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They have the staff, they have the infrastructure, they have the data, but they seem to have no bloody clue on how to sell effectively!
Yes, that’s right, it seems like so many of these very big telesales companies have all of the gear but no bloody idea on how to engage effectively with a prospect! Let me tell you why!
I had quite a bit of time in the car on Tuesday as I was travelling back from a customer site. Whilst in the car, I am always happy to chat with companies that phone me as it allows me to see how they go about selling. I am afraid to say that I am often left amazed at how poor their engagement is and the call I had on Tuesday was no different.
The number was a local number and whilst I felt it could be a cold call, I answered it. A nice young lady proceeded to ask if she was speaking to Mr White.
“Yes, you are, what’s this about?” I asked.
She then proceeded to mention that she was from a company that I didn’t know but which provided a service to help insulate lofts. I think it was about that because in all honesty it was not clear at all what she did within the first 15 seconds of the call and she mumbled the company name twice which was not a good start!
I was friendly and said that I worked in sales myself and that I understood her role was tough, but could she clearly outline to me (in 30 seconds) what it is her company offered and why I should be interested in it.
She then proceeded to talk for the next 60 seconds through her script which basically outlined everything about her product, what features it had and why it was so good. She talked on and on without taking a breath, without asking anything about me and without even being clear about what it is she wanted from the conversation.
I decided after a minute to interrupt her and say that I couldn’t understand what it is she was offering me and that on that basis I didn’t feel it was right to carry on the call.
In fairness to her, the objection handling outline must have kicked in as she didn’t want to give up and then tried to carry on for a further 15 seconds to tell me more about her product.
Enough was enough though. I cut in, said thanks very much and indicated this was not for me and kindly ended the call. I looked at my phone display in the car and could see that the call had lasted for around 2 minutes, in total of which I must have only spoken for 20-25 seconds.
I ended the call thinking how this call could have been so different if her company had given her the training and support to engage more effectively with a prospect.
Give training to your staff. Create scripts and frameworks that allow your agents to show they are real people. Be clear about who you are, be direct about what you want from the call, try and relate to the prospect and ensure your agents ask questions which enable you to build knowledge about them and what they do.
Do this and watch your engagement rates increase! Carry on as you are and you will continue to waste time and money! If you are the boss of one of these companies and feel your team need some help with training or if you want better scripts created to get better results then lets arrange a time to chat.
Have you experienced similar calls from big companies? What are some of the good and bad examples of cold calls that you have received? Share your experiences below.
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The Institute of Sales Management
Proud Member of
The Institute of Sales Management