Training audio CDs for United States despatch.

Unsurprisingly most of our enquiries, orders and websites come from the English speaking world. The United States is our second biggest market. As a result and in order to make it easier for our American customers to work out the prices in dollars you will see we’ve added a click through currency converter against each of the products here.

Training CDs - ready to ship to United States

So if you’re in California,Wisconsin, New York state, Florida, Ohio, Washington, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, or Canada or any of the 50 U.S. states and you’re after some best practice advice from the U.K. on customer service, telesales or general telephone communication skills, try us out. A few clicks and the products are on their way to you.

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.

Whenever a customer or prospect turns down your offer – always remember to ask why. This will display self-confidence and will tell you many important things.

Understanding what motivates customers to make certain choices is really important. They’ll respect you for the fact that you’re not taking the easy option and turning on your heel. 

You must then start the process of building the relationship for the next time – the next order. There are 3 audio CDs available on the sales process. Simply follow this link to find out more http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=16

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The Associated Learning Systems site is about promoting ways of learning that can be done remotely, privately and with limited funds. I think books fall into this category perfectly. For just a few pounds you can tap into some fantastic bits of wisdom written by some very entertaining people.

One of the best books I’ve read over the last couple of years that has an impact on selling is a book called Influence : Science and Practice written by an American psychologist Robert Cialdini. He supports all the theories he puts down on the page with some well documented experiments.

If you’re involved in selling I strongly recommend it. You can go straight to it on Amazon by following this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/Influence-Practice-Robert-B-Cialdini/dp/0321011473/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227621443&sr=1-5. It gives an insight into how people behave and how you can persuade them of things. How much use could that be ?! For instance he shows that if you ask for a commitment from someone, when you’ve already given them something previously – no strings attached, they will more readily agree. They are naturally seeking to redress the balance, they feel they owe you one. This is known as the law of reciprocity.

Similarly if you advise a customer not to go for the most expensive option (thereby proving your credentials as an honest broker) they are much more likely to take your advice in the future – no questions asked.

Think how these 2 devices could help you in your selling !   

Jamie a sales director attended one of our recent telesales training courses in Leicestershire. He offers you the following tip ;

“Apart from the usual communication skills, a key part of selling is to try offer something that sets you apart from the competition, a Unique Selling Point. – this could be either goods or services your company offers that no one else is doing. It could  also be a USP about you as an individual, some thing that sets you apart from the (as always) 2- 3 other people quoting the same thing. It must be something that makes the customer remember you and persuades them to look at you and your company as the preferred option. This could be as simple as something you say on the phone or what was in the written quote, or even how the quote is structured and laid out.”

So it is worth giving it some thought. There are always some unique points to use – sometimes it just needs a little thought and imagination. We cover the idea of using benefit statements with one of the telesales audio CDs in the series on telephone selling and telemarketing http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=5 It covers the use of benefit statements, reason statements and open questions. These are the key parts to bear in mind when opening the sales call.

Katrina attended a customer service course with us in Cambridge, and has written to give us the following story. It tells of how a company needs to be responsive. It is important that you follow up by calling customers back quickly, and don’t accuse them of lying.   

We cover the importance of the customer is king on CD 2 in the set on exceptional customer service. http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=8    

Her story is as follows ; “Back in March I needed to fill up my home oil tank and so rang the company and asked for the cost of 700litres. I was told £360. I told them to go ahead & fill it up at which point they took my card details and put through the transaction.  

Two weeks later I was internet banking and I saw they had taken the money from my account for a total of £385!   I rang them and the girl kept saying that they had put in 750L like I asked. I told her to look at her notes as I have never, as yet put in 750 but always 700L. Basically she wasn’t having it and said she’d look into it on Monday and call me back.  

By 1pm on Monday I had heard nothing so I rang up. I spoke to a different person who was much more helpful and friendly. I explained that the invoice they put through the door stated £360 inc vat for 700L which is what I had asked for, but that I had since noticed further down this invoice, the delivery man had stamped it saying 750L. I then asked her what right they have to put oil in my tank that had not been ask for, take unauthorised money from my bank without my say so, and what guarantees have I got that I got that with the extra 50L that the chap hadn’t filled up a can near my oil tank for himself?  I also said that it is basically stealing and they have breached data protection (I was told this by my bank!). I told her that the oil delivery man should pay the £25 as he was not looking what he was doing.  She apologised profusely and said that as a gesture of goodwill for the mistake made, they would leave the extra oil in the tank and refund my £25.  

Had this lady not have been this understanding my bank had told me I could have taken this further through them. The first girl really was convinced I had ask for 750L even though so obviously my invoice said differently and she was not willing to look into it further. If I had not got this refund I would never have used this company again! Thankfully it turned out ok.  

This is a good story and it outlines some principles we should all stick to!�

Geraldine Evans contributed this one for the pot. She attended a 2 day customer service telephone communications skills course with us earlier this year in Leicester.  Her advice is ;  “Always make the customer aware that you are listening by acknowledging them at every opportunity and to re-cap what is to be done – this shows the customer that you are ‘taking on board’ the entire issue.”  

This is one of the 10 Elements of Communication that we cover on telephone techniques training. You can find out more by following this link http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=12

Empathise and think about who you’re calling and why.  When conducting telesales calls to organisations, it is important to understand your demographic, your target market. Find out when they are busy, when things go quiet. These are all things you can build on for the future.   Work hard to get your timings right, and to build a picture of when the best time is to contact them. So for instance if you’re trying to contact a school – the middle of summer is probably not a good time. Also research through use of your questioning skills, what quantities they buy, who they buy from, and what they think of their supplier. You may also want to find out what is important to them when choosing a supplier, and even what would make them change. Be bold – ask some good questions. http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=3      Thanks to Riz for this point. She was on a course earlier this year on telesales training in Leicestershire.

The following tip comes from Amy Roberts who I worked with on a telesales training course earlier this year in Leicester. She wrote ;

“One tip I would suggest – At the end of the conversation repeat back what has been discussed and what both of you need to do – Then follow it up with an email, this reduces confusion and means you both know what is expected of each other.”

This is sound advice as it helps you manage customer expectations. You both need to be clear what will happen next and when. This advice applies equally to telemarketing, telesales and customer service roles. 

There will be a CD launched soon covering the basics of professional telephone behaviour, there are also 3 audio CDs on customer service http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_list.asp?Section=CUSTOMER%20SERVICE%20SKILLS

This story was given to me by Alan Agar who attended a recent telephone skills course with me in Manchester. The way he describes the key lesson is “knowing when to keep your mouth shut whilst in the process of making a sale.”   It is tempting to think that good telesales and effective sales techniques are all about talking – benefit selling. However good selling is as much about passive skills such as listening and keeping quiet. It was Mark Twain who famously said “better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”   Alan’s story is as follows ; “I enquired about the purchase of a new peugeot 206 glx. I was  advised of the colour and the extras I wanted such as spoiler, alloy wheels etc, etc. Then the sales guy quoted a price which sounded reasonable, however just as I was about to commit to the sale he said “We won’t be beaten on price, you can try another peugeot dealer if you like.” I took his kind advice and went to a different dealer who swiftly undercut him by £300, this in turn started a “price war” between the two dealers ! The end result was that the initial salesman talked himself out of a 12k sale, and saved me some £450 in the process !” Thanks to Alan Agar for that salutary tale.   All the key parts of effective selling and professional telephone sales behaviour are covered in our 3 pack CD set http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=16 These 3 CDs cover identifying needs, how to open a sales call and dealing with different customer attitudes.