing yourself or the company any favours by overworking and skipping breaks.
11. Don’t blame bad results on others
If things don’t go as planned, you can’t start pointing fingers at other people or circumstances, that doesn’t change the facts and it only creates an infected environment. Instead, try looking inwards. What can I do differently to improve the results? What was it that made it go wrong? Should we change the target? Should we change the questions? There are many things you can change in order to improve your telesales results. It is also important to remember that no matter how perfect your pitch and presentation are, there are always going to be people who aren’t interested in your product. Don’t be discouraged by these rejections, instead, keep trying, measure your success rate and improve your efforts along the way.
Boost your telesales further
If you take these tips into consideration and implement them into your telesales work, you will start to see improvements. Furthermore, we have some other great news for you! If you want to boost your telesales conversions, even more, you should take a look at our telesales checkout.
Contact us to get started with our seamless payment solution that allows your customers to pay while on a call or directly after.
