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 Here’s a rather important statistic for you… did you know that up to 60% of available jobs are never advertised?

That’s right, over half the employment opportunities out there are hidden from public sight.

With the rise in social media, on and offline networking and employee recommendation and reward schemes, businesses are saving on advertising budgets and using less conventional ways to fill vacancies.

Which means if you’re only responding to conventional job advertisements on behalf of your customers, you’re quite literally just scratching the surface of the potential employment opportunities out there.

[Read more…] about Why cold calling skills are super essential to creating job opportunities in the Welfare to Work, Skills and Social Care sectors

Do you or your team ever procrastinate over picking up the phone to call potential customers or clients?

Instead of working through your list of leads you dawdle, shuffling papers or checking emails whilst you think…

“There are so many other competitors out there. How can I stand out?” 

“I’m just a small business. Why would anyone pay attention to me?” 

“There so much noise out there, no one will ever notice me. What’s the point calling anyone?” 

Sound familiar?

One of the most frustrating things in the world is feeling like you have something amazing to offer, but you’re struggling to get people to listen.

[Read more…] about 7 Proven Ways to Stand Out from the Competition when Prospecting by Phone

“Do I really need to use a CRM when making calls?” This is a question I get asked by clients all the time… And the short answer?

Yes, you do.

So often I come across organisations who are asking staff to build pipelines and nurture relationships, ultimately to increase sales. But they still don’t see the vital importance of having a system that captures conversations with customers or prospects who aren’t interested right now.

At first this may seem like a thrifty, productive move – there’s no point collecting information from a ‘no’ call right?

Wrong!

To put it bluntly, if you’re not collecting this information then you’re being incredibly short-sighted. You see it’s not just about capturing information; recording what you do and what your staff do helps with future planning, understanding trends, analysing the success of certain offers, approaches or market segments and many other things. Far too many things to put in this article.

On top of this many organisations still don’t see that there’s anything wrong with five different employees from the company ringing the same prospect or customer, sometime in a short space of time. Not only is this annoying for potential prospects but by not sharing information you’re giving the message that your staff don’t communicate with each other internally.

Not great for your credibility.

I myself fell foul of this mistake many years ago. I’ve been in business for 25 years and fully admit to being guilty of this in the ‘old days’.

My CRM was sheets of paper and an excel spreadsheet. None of these could be shared. My staff had the same too and it was painful when they left trying to find the ‘bits of paper’ or making sense of a spreadsheet I’d never seen before.  I had 15 staff at the time, they did tend to talk to each other and shared information, the problem was that it was often diluted or highly personalised. But at least it still existed.

Fast forward 20 years and whether it’s to make time or cost savings or simply because they don’t know better, some companies still use this method.

So what should you be doing when you use a CRM when making calls? Here’s my list of essential dos when it comes to internal communication, information sharing and recording

1. Do record information that captures what was said during a conversation – you never know when you might be able use it again to ‘warm up’ a call. It also helps build a great profile of your potential customers going forward.

2. Do use an automated tool that allows you to create follow up calls. Calling when you say you will doesn’t go unnoticed and is normally a reflection of how good you are at managing customer expectations going forward. Very important should that prospect ever become a client.

3. Do create campaigns with potential prospects. Those who might have said ‘no interest now’, with permission still could be open to knowing more about you. Brand awareness has to start somewhere. In these days when consumers and businesses have so much choice, many like to take their time and build a relationship before parting with cash. With the right nurturing a no can become a maybe which could become a yes.

4. Do recognise that when someone says they could have a need in 12 months, this is a great opportunity (if you’ve identified needs through questioning) to fit them into a pipeline. You can’t do that without an automated system! You can when you use a CRM. Follow these calls up.

5. Do remember that trust and credibility are built over time. So take time to know those who aren’t in the market straight away. Social media is a great way to find out more about your ideal market – have somewhere to record this.

6. Do put the cost of a CRM to one side. There are so many out in the market place, suiting so many different budgets it begs a question – why would you not want to record what you know on your customer? The initial investment usually pays for itself over time.

Are you still having issues getting through to the right person? Do probing questions from a receptionist or other gatekeeper bring you out in a cold sweat?

You’re not alone. Getting through to the right person or ‘getting past the gatekeeper’ continues to be a major challenge for many people working in a telesales or Welfare to Work telephone team. And it often begins with mindset.

[Read more…] about Getting past the gatekeeper: How to keep control of calls

I’m not a fan of ‘detailed’ scripts. When I say a ‘detailed’ script I mean the type that makes individuals sound like a robot with no personality.

A ‘detailed’ script that fails to give individuals any flexibility should be banned as far as I’m concerned.

Nothing is worse than receiving a telesales call from a telemarketing person who reels off an in-depth scripted presentation with no break to even see if I’m still on the other end of the phone. Many a time they’ve been that bad that I’ve considered whether it would be worthwhile going to make a cup of tea while they go on and on!

[Read more…] about Should you use scripts when telephone prospecting or not?

It’s very easy to attract the wrong people to work in telesales.  Problem is, getting it wrong it could have a terrible impact on your business… before you realise it. So how do you find telesales staff who make a positive impact on your business?

So, why is it important to your business to attract staff effective on the phone?

Over the last few years I’ve seen the role of ‘telesales’ raise its profile within businesses. No longer is telesales just aimed at ‘sales’ people. Telesales, telemarketing, business development all play an important part in all types of companies. Whether it’s accountants, charities, service industries, solicitors or manufacturing, all of them need good telesales staff.

[Read more…] about How to find telesales staff who make a positive impact on your business