Conversation or script – which works for you?
May 13, 2010
An online site for call centres published an article about conversational selling. One point made in the article relates to the use of conversational selling rather than the use of scripts. I have discussed this in a previous blog entitled “Call Centre Scripting”. People tend to know when the person on the other end of the phone is reading from a script. The conversation is stilted and does not flow naturally. One of the worst ways to start off a conversation is from an obvious script. Conversations by nature flow naturally so “Can I speak to the owner of the business?” Or “I am calling today to speak to you about X product” sound scripted and will be spotted by the gatekeeper straightaway. Open with the contacts name wherever possible. “Could I speak to Dave Johnson please?” 90% of the time you will be asked “who’s calling please?” then just give your name but don’t volunteer any other information unless asked. This is always a good footing to start a call and once you have settled into the call, the conversation should flow naturally.
Can you improve sickness and absence at your workplace?
April 13, 2010
Does your call centre or telemarketing agency suffer from repeated sickness or absence and are you doing enough to combat this. Most businesses across the country will find from time to time sickness related absences will be a problem. Now for the majority of cases this is probably due to genuine circumstances but there are invariably some cases where people have the day off just because they feel like it.
The question is what can be done about it. Some companies offer a bonus schemes that reward not only employees performance at work but also their attendance. This makes employees think twice about having time off just because it happens to be sunny outside or for other unknown reasons.
One of the best ways to improve absences is to implement a sickness and absence policy where people have to have a back to work interview after short periods of absence. This again encourages people not to take the day if they are going to be questioned about it when they return. Whichever policy you decide to implement you need to make sure all employees understand it and most importantly your call centre or telemarketing agency needs to adhere to it.
Plasma screens replace call centre whiteboards
March 17, 2010
More and more telemarketing agencies are replacing their old whiteboards with new plasma or LCD displays, reports a popular online call centre magazine. On the face of it, for very little money you can get a relatively inexpensive 42 inch LCD screen, (£600 or less) hook it up to a computer on the office network and with very little effort have a smart new display showing your agents performance.
There is a downside to this however. Careful consideration needs to be put into what you are showing on these screens. If you have too much information you risk losing time as agents keep looking to the screens, waiting for them to update and to generally keep abreast of their performance. Too little information and you might as well have kept the whiteboard. The general consensus seems to be, keep it short and simple displaying only essential data. Anything that takes longer than a couple of seconds to read and you could be frittering away valuable calling time.
E-mail shots – Do you read them?
February 4, 2010
We all get e-mails offering products and services. The question is do these E-mails do the job they are intended to do or do many of them end up deleted before even being read. My own view is as well as a clear identification as to where they came from the subject line usually denotes whether or not it is going to get read or deleted. The more random or abstract the subject the more likely it is going to end up in the trash.
Any Comments
A Merry Christmas to all!
December 17, 2009
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read our blogs this year. We will be back in the New Year with more discussion topics. A special thanks to the people who commented on any of the articles published. Call centres and telemarketing agencies are vibrant places where many a subject gets discussed so we look forward to discussing more of these topics in the New Year!
So a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year for 2010.