Training For Success

TRAINING FOR SUCCESS

It never ceases to amaze me. Companies will invest considerable sums of money in a state-of-the-art telemarketing operation, spend the time and energy hiring a telemarketing staff, and then set their staff loose without adequate training.

The telephone as a communication medium has three key aspects that make it different from any other sales medium.

• It summons a participant.
• It is audio only.
• It is interactive.

A training program designed to take advantage of these three elements will increase your chances of running a successful operation, and drastically reduce your turnover rate. In my 'Phone For Success' training programs, I also advocate training that addresses the following issues:

Fear of phoning-How can your telemarketers overcome the psychological barriers to interrupting and summoning a prospect to the phone? How can they do it day after day?

Telephone time management-How can telemarketers set individual goals that mesh with your overall goals in a team selling approach?

Product knowledge-How can telemarketers quickly develop a knowledge base they can use on the phone, particularly to communicate a sophisticated product or service?

Training in these areas-along with essential listening skills and sales techniques-gives telemarketers an 'edge' on the phone. They are more confident, more organized, and more in control... and it shows in their performance numbers.

Before starting, develop a training plan that specifies your goals. Your training goals are behaviors that support your strategy. It's best to state those goals in terms of what participants will be able to do after training.

Such as:

• Get through to the decision makers 90% of the time.
• Use listening techniques to 'see with your ears.'
• Ask relevant questions that establish a rapport.
• Close effectively using three basic techniques.
• Make an appointment with one of every five prospects.

When you know exactly what you want your telemarketing staff to be able to do, make sure you have the right equipment-a tape player and blank tapes for warm-up, listening, and voice exercises; role play outlines based on specific objections or specific types of personalities your telemarketers will encounter on the phone; scripts and objection response guides-to help get the job done.

Warm-up exercises are an excellent way to help release some of the nervous energy in a training environment, demonstrate the dynamics of communication, and show how easily ideas are miscommunicated. One warm-up exercise, 'the interview,' pairs off participants and allows one in each pair to interview the other as though he or she were a reporter for the local paper gathering information for a short news report. This exercise illustrates the techniques of probing and rapport building.

More than anything else, the process of developing a script will prepare your telemarketers with the ability to control every stage of a call. Taking trainees through the scripting process will: focus attention on the importance of a good introduction; demonstrate that each call follows a logical sequence; and illustrate the power of positive language, and the telephone presentation.

Once you've broken the ice with the warm-ups and familiarization with the script, it's important to move quickly into role play exercises-first using some role plays unrelated to your product, then using your own scripts. The role plays are critical because they focus on the actual communication tasks trainees will be performing, such as probing and paraphrasing. This is one area where you simply cannot drill enough. Drill for different approaches, different personalities and different objections.

To develop your own role play outline, you need to focus on accurately reproducing the realities your telemarketers will encounter on the phone. One of the best ways to do this is to tape some of your test calls (check the legal requirements for your state). They'll give you a good representation of the different situations your telemarketers will have to handle. And it should tell you how to structure your role plays to cover all aspects of a moderately difficult call.

To run a role play exercise, create (on 3'x5' cards) the specific roles you want your trainees to play. Include information about personality types, the product, and specific skills you want the trainees to practice. Then divide the group of trainees into teams of three, two participants and one observer. The observer, using a predetermined role play critique form, will evaluate the role play, and then switch places with one of the other participants . . . giving each of the trainees the opportunity to play each role. Remember to tell the 'observer' that the purpose of the evaluation is not to focus on negatives, but rather to point out the areas that trainees need to focus on in order to increase their chances of better handling this type of call the next time around.

It's also a good idea to do some group role plays so that everyone gains an appreciation for the way a call should be handled.

Any telemarketing training program must provide trainees the opportunity to recognize the voice quality they bring to the job and work on areas that need improvement. In our programs, we use tapes from classic radio programs such as 'Superman', 'The Shadow', or 'The Hindenburg Disaster' to illustrate that a voice can be a telemarketer's most powerful asset. If you don't have anything like this available, you can accomplish this by making some tapes of your best and worst phone calls and play them for the group to illustrate this point. The four aspects of voice quality that must be worked on in training are:

Tone-Tone is probably the most important. It is 'how you say what you say'. Trust, confidence and enthusiasm are elements that build rapport and are conveyed through tone.

Diction-Diction tells the prospect a great deal about you. Your trainee's diction should not be a distraction. Work on recognizing slurred speech and eliminating slang or other filler words.

Volume-Tell trainees to talk at their normal volume as if the prospect were seated directly across the desk from them.

Rate-A good rule of thumb is to listen to the prospect and talk just slightly faster than he or she does. Most people are comfortable speaking at about 180 words per minute. Since most trainees have no idea what this rate actually sounds like, have them self-evaluate their rate, and other aspects of voice quality, for practice.

Telephone Time Management

The final stage of training focuses on a crucial telemarketing skill: time management. An effective time management plan, complete with clear personal goals, helps telemarketers overcome their natural fear of phoning, and insures that a proper number of calls will be made successfully. The following suggestions will get your trainees in the right frame of mind for success.

Be organized-Have all materials: callbacks, new leads, report forms, scripts, and objection response guides you know you will need.

Concentrate effectively-Focus on your personal goal for the hour or the shift.

Clear your mind-Forget about everything but the task at hand: the problems you had yesterday, the party you went to last night . . . everything.

Keep your momentum-Never allow more than one minute between one call and the next to help you sustain the momentum and keep you focused on the next success instead of the previous rejection.

The Road To Success

By following a well-rounded, balanced training program-on an ongoing basis -- you can go a long way toward achieving your overall goal of a successful telephone sales/service operation.

To achieve success, you must train for success.