Developing Telemarketing Skills

June 11th, 2009 | Call Centre Training

Anyone can get on a phone and read a sales script…right? Unfortunately that is a tremendously oversimplified approach to one of the most powerful marketing tools available to a company. Telemarketing is a comprehensive concept which addresses call centre activities and every phone call between employees and customers.

In other words, telemarketing is a marketing concept that encompasses customer service and customer relationships in order to build a market responsive company. Telemarketing concepts applied properly can lead to increased sales, increased customer retention, a steady influx of new customers, and more profits.

Companies that approach telemarketing as strictly cold calling sales are missing an opportunity to use the contacts as a foundation for building a strong marketing program.

Yes, it’s true that anyone can get on a phone and read a sales script. But if the employee has no commitment to the company vision, the call will be simply a telephone call and not a marketing call. This is an important distinction and it takes call centre training and sales coaching that begin with a foundation composed of the mission of the company.

Marketing Working Harder

A marketing program has many components and telemarketing can be one of the most important because it is an opportunity for direct and personalised contact with an existing or potential customer. It’s an opportunity the company needs to take full advantage of so that the most marketing force is exerted.

It’s easy to see that simply having someone reading from a script and not prepared to really promote the company can be counterproductive. In fact a poorly handled telemarketing call can result in lost business far beyond the potential customer on the other end of the line. People network with friends and families and can just as easily badmouth a business as they can promote it.

Telemarketing should be viewed as a chance to make the company marketing program work harder and longer but also in a more personal manner. So it’s critical that telemarketing skills be developed and honed so that the most benefit is achieved by the personal contact made with consumers or other businesses.

For example, a telemarketing call can try to promote a single product or service. But what if the contact indicates they are interested in a different type of product? Does the salesperson just say, “Sorry, we don’t sell that particular item.” or does he or she say, “It just so happens our company can offer you a different product that meets your needs.”? After the first response the call ends. After the alternative response the call may continue and lead to the sale of a company product even if not the one originally promoted.

In other words, a “no, thanks” can possibly be turned into a “let’s talk more about your company”. This is power marketing.

Skills That Work

Developing effective telemarketing skills takes training in order to get maximum results. A qualified trainer can provide valuable resources for developing selling skills using the company vision as the starting point.

• Develop effective sales approaches using the telephone
• Learn how to handle conflict
• Master turning a rejection into a sale
• Learn how to manage calls in a way that creates a sense of outstanding service quality
• Motivate salespeople within the organisation
• Learn how to develop rapport with potential customer
• Develop cultural sensitivities
• Develop sales closing skills

These are just a few of the telemarketing skills which can build a solid and successful sales program that supports a comprehensive marketing program. The skills learned for application in a call centre are the same skills which should be used whenever a customer contact is made on the telephone.

The call does not have to originate in a telemarketing department to be a marketing tool. Throughout the company there are managers and staff on the phone with potential and existing customers all day long. They just need to recognize the amazing opportunities.

How to Promote Teamwork Within an Organisation

May 28th, 2009 | Management Training

It’s easy to assign people to a particular team, but how do you actually get those people to operate as a team that works towards a common goal? Volumes could be written on this subject simply because each team creates its own unique dynamics. Channelling those dynamics in a way that leads to success in meeting goals is a challenge best met through team development activities.

How do you build an effective team? It begins by building team member participation in the vision of the company which is then moulded into team participation. A team member must feel committed, empowered and able to use a particular expertise in a way that promotes team goals.

Promoting teamwork within an organisation requires that certain critical issues be addressed first in order to give members the information and desire to commit to the team. One of the biggest problems organisations experience with teams is the inability of team members to understand how the success of the team will play an important role in the success of the company.

Teamwork is promoted by developing the following.

• Clear understanding of the mission of the company
• Mutual trust between team members
• Open communication between team members
• Open communication between team and organisational management
• Development of creative thinking skills
• Development of coordinated action plan with common goals
• Development of mutually acceptable team conflict resolution practices

For a team to be effective, it must be empowered to achieve its goals. One of the most common mistakes a company makes is creating a team which is discouraged from presenting new ideas or approaches to achieve goals.

Promoting Teamwork Through Dialogue

In essence, teamwork is developed through effective dialogue. Open dialogue is how teams learn about the company mission, resolve conflict, communicate within the organisation, and communicate with customers. Learning how to dialogue in a way that promotes the vision of the company is critical. Looking at it from another angle, if managers and staff are unable to communicate in a productive manner, it will be almost impossible to build a team.

Teams within an organisation can take several forms and dialogue is important to them all. Teams can be department teams, special project teams, or the organisation as a whole. It doesn’t matter what team you want to develop, promoting teamwork begins with team members learning how to effectively communicate.

One of the main complaints heard within an organisation is, “This company doesn’t care what I think.” The employee may say, “My manager never listens to me.” Another frequently heard statement is the following: “I tried to tell them it wouldn’t work.” Upon consideration it’s easy to see each of these statements addresses lack of good dialogue between members of the organisation.

Many companies choose to add communication skills training to their organisation for this reason. Effective communication transmits reliable information and includes feedback given in a non-threatening manner. It is open dialogue that enables a company to develop the skills and environment needed for successful teamwork.

Customer Service Can Differentiate a Company in a Competitive Environment

May 14th, 2009 | Customer Service Training

Customer service is a lot more than just giving service.  That may sound odd at first, but customer service is not just an act of doing something a customer has requested.  True service is a marketing strategy which can differentiate a company in a competitive environment.  It is a way to create quality within the company which leads to new customers and higher customer retention.

When you talk about customer service, it may be tempting to focus primarily only on what has been defined in your company manual.  As a manager, you teach your staff the procedures and then spend your time insuring they are followed.  The problem is this is not quality service which necessarily benefits the customer or the company.

You can think of it in this manner.  Your manual may dictate when a customer can return a product and how the staff is to handle the request.  But simply processing the return of the product does not necessarily tell you why the customer wants to return it, how the product could be enhanced so the customer would not want to return it, nor whether the customer was satisfied with the return process.

In a successful company, customer service is much more than a set of actions.  It is a focus on the customer and what the customer wants in the way of service.  In other words, the customer defines customer service.  This looks at customer service from the viewpoint of the customer and not from management.  Customer service desires should flow upward to the company and then downward as a management response to customer needs.

Service Brands a Company

Branding a company is a process whereby the company name, image, products, and service are differentiated in the minds of existing and potential customers.  Many people choose a business based on brand recognition because they have found reliability and quality in what the company has to offer on all levels from product offerings to customer service.

High quality customer service enhances company branding.  It is amazing how many businesses lose customers because one employee in the call centre was having a bad day and failed to give good service.  It is also amazing how often companies fail to gather critical information from customers which can be used to enhance current service levels.  The customer does not forget when treated poorly or made to feel as if needs are not important, and in fact will share their experience and feelings with friends and family.  In their minds the brand becomes associated with poor customer service even if the product is of the highest quality.

In a competitive environment, providing true customer service can be the defining strategy which differentiates the company.  True or high quality customer service is a lot more than just implementing procedures.  Customer service training teaches staff how to listen to customers, extract the customer’s real needs during contact, convert those needs into management information for decision making purposes, and implement service tactics which meet those needs.  It is an ongoing cycle that begins and ends with the customer.

Quality Customer Relationships

Businesses need an influx of new customers on a regular basis and high customer retention in order to be successful.  In the best of times it is customer service which often becomes the deciding factor when someone is trying to decide between one company and its competitors.  In difficult economic times, offering quality customer service can actually be the company feature which leads to its very survival.

Excellent customer service includes the following.

• Creates a customer sense of ownership in or commitment to the company
• Inspires confidence in the company, its products, and its ability to meet customer needs
• Identifies customer needs or requirements
• Reflects company commitment to meeting customer needs

Through business training, company staff can learn how to integrate the concepts of exceptional customer service within the business structure.  This training can lead to more satisfied customers, improved branding, and a company better able to differentiate itself in a highly competitive environment.

In other words, customer service creates customer relationships so people return again and again.

The Importance of Understanding Conflict Resolution

April 30th, 2009 | Conflict Management

Conflict exists throughout environments of all kinds. In the workplace, no matter how much you attempt to avoid it, if you work with people the chances are you will have to deal with conflict at some point. People coming from different viewpoints and experiences, and having different perceptions, are not going to agree all the time.

Here is the interesting fact about conflict. Some people see it as completely negative while others respond as if conflict is an obstacle that actually presents new opportunities for improvement. The two views of conflict are worlds apart which means the responses to the conflict will be just as different.

Unfortunately, viewing conflict as only an impediment usually results in dictator type responses on the part of management. And anyone who has worked for a manager who issues dictates without getting input knows that style of management frequently generates even more conflict. The truth is that your view of conflict drives your response to it and has a direct bearing on how well the conflict is resolved.

Developing Great Leaders Able to Resolve Obstacles

As a manager, it is important to understand conflict and conflict resolution. This is an oversimplified statement, because unresolved conflict has literally caused projects to fail and even businesses to implode. The way conflict is resolved often defines the business information flow, creates leaders, and becomes an integral component of the corporate culture.

All businesses experience conflict on different levels. Conflict can exist within a particular project or department, or it can exist between company units. There is conflict between employees and conflict between management and employees. There is conflict between the company staff and customers. There is conflict between the employees of a business and its vendors. Conflict also arises between a business and the local government over issues like taxes and regulations.

You notice that most conflict is connected to interpersonal relationships though. That is the conflict which can be the most difficult to resolve, and true resolution is not possible unless the conflict is recognized as an opportunity for improvement.

It is important to understand conflict resolution, because conflict left to fester can lead to lower sales, poor customer service and fewer profits. For example, an employee in the customer service call centre dissatisfied with company responses to customer complaints may fail to report calls accurately out of the belief it is a waste of time. An employee in the credit department believing work flows are not productive, but has no voice in the matter, might begin to violate company policies. A project with responsible departments in conflict may lead to project failure as goals are not met.

A manager has to recognize the conflict; identify the true sources of the conflict; and then begin a process of conflict resolution. Effective conflict resolution by a leader will have certain features.

• Recognizes an immediate crisis may only be a symptom of a more serious problem
• Accepts conflict as energising for the company and a chance to improve employee, management, department, and company performance
• Does not use “blame” as a tactic but focuses on the systemic causes of the conflict
• Compromise is always included as a method of resolution except in rare cases where a forceful and unpopular decision must be made for the benefit of the company

Managing conflict means finding resolution. Effective leaders will embrace conflict as an opportunity to improve workflows, productivity, customer service, and company performance. That is why management training and leadership coaching always include conflict resolution as a strategy for success.

Transformation Through Training

April 16th, 2009 | Business Coaching

Words can be very powerful as everyone knows. They have moved nations to war and encouraged the discouraged. Words can also be transformational and that is the purpose of the words used in a company training program. The words are meant to transform company managers and staff into leaders who can help insure the success of the company.

These are not just buzz words which are meant to be read and forgotten. The transformational words used in a training session lead to the development of additional effective word use throughout the organization. Managers learn to use words to empower staff. Staff use words to create customer loyalty.

The flow of words through the organization can move departments to be cooperative or they can create divisiveness. Words can inspire employees or wound customers. The assembly of words can create a highly effective organisation able to handle change in a productive way.

Business training uses words that inspire individuals to develop their talents, makes strategic planning possible, addresses complex customer issues, and improves overall company productivity. The best words spoken are spoken right in the business too. On-site training only makes sense, because people can learn and implement training concepts in the company where current fortunes lie and future possibilities are developed.

A Corporate Culture of Success

Training employees in their place of business makes it possible to not only develop the skills of managers and staff, but it clearly establishes a corporate culture of success. When a company proves it values the abilities of its organizational members to create a profitable result by encouraging training and education, personnel are motivated to do what it takes to support the corporate mission through personal leadership skills.

On-site training offers many benefits over off-site training. For example, the training is cost effective and makes it possible for a greater number of personnel to participate. Mini-training and self-paced training provide all the opportunities needed to gain the right information. It is much easier to use situational training which teaches managers and staff hands-on decision making techniques. The participants are able to more easily apply learning to their particular working positions.

In Australia, the government is such a big supporter of training that company personnel can get accredited non-traditional training which leads to certificates of success or degrees. The instructors can structure the training session in a way that is the least disruptive to the business and yet the most effective for participants and the organisation itself.

In other words, training personnel will result in personal and business success. Personnel training can lead to new behaviours which enable a company to improve its ability to compete through customer service.

Training Leaders

The ultimate goal of training is to create leaders. This does not mean there will be only “bosses” and no “followers”. It means personnel get the tools they need in the way of training and education to make the right decisions no matter what job they are performing. The right decision is the one that supports the mission of the company.

Today’s workplace is a highly stressful environment. By providing regular training to managers and staff, you can change that environment to one that is ready to meet those stresses in a productive manner leading to improved sales and profitability.

The right words can make all the difference in the customer world.

Personalising the Company Vision

April 9th, 2009 | Business Coaching

It is possible to identify a company where managers and staff have not been adequately trained and have not developed their leadership qualities. In a company such as the one just described, personnel make individual decisions without regard for how it impacts the ability of the company to fulfil its corporate vision.

For example, the person working in the call centre does not care if a customer is permanently lost as long as he or she collects their pay check. The managers in charge of the customer service departments care only about instituting procedures which decrease departmental workloads without regard to how those procedures affect the sales departments.

In other words, departments and people work independently of the company vision or mission. Through an effective staff training program, you can change these attitudes and develop the leadership abilities people possess while also showing them ways to apply those abilities in the support of the business mission. This difference in approach by managers and staff can lead to:

• More unified organisational personnel structure
• More satisfied personnel able to use their skills
• Increase in customer conversion rates and sales through better customer service
• Increased profits
• Increased customer retention

The first key to long term business success is having a well defined vision that is shared throughout the organisation. The second key is to turn that mission or vision into specific actions that are always supportive of that vision. The only effective way to do this is to teach managers and staff how to personalise the company vision.

Company Coalition

It is interesting to note that a company which provides high quality training programs to managers and staff is in effect creating a company coalition. This coalition focuses on creating a common cause within the organization. With a common cause, all interdepartmental and staff-customer interactions are focused on the good of the company. It is the equivalent of creating a “bargaining unit” which is always bargaining for the success of the company.

A company training program can create a cohesive unit by helping people better understand how their job function is a critical component of the coalition. When you belong to a negotiating group, it is easy to stay focused on the results which are desired for the organisation being represented. That is how your managers and staff should see their roles within the company – as negotiators at every stage who are seeking either consensus or resolution.

• Satisfied customers who are willing to purchase product or services again in the future
• Satisfied existing customers who are happy to recommend the company to potential customers
• Increased inter-departmental functioning leading to greater efficiency
• Personal decision making which benefits the company
• Enhanced management of departments or units

When staff personalise the company vision, they choose to make decisions which benefit the company and may or may not produce personal benefits. For example, a manager may decide to reorganize a customer service department for greater efficiency even though it leads to a heavier workload. Personally, the decision creates greater challenges. As a manager, the decision improves the ability of the company to respond in a competitive market.

Creating a company coalition through training can create a strong company ready to face most challenges. Everyone who works for a company must be able to personalise the company vision.

Turning Conflict Into Productivity

April 2nd, 2009 | Conflict Management

There is a theory of conflict management which says that some organisations respond to conflict by focusing on negative consequences rather than making the necessary internal changes to reduce conflict. It is a great “cover-up” strategy which some managers develop to avoid dealing with the most fundamental issues creating the conflict. These issues may include:

• Inter-departmental conflict which leads to lack of performance
• Inter-personal conflict between personnel
• Management conflict
• Customer conflict

If it sounds like there are many different ways conflict can arise, you would be accessing the situation correctly. Anytime you talk about people, there will be a need to address conflict.

Though inter-organisational conflict must be managed, ongoing customer conflict can destroy a business over the long term. Customer conflict can be identified in a number of ways.

• Dissatisfaction with product or service purchased
• Inability to get assistance with a problem after a sale
• Need for additional information that has proven difficult to obtain
• Need to return products or a request for a service refund

When a customer calls a customer service department that is exactly what he or she expects to get plenty of…..good service. The staff within an organisation has the responsibility for the day-to-day contact with customers and the interesting fact to note is that each contact situation is actually a chance to make an additional sale.

Productive Conflict

In other words, conflict can be disruptive and lead to declining profitability, or conflict can be turned into an opportunity to please a customer. This attitude towards conflict can be the defining approach which leads to greater customer satisfaction, new sales, and an ongoing customer relationship. Repeat sales for any business make up an important segment of total sales.

When customers are not happy with the service they get at the moment of complaint, they often just disappear and are never to be seen again. Of course, you may not be talking to that customer again, but you can bet he or she is telling anyone who can listen about their experience with your company.

Conflict is inevitable, but it can be viewed as productive conflict. That is the goal of an effective staff training program. It is to teach all manager levels and staff how to view customer complaints and conflict and how to respond in a way that makes the customer happy enough to keep doing business with your company. In fact, your staff will often be able to even make an additional sale such as product upgrade, maintenance contract, or additional product accessory or service level.

Responding to Conflict with Options

Well trained customer relations staff is able to anticipate customer conflicts and are prepared to offer options. One of the best comments a dissatisfied customer can make after contacting customer service is that the problem was resolved quickly and efficiently and to the customer’s satisfaction.

Designing conflict options within an organisation can lead to more satisfied customers and happier staff too. Staff that are well trained in dealing with conflict are able to utilise personal skills and abilities with competence. This removes much of the stress that goes with these particular types of jobs. Also, knowing how to respond to conflict in a productive manner leads to a more profitable business through increased sales and increased customer retention.

Training in conflict resolution is just another way of referring to the art of negotiation.

How Customer Service Can Differentiate a Business

March 26th, 2009 | Customer Service Training

There was a manager who insisted that published company performance standards be met when it came to handling certain customer complaints. The problem was the customer was not satisfied with the results even though the standards had been met. This is a typical case of what happens when a company becomes regimented and fails to see the importance of customer satisfaction as opposed to rigid reporting against in-house performance measures.

In other words, a company exists to please customers through products sold and service, or services sold only. Companies which sell products still must provide good after-sale services in order to build a loyal customer base. Customers have certain standards in mind whenever they choose to do business with a particular company. How well you meet the customer’s standards as opposed to company set standards is the ultimate survival test for an organisation.

Training management and staff to understand this important difference is crucial to the long term profitability of a company. A customer may be primarily interested in the product reliability or is looking for a company which provides good service once the sale is completed. There is an old Beatles song which says, “All you need is love…” That is what a company wants their customers to feel like after any contact with the business…..loved.

Customer Ownership

Businesses used to create intense feelings of brand loyalty among customers. They did this by providing exceptional customer service that made the customer feel as if he or she is a partner in the business. The customer experience should result in feelings that include a sense of ownership and a desire for the company to succeed so products and services remain available.

In this age of impersonal internet selling and telephone service, developing a corporate culture which promotes this sense of brand loyalty is more important than ever. When a customer has developed this high level of loyalty, even problems with the product or services are more tolerated because the customer believes the company will handle such complaints appropriately and fairly.

Training company staff to handle all matters with customers in a way that is actually “brand loyalty selling” is one of the most important steps a company can take if it hopes to remain viable and competitive. Company staff must know how to respond to customer complaints, provide high quality direct selling service, and be able to always keep the overall organisation’s mission in mind.

A company that has a highly trained staff and well organized customer service functions is able to differentiate itself in a very competitive environment. By understanding the goals of high quality customer service, it doesn’t matter if contact with customers is through impersonal means such as the internet or through phone calls. Customers really don’t care how you contact them as much as they care about what you do once contact has been made.

An Adaptive Environment

Customer service is not a static principle. You cannot set up a customer service department and workflows and then never make changes. Organisational staff needs change. Customer requirements change. The marketplace changes. Technology changes. A business must create an adaptive environment which encourages company personnel to take leadership roles and the company should respond accordingly.

It all begins with a business mission which is then supported through effective staff training.

Importance of Ongoing Management and Staff Training

March 19th, 2009 | Staff Training

When you talk about the people in an organization, it refers to everyone at every level from the Chief Executive Officer to the mail room worker. It is the people who accomplish the tasks necessary to fulfil the mission of the organization. Unfortunately, it is also the people who can become the barriers to progress unless they buy into the mission of the organization and understand their roles in achieving success.

But just as important is the fact people must be trained to do their jobs the right way and with an understanding of how their job fits into the overall scheme of things. Dysfunctional organisations are often unable to build quality business environments because they have one basic and critical flaw: lack of people unity due to lack of training.

This is true for the top, middle and line managers and for the staff doing the day to day customer work. When you read about the principles of project management, you discover that one of the first principles that must be addressed is the matter of governance and control. But how do you teach these important principles?

It all comes down to leadership training. The CEO must learn to lead the entire organization and be prepared to handle conflict along the way. The middle managers must be prepared to supervise the front line staff in a way that supports the mission of the organisation. The staff that have the most contact with customers need to understand how their jobs support the organization and how their treatment of customers is one of the most important factors determining overall profitability.

Unifying Themes

You see people draw organisational charts that show who answers to who by position within different functional areas. It begins with the CEO and the arrows normally flow downward through the levels. Instead of drawing a traditional organisational flow chart, you can draw a training flow chart. On this chart, the mission of the company would be at the top, and the arrows would flow through the various levels such as management training, sales team training, customer service training, and business training.

On the training flow chart though, the arrows would flow in a circle from top to bottom and back up to the top again in a circle. Training people to become business leaders within the organisation is an ongoing process which relies on constant feedback. This constant feedback takes the form of effective communication within the organization, communication between the organization and its customers, and a flow of training information that keeps people attuned to the organizational mission and how their jobs fit within the big picture.

Never Working Alone

One of the most important principles the people within a company must learn is that they are never working alone even if they work alone. This may sound odd at first, but an organization has to operate as a whole. Even the customer service representative working alone in an office answering customer complaints must always operate with a business mindset that he or she must do the job in a particular manner in order to help the entire company to succeed.

Management and staff training is an important and critical function if a company hopes to become and remain profitable. Without proper training and leadership development, people tend to create mini-kingdoms within the workplace and then rule to their own advantage which may or may not be to the advantage of the business. Teaching people to be leaders within their own company roles is how you can build a strong and well developed organisation that is able to flourish through all economic times.

How to Recognize an Effective Leader

March 12th, 2009 | Business Training

How do you recognize an effective leader? This is a question asked over and over again, because leadership is always at the core of great historical moments. Leaders have led thousands during war, managed countries, and become heroes during times of disaster. Leaders have turned failing companies around and taken other companies to new heights of success.

But leaders are not always people performing acts recognized by the world. Instead they are often ordinary people able to motivate and inspire those around them to do their best. This is just one way you can recognize an effective leader. Many quietly do their job with self-assurance and the result is their departments, units or companies are successful through the efforts of staff working as a team.

Empowering and Inspiring

There are two kinds of power: formal and informal. Formal power is authority that has been assigned to a person. Informal power is authority which someone earns through their actions and is recognized by others but is not backed up formal authority.

In the business world, what this means is that a leader can be the designated manager or a member of a project team who has no formal power. Effective leaders can be found at every level of a staff structure. There are many common qualities and traits leaders possess innately, but they are developed and refined through training.

One of the first things you notice about a leader is their ability to empower others. An effective leader is able to motivate others to perform to the best of their abilities. A good leader understands the principles of delegation, and once a job is completed, gives the person respect for their accomplishments.

An effective leader will have most, if not all, of the following qualities.

• Able to provide clear direction
• Recognizes good ideas
• Holds people accountable while providing direction
• Able to delegate responsibility to most qualified people
• Gives feedback and encouragement
• Engages others in getting work done in a way they take responsibility
• Inspires others
• Able to handle conflict
• Able to see short and long-term
• Has integrity
• Good listener
• Able to problem solve

Long Term Leadership

It almost sounds as if an effective leader is a near perfect human being, but that’s not true. Leaders make mistakes and make wrong decisions. But the difference between a leader that has the cohesive interest of the organization in mind at all times, and a manager who worries more about personal consequences, lies in the fact a leader accepts responsibility and learns from the mistake. An effective leader then uses the mistake to teach others so they can learn to be the leaders of the future. An effective leader puts mistakes behind him or her.

Effective leadership involves several principles. A leader must be able to strategically plan. A leader must be able to handle change which is always a quality in any enterprise. And a leader must be able to adapt changes in accordance with the strategic plan. In other words, an effective leader will keep staff and operations on course for a long term successful future.

Effective leaders within a company are best developed through training. A well designed training program can prepare the true leaders within an organization for a successful future within a business.