7 Ideas to Improve Staff Call Handling Performance

Having your staff trained in telephone sales techniques will improve their call handling performance. Training in telephone sales techniques & professional call management needs to encompass strategies which help those of your employees who use the phone in the course of their working day to improve their telephone skills.

How to improve staff call handling performance: 7 ideas

1) Speaking to the right person

Ensure that your staff know how to identify the correct decision makers when it comes to what you’re offering. Doing the correct research before the call will help them find the correct person to speak to. Asking for someone by name is far more likely to result in a call being put through as opposed to one where the caller simply asks for the “person responsible for…” Gatekeepers are listening out for those!

2) The ‘un-scripted’ script

Treating a customer as if they are just one of a batch of many will turn them off – and that’s what a script does. Making sure that the staff who use the phone know their product, and are prepared for any questions, means they won’t need a script, and can sell the product on its benefits to the individual, rather than by what is on a sheet of paper in front of them. Ensure that all sales staff understand business and language colloquialisms too. Not just general differences but also industry-specific terms.

3) Closing the deal

Correctly-trained sales staff will recognise when the right time to close a deal is. Too early, and the customer will feel pressured and harried; too late and the customer will get bored and end the call. Using telephone call recordings of past calls will help your staff identify the signals and when to close the deal.

4) Following-up

Review of your telephone call recordings may help identify follow-up opportunities that were missed in the original call. It will also help to  train your sales department in how to spot opportunities for follow ups in the future, especially if the calls are codified with  notes on exactly what was said and the customers’ reactions.

5) Asking the right questions

The right questions to ask may not always be obvious. Going over past calls and highlighting key takeaways will make sure that sales operators know the questions to ask, but also when to ask them. Sharing best practice has long been accepted as the best way to bring poor performing staff up to the level of your better performing team members.

6) Customer service

What is your customer really saying – and can your customer service teams help them find the answers that they are looking for or the solution to their problems? With access to full telephone call recordings your sales & customer service training can be adapted to improve this very important skill.

7) Improved telephone sales technique

Taking notes during a call is important, but when reading the notes back it won’t pick up tone, enthusiasm or any reticence. Listening back to sales calls is an important part of sales telephone training; you can evaluate not only what is said, but how it is said.

It’s very true that improved telephone sales techniques means improved sales as an outcome. The company will be building on customer service performance and results, leading to happier customers. Better trained telephone sales staff will know more about their prospective customers and your product, leading to an increase in customer confidence and, as a consequence, revenue.

How does your company train telephone sales staff at the moment? Can you see the benefits of call recording to help develop telephone sales training techniques?

We can help you improve your telephone service skills and call handling performance with our bespoke telephone training service. Get in touch to find out more.