Call Center Selling

Selling services out of a call center — and managing such sales — has to be one of the most difficult sales roles. To make the effort even more difficult many of the sales are cross-cultural and have the handicap of an obvious foreign accent.

A study of success factors in such an extreme environment is interesting (but not necessarily generalizable). A consultant who focuses on call centers found four keys to call centers that had success in selling. The centers:

1. Had a highly structured offer and clearly defined sales strategy
2. Recruited staff that was “willing to sell”, through behavioral questions and role plays. (The consultant, Ms. Murcott, claimed that this was evidence that salespeople were born not made.)
3. Intensified their training and coaching efforts, not only with their reps, but with their supervisory and management staff.
4. Created incentives that changed lifestyles.

For more details, read the full posting here:

http://www.callcentermagazine.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199902371