INSIDE SALES WORKSHOPPING: In a workshop,
How to Train for Measurable Inside Sales Results
SELLING POWER EDITORS
Staff turnover is just part of the nature of telemar- keting. Since you will always need to train new staff, you need to have a feel for training. Skill building takes time – three months should tell a sales man- ager all he or she needs to know about a new tele- marketer’s abilities, but it often takes less time to see if someone will work out.
The key is to give new people enough training so they have a measure of comfort when they start calling – but not so much that you terrify them. The following format will be useful at training sessions for both new and veteran telephone sales profes- sionals alike.
LECTURE: Present material on one part of the phone call or on a problem a salesperson is having. Some com- mon problem areas in phone sales are the opening statement, setting mea- surable and realistic call objectives, features and benefits, and answers and objections.
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sales reps paraphrase to the manag- er/trainer what they’ve picked up from the lecture. Without workshopping, there’s no way to know reps have understood the lecture. ROLE PLAYING: Acting out the call gives reps a chance to think on their feet, make a mistake, or try something new without offending a real customer. People may have some resistance to role playing but, once they get used to it, they tend to have fun with it. CRITICISM: Reps should critique each other’s responses in workshop- ping and role playing so they can de- velop that inner ear to hear when they themselves have made a mistake. AUDIO OR VIDEO ROLE-PLAYING SEGMENTS: With today’s smart- phones this is simple and inexpensive to do. Playing back these recordings helps callers realize how they sound, and the video lets them see how their body language impacts their per- formance on the telephone. Videos can even be saved to create a sales training library to which reps can refer when they have a problem. For instance, if someone has a problem answering an objection, you can say, “Go get tape number three.” Besides saving both reps and managers time and labor, the tape library can be a recognition device for workers. If a new employee hears a tape made by a veteran and mentions it to the vet- eran, that’s positive reinforcement. Critiquing can be the most valu- able part of sales training – or the most detrimental. I recall observ- ing a sales seminar where a young woman talked about a problem she had on the phone. A manager jumped up and went up one side of her and down the other. Not only did she destroy that young woman who had been so foolish to open her mouth, but – when the manager asked after that: “Now, who else has this problem?” – no one else was going to open his or her mouth. If you’re going to criticize like that, others are not going to talk about
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