Buzz
Nowadays, salespeople have numerous tools to seek potential customers, but traditional methods of selling over the phone are still widely used by many companies. However, telesales is not well-received by customers as they often feel bothered. So how can we effectively sell over the phone? What telesales skills should we focus on? Let's explore through the story of expert Lâm Minh Chánh in this article.
Expert Shares Telesales Story
I called Palace Hotel in Da Lat and managed to meet the Chief Architect.
After being connected by the receptionist, I confidently greeted with 'Hello Mr. DU. This is Thanh Ku.' Then, I subtly praised Chief Architect Robert Lee through the following statement: 'I'm delighted to speak with you, the trusted person entrusted with the responsibility of renovating, designing, and beautifying the most prestigious project in Vietnam.' Of course, he would also say that he is proud to work on this project. When meeting difficult people, they would remain silent, even if they like it internally.
Believe me, everyone in this world likes to be praised. The issue is whether your praise is accurate, appropriate, and sincere. Some salespeople think they are good at flattering, but excessive praise can make customers uncomfortable. The worst is praising mechanically, following a formula... Praise like this creates a negative impression.
Next, I said, 'I know your top concern is the quality and aesthetics of the Palace. How to build with good quality, how to incorporate modern amenities, yet still maintain the unique old architectural features, which are the highlights of the Palace.' This statement resonates with Robert's core values, so he immediately agrees.
Many salespeople nowadays, especially telesales, greet customers and immediately introduce their products without considering the customer's needs. They don't listen to the customer. They don't talk about the customer but only about themselves. Selling like this makes it difficult to succeed.
Then, I introduced myself, the company, and scheduled a 15-minute appointment with him to listen to his concerns and needs regarding the Palace Hotel project. And present ICI's solutions.
The 15-minute appointment turned into a 60-minute conversation. I still remember having to ask the Ladalat driver to wait for an extra hour.
PHONE CALLS ARE FOR APPOINTMENTS, NOT SALES
In professional sales, the primary function of the phone is to introduce, connect, develop new relationships, maintain relationships, and to SCHEDULE APPOINTMENTS, not to make sales.
To sell a product or service worth its weight in gold, salespeople need to go through several steps: understand who the potential customers are, reach the target customers, build relationships, schedule appointments, listen to understand the customer's needs, present solutions, build trust, and demonstrate that their product meets the customer's needs. These tasks, especially building trust and emotions, cannot be done over the phone.
That's why professional salespeople don't sell over the phone.
Selling over the phone to someone unfamiliar is no different than someone thrusting a flyer into a passerby's hand and hoping someone will care.
TELESALES DONE RIGHT
Back in 2004, I switched from AIA insurance company to Prudential. Unlike now, moving to a competitor was a big deal back then. I was the first 'imported' Director at Prudential. I proposed not to be the Business Director, in charge of insurance, to avoid direct competition with my former colleagues at AIA. Later, many colleagues in the industry mentioned and praised my conduct and ethics. In reality, avoiding competition was just psychological comfort for my old colleagues. Please, they should be happy, but the market is vast.
Therefore, I was assigned as the Director of Partnership Distribution, managing all non-agent sectors: including Bancassurance (VCB, ACB, Agricultural Bank), and Telesales.
It must be said that Prudential was one of the first professional Telesales development enterprises in Vietnam.
I was sent to the Philippines to receive systematic training on Telesales. At that time, the Philippines, then India, specialized in providing telesales solutions for European and American countries.
These are the 'correct' principles of Telesales:
- Telesales only calls customers from businesses or partner businesses. That means the customer has provided the phone number themselves. Buying customer phone numbers for telesales is completely wrong.
- Serve, connect with the customer first. 'We are from the Customer Care department of ABC. We want to know if you are satisfied with... Or what we can do to improve service and make you happier.'
- After listening to that part and resolving the customer's concerns diligently, then transition to 'Currently, we have a product... very suitable for your needs. We'd like 5 minutes to present...' And Telesales always sells.
In 2005, the number of credit card users in the Philippines was also quite high. When the customer agrees, they immediately read out their card number and Telesales charges them right away.
Telesales only does up-sales (selling additional products), cross-sales (selling related products) of simple and understandable products with moderate amounts.
The success rate of Telesales ranges from 1% to 4%, depending on the product type, company reputation, and Telesales skills.
8 COMMON MISTAKES OF TELESALES TODAY
- MISTAKE 1: Customers don't give Telesales their phone numbers; Telesales buys or receives customers' phone numbers from the company.
Remember, to call someone and receive positive feedback, you need to be given the number. If there's no number, you ask for it from someone else (with proper etiquette, asking for permission from the owner of the phone number before sharing it).
So it's best to ask the person who provided the number to introduce you to the customer. Then you can greet the customer with 'Hello, I'm... I got your number from Ms. A' And you can use Ms. A - the mutual friend - to start the conversation. 'I've heard a lot about you from Ms. A...'
- MISTAKE 2: Lying. You registered to leave information on the website. Trust is crucial in sales. If you lie, you increase the chances of failure.
- MISTAKE 3: Pitching the product regardless of whether the customer is a suitable potential customer or not?
- MISTAKE 4: Not listening to the customer. Just keep Talking Talking Talking. Selling Selling and Selling.
- MISTAKE 5: Calling at the wrong time. Calling when busy. Calling during rest time. Calling while waiting for the delivery guy's phone call!
- MISTAKE 6: Using other things to lure customers, '5-star restaurant', 'winning a prize'.
- MISTAKE 7: Inappropriate tone and manner of speaking. Sometimes too confident, sometimes too friendly, sometimes lacking confidence, sometimes like just getting through the script.
- MISTAKE 8: Failure to connect, build trust with customers.
With so many mistakes, the dropout rate is very high. The success rate is very low.
Telesales like this is too hopeless. It wastes the company's money and demoralizes the salespeople. Hearing customers reject dozens of times will decrease positive energy and increase negativity.
THE FUTURE OF TELESALES
Fortunately, on August 14, 2020, the government issued Decree 91/2020/ND-CP: FIGHTING SPAM MESSAGES, SPAM EMAILS, SPAM CALLS, under which 'From October 1, advertising calls, messages, emails, sales pitches for goods and services without the recipient's consent will be fined up to VND 170 million and the phone number will be revoked.'
I say it's fortunate for both customers and for you Telesales professionals.
When Telesales is banned, businesses and salespeople will come up with more effective sales methods.
Honestly, with the development of the Internet and social media, salespeople now have many tools to find potential customers, make connections, and build relationships with target customers. Choose a smart and effective method to sell instead of 'continuing' to bother your customers.
Posted by: Hiệp Trần
Keywords: Developing Telesales Skills from Real-Life Stories of Experts
