Snow increases call centre traffic!
January 18, 2010
Although the rest of the country seemed to grind to a halt in the last few weeks one of the industries that seemed to be at its busiest was the call centre industry. This was especially so in companies that deal with insurance, breakdowns and accident calls. Some of these saw up to a 40% increase in calls. This was coupled with the fact that many of their own staff could not get into work.
This leads to one question, should we now be looking at employing more people working from home? This would alleviate the problem when we get these extreme weather conditions. In this day and age with environmental issues more staff working from home would leave less traffic on the road so it may not be a bad idea to look at this on a broader scale and not just when the weather is bad.
Any thoughts?
Tips for Getting Through Gatekeepers.
January 6, 2010
One skill in telemarketing is getting past “gatekeepers” to actually speak to a decision maker.
1. Be assertive (Not to be confused with aggressive!) You need to sound like you have authority and have important information for the decision maker. Ask for the decision maker by first name and give you own name before they ask who it is.
2. You ask the questions! When they ask you what it’s about sideswipe the question with something like “just tell him its Dave from XYZ company” or say “its Dave I have called before.” This is not a lie as more often than not you have called before but they don’t need to know you haven’t spoken to him.
3. Don’t sound like a salesperson. The minute you do this, you have lost control of the conversation.
4. Believe in the product or service. It comes through in your voice when you don’t. In telemarketing if you don’t have faith in what you are doing, how do you expect anyone else to!