Mistakes happen. And they happen in the call center industry just like they do in almost every other facet of life. While it’s easy to recover from making a wrong turn en route to an unfamiliar — or well-known — destination, you may never have the chance to recover from a blown sales call.
In many cases, your sales agents will have just one opportunity to win over a prospect and turn the person into a client. This makes it imperative for your call center representatives to make the most of every exchange they have with each prospect they contact by avoiding the most common sales call errors.
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Common Sales Call Mistakes to Avoid
Of course, you can only train your staff to avoid mistakes if you know what they are and what can be done to prevent them. Here are a few widespread sales call mistakes to avoid and what you can do to prevent them:
Using Industry Jargon:
Have you ever taken your son to the doctor and been told his sebaceous glands are producing too much sebum which has caused him to develop papulopustular? If so, you probably grabbed your smartphone and started looking for specialists in the area who could treat your child’s malady before you realized your son was just diagnosed with manageable acne.
Just like unfamiliar medical terms can instill fear and worry in patients and their caregivers, industry jargon your prospects aren’t familiar with can be off putting. If you’re calling someone who isn’t knowledgeable about the language that’s used in your industry, you need to explain your goods and services using words your prospect will understand. This will help your prospects feel comfortable and keep them engaged in the conversation instead of making them feel foolish for needing an explanation of the words you’re using.
Asking Too Many Questions:
If you’ve ever watched a crime show and watched detectives interrogating suspects, you’re familiar with how uncomfortable asking too many questions can make a person feel. Even innocent characters tend to squirm in their seats and have difficulty answering questions when they’re pelted with one inquiry after another.
While you need to ask questions to get to know your prospects, you should engage them in a conversation where both parties give and take. You should ask a question, summarize your prospect’s answer to show that you were listening and then explain how your goods or services can help solve the person’s problems. Let your prospect ask you questions about yourself, your company and your products or services. The goal should always be to have a conversation instead of performing an uncomfortable, fruitless interrogation.
Being Too Aggressive:
Being too aggressive often goes hand in hand with asking too many questions. While salespeople generally need a certain amount of aggression to be successful, it’s critical that you temper your aggression by not making a sales call all about you and your products or services. Being pushy can make you seem insecure, which can create doubt about your credibility as well as the quality of the things you’re selling in the minds of your prospects. So, relax and avoid overselling yourself, your company and your goods or services.
Not Listening:
Many salespeople are guilty of thinking of a response while a prospect is speaking instead of listening to the vital information the person is sharing when they speak. You can avoid this by practicing active listening. Stay focused on what your prospects have to say and repeat what they’ve shared with you in your own words when they’re done talking. When you practice active listening, you won’t have to create sales opportunities because they’ll normally create themselves.
Lacking Confidence:
Just about every experienced call center salesperson has heard the expression, “fake it till you make it.” While you always want to be yourself when you’re talking to prospects, you have to project confidence in order for prospects to have faith in you and your products or services. Confident salespeople are intimately familiar with the items they sell and know their goods or services can help their prospects. Salespeople who lack confidence are just looking for sales.
Why TelephoneLists.Biz?
Another significant sales call error you should avoid is using contact lists that are either too expensive or filled with inaccurate data. You don’t have to worry about either of those factors when you use call lists from TelephoneLists.Biz, however.
If you want to see how easy it is to use our cost-effective lists to meet your sales goals, download a free sample list or
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