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:
- Had a highly structured offer and clearly defined sales strategy
- 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.)
- Intensified their training and coaching efforts, not only with their reps, but with their supervisory and management staff.
- Created incentives that changed lifestyles.
For more details, read the full posting here:
http://www.callcentermagazine.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199902371
September 3, 2009 at 10:12 pm |
It’s difficult to sell things through a call center. I think having a well thought out plan and incentives are great ways to gain sales.