Associated Learning Systems » Sales skills

Developing in-house training material – customer service and telesales

andrew — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:44:40 +0000

Developing in-house training material for customer service and telesales is important for you and your company if you still have restricted training budgets at the moment. The temptation is to cut costs and look for increasing ways of being self-sufficient.

You recognise that training is important – perhaps MORE important than it’s ever been, but you’ve not got money to throw at it. Perhaps you’re reading this looking for some new ideas and new material.

You will therefore be using a number of different training devices to keep the team ahead of the competition, and motivated. One to one coaching is an important part of this.�

: Training has become more important this year – and will remain so into 2010

Also classroom training is a valuable part of the mix. You will have some training material in-house but it can be difficult constantly finding new and relevant material.

That’s why increasing numbers of people are turning to DVD and audio CDs for additional material.

Our audio CDs cover a range of topics for the development of individuals and teams : customer service, telesales, telemarketing,PR marketing and self-development. They’re all here.

You can see the full list of categories plus the latest best sellers and pack offers at http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/

Trainers and team managers often use these CDs to either give them more material to listen to, adapt and present themselves. Alternatively you can buy them to use as learning sessions by playing sections of the CDs to the team and asking them to complete exercises about the material – specific to your industry and organisation.

For new ideas and top tips on customer service, telemarketing and telesales Associated Learning Systems is the palce to be. Buying is easy online with credit card or your PayPal account. Prices for each CD start at just £34.99 – so just one good idea will repay your investment many times over.

Upsell, cross sell and switch sell

andrew — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:00:57 +0000

You may run a team which deals mainly with incoming sales enquiries and calls. So this doesn’t involve cold calling or even making outbound calls but it does involve persuading the callers to spend their money with you, and maybe you’re also looking to get them to buy more than they called for.

As a result of many of these requests To Market www.tomarket.co.uk has recorded a new audio CD on these 3 interrelated sales topics upselling,cross selling and switch selling. It will be available soon within the telesales skills section of this website, the other sales related CDs can be seen at http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_list.asp?Section=TELESALES%20SKILLS

It is important to understand how each of these 3 parts of the sales process can work for you, and how you can get more out of our your customers. If you are interested in particular elements of this, add your comments to this post and we’ll add some specific future posts in response.

Good selling is about 50% listening !

andrew — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:25:45 +0000

How many times do people try and sell to you either on the phone or face to face by dominating the conversation and trying to do all the talking ? It seems to me that sales people are often trained to simply benefit sell. And yes of course benefit statements ARE very useful.

But actually if you’re selling to a human (and of course you always are) it works much better to engage them in a 2 way conversation. If you get them involved, they will open up more readily and you will find out more.

So as a rule of thumb I think good selling is about 50% talking, 50% listening. Stray too far from this ratio at your peril ! Listening is an underrated part of the communication process. It is part of all the 2 day customer service training and telesales and telemarketing training that To Market carries out. There will be an audio CD available soon on the important topic of LISTENING SKILLS, follow this link to see the present range on communication skills topics http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_list.asp?Section=TELEPHONE%20COMMUNICATION%20SKILLS�

Natural Born Sellers – what do you think ?

andrew — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:00:37 +0000

Not the most entertaining programme ever made. John Caudwell must wonder what he let himself in for ! And to be successful at selling doesn’t have to be this way !!

Danny pictured above who is a car salesman seems the most likely to win if the outcome is based on natural sales ability. Gavin is consistent – consistently useless that is ! He’s still in the running but only because the others realise he is no threat. Each week he turns up with a supposedly positive mental attitude, but where is the training ? With no training to help him improve his skills he just keeps underperforming week in, week out. Having the right approach and the right attitude is a help, but only of limited benefit if no-one is showing you how to do the job properly and how to read the customers. Have you noticed how Gavin talks, and talks and talks ? Selling is about a balance : 50% listening and 50% speaking. And remember to structure your sales approach to listen first, talk second. There are 3 audio CDs which cover the structure of the sales call, have a look at this link http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=16