September 1998

Remember The True Source Of Sales

BY GARY LAPLANTE, ASHA, INC.

One of the greatest (if not the greatest) problem in the call center industry is simple: telephone sales representatives (TSRs) are not selling. The amount of sales per total calls is far from what it should be, resulting in lost profits.

There is a solution to this. Train TSRs to become successful salespeople, offer effective incentives, and create a positive working environment. If you don't know how, hire someone who can. It will dramatically increase profits and decrease problems.

What caused the problem? Over the past 10 years, two areas have contributed the most to the problem: expansion and competition. Companies have expanded their call center operations without the management in place to produce results and maintain a high standard of training and performance. Then, competition brought out the weaknesses. There was a time when a call center could make tremendous profit margins with insufficient sales training and high turnover, if there was little or no competition. Industry technology, adequate scripts and the uniqueness of a product were enough.

But things have changed. This is now an intensely competitive industry. Increasing sales and profit margins, or gaining "the edge," will not come from technical knowledge or technological advances. It will come from TSRs that are trained in sales. Call center technology has advanced unbelievably over the past 10 years. The benefits have been tremendous, in operations and TSR support. However, as people became excited and focused on technology, less emphasis was placed on proper sales training. TSRs began to rely on scripts and technology to make the sale, not sales training and their own efforts. In other words, they became order takers, not salespeople. The result: the amount of sales per total calls began to drop, which means companies are losing vast amounts of profits in lost sales.

It is the TSR who makes the sale, not the technology. In sales, there are three different types of customers. There is the definite "yes," the definite "no," and the "marginal." In our highly competitive market, up to 60 percent of all potential customers are "marginal." A "marginal" customer requires an effective salesperson to help him or her make a positive buying decision. Without successful sales training and sales management, companies fail to close an enormous number of sales in 60 percent of their current market.

The working environment and incentives, along with quality sales training, exert a tremendous influence on individual performance and the company's profits. Yet, there is too much negative pressure and fear motivation being used in the working environment. Fear - "Do this or else…" or "Don't do this or else..." - is a short-term motivator. It never works long term. A working environment based on fear motivation will never produce consistently high performance. It costs companies enormous amounts of money in lost productivity. Bad attitudes and high turnover are always present when fear motivation is used on a regular basis. There is a time when fear is the correct motivator. This is, normally, when a behavior or action cannot be tolerated and needs to be corrected immediately. Except for those occurrences, fear should never be used as a management tool.

Several years ago, Success Magazine polled more than 200 companies about issues in the work environment. Management was asked to list what they thought were the reasons employees were happy and motivated in their job. Then, the employees were polled and asked the same question. The results were unexpected and quite surprising. Management listed money as the number-one reason employees were happy and motivated. The employees, overall, listed money as number five! The employee's actual list was:

1. Recognition,
2. Self-Fulfillment,
3. Growth,
4. Working Environment,
5. Money.

Some of these were not even on management's list. It was no longer a mystery why employee output and efficiency was so low. But now, management had been given a clear and simple formula for maximizing individual performance and profits. Provide employees with recognition for all good efforts. Get employees involved in achieving company goals by achieving their individual goals. Listen to employees' ideas and suggestions. It's not necessary to use every idea. It's the listening that gives employees a, well-deserved feeling of importance. Give employees somewhere to grow. It's vitally important if you want to keep valuable people. Supervision, management and additional responsibility will help keep good people motivated. Keep the working environment positive. Complaining, whining and negative conversation will destroy a high-performance environment. Employees need to know this will not be allowed. Courtesy, respect and laughter play vital roles in companies with winning environments. Wages should be market competitive and bonuses should be offered for different levels of high performance. These bonuses need to be obtainable and fair. An effective incentive or bonus program will allow TSRs to earn substantial additional income and the company to reap huge additional profits.

Building a positive working environment and offering effective incentives is not complicated. It does take time, effort and a commitment from management to make it work. Companies using this formula have experienced dramatic increases in profits and a decrease in problems.

Telemarketers need to remember that they are in the sales business. Call center management needs to teach the art of selling to every TSR. Treat them as "valuable salespeople" not as "hourly telemarketers." Help TSRs grow to become "TSPs" - telephone sales professionals. When you develop telephone sales professionals, and create a positive working environment, watch what happens. People take pride in their jobs. Sales will increase. Cross-selling and upselling will increase. Turnover will minimize. Client retention and new business will rise. Then, watch your profits soar!

Gary LaPlante, the founder of ASHA, Inc., has been in sales, sales training and management with the call center industry for over 20 years. He is a recognized professional, with a proven record of success in the design and implementation of successful sales training and management programs.