As any call centre manager knows, phone work is hard work. Many telemarketers have the tough tasks of cold calling business owners they have never spoken to before in efforts to begin and develop relationships. Naturally, trust must be a major part of these relationships if any business transactions are to take place between the telemarketers and the business owners they have called.
How can telemarketers gain the trust of their leads? There are many ways to endear yourself to a lead when you call him/her for the first time. However, we’d suggest that the most important way is to make the initial call about the business owner – not your business. Focusing in on the needs of your lead to determine how your products and/or services can benefit his/her business will certainly help you to gain some trust.
Too often, people who are called by telemarketers feel that they are inundated with information that doesn’t speak to their needs. They feel that they are being compelled to buy into products and services that don’t serve to benefit their companies. By having your phone reps concentrate on the needs, wants and concerns of the people they call, they can develop greater rapports. This opens more doors for sales opportunities.
How can you encourage your phone reps to develop stronger relationships with their leads? The importance of feedback can never be understated. Naturally, it’s important to put each and every one of your employees through your company’s training program before putting them on the phones. However, constant reminders are needed in every call centre business. Providing the type of feedback that keeps your employees both informed and energized is essential to your company’s success.
Never forget that feedback of both the positive reinforcements and constructive criticism variety are necessary. It’s always wise to make efforts to boost employee morale. When you offer expressions of “job well done” among other appreciative comments, it helps for the members of your team to feel appreciated and valued. However, it’s vitally important that you help your reps to correct their mistakes. Don’t shy away from addressing problems with their approach to their calls.
What tools are needed to help you provide the best feedback? At MeloTel, we highly recommend the use of our Monitor/Whisper Control Panel. It enables you to listen to the calls of your phone agents live and as they happen. This is important because you’ll often need to nip problems in the bud. This isn’t possible when you can only listen to recorded calls. By listening to calls live, you can address matters as soon as they arise.
The “whisper” portion of the call allows you to whisper information to your phone reps without the other parties hearing it. That way, your team will be better equipped to answer questions and respond to customer comments and complaints. You can even use the Monitor/Whisper Control Panel to jump in on the calls to take them over when absolutely necessary. At the end of the day, it helps to greatly improve customer satisfaction and overall productivity in your call centre.
For more information about MeloTel’s Monitor/Whisper Control Panel, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
