Here at Your Ideal Sales Advisor we have a successful, thriving B2B Telesales team that are happy to take the time to understand our clients’ organisation and the ethos behind their business but what are the key characteristics that make up the perfect telesales person? What do they need to make them tick:

1) Listening Skills: When you think of the skills of a telesales person ‘communication skills’ are likely to spring to mind and you’d be forgiven if your thought train then takes you directly to ‘spoken and talking skills’ first. Of course being well-spoken is important. According to Maventm.com overall potential customers should be speaking for 80% of the time. This means a lot of listening on the telesales person’s part. How else are they going to understand the prospective customer’s problems or needs to be able to faciliate a solution in the form of a relevant sale? Listening can be revealing and rewarding.

2) Organised and unflappable: When the expert telesales person isn’t listening they will be making their words count-for everything. They will always talk about the customer and not themselves, accept for when it is to relate to the customer and empathise with their needs. Instead of being pushy, as is often the stereotype, they will make every open question they ask important, every word they say relevant and scrutinise their script in minuscule detail, ensuring it is conversational yet concise, as time is precious to any perspective customer. As Entrepreneur.com says: “Exceptional salespeople don’t get flustered. They have a Zen-like ability to focus on the specific task at hand while exuding an aura of calm confidence. They are unflappable in the face of challenges.”

No one is going to be a credible telesales person if they don’t know their product and customers inside out (and upside down… back to front). No customer is going to invest their time and money into a telesales person if they haven’t done their homework. No one is going to build that much needed rapport the telesales person craves. Get organised, do your product research and any surprise questions from potential clients shouldn’t throw you off guard.

3) Resilience: The ability to bounce back is essential in telesales- the majority of potential client’s aren’t going to say that all important ‘yes!’ so if a telesales person gets disillusioned after their first rejection, they’ve well and truly fallen at the first hurdle. Tomarket.co.uk state that what a prospective client’s ‘No’ really means is that they don’t want to buy it now. That might not be the case next month, or in six months time. Tomarket.co.uk advises: “don’t treat a ‘no thanks you’ as forever.” Dust yourself down and pick up the phone again.

4) Upbeat voice and persona: In a job where rejection is rife this trait is understandable difficult to maintain. The best telesales person, however, projects rays of sunshine down the phone to their potential customers, without being annoyingly chipper. After all, who wants to talk to a down in the dumps person on the phone, or in fact, in general? Any stress, problems or bad moods- leave them at home.

5) Not having an ‘off-button’. As Americanexpress.com insightfully tells us telesales people “are constantly in think, plan and prepare mode in order to continue to build their client base and keep their pipelines full.” Whether they’re on holiday, driving home or in the shower chances are the most successful telesales people are ambitious, their minds  always simmering away, working on new ways to generate leads.

If you are considering an outbound telephone based activity, to generate new business opportunities, conduct market research surveys, keep in touch with existing clients or customer satisfaction contact calls for new clients, we can help. Get in touch on 01434 401737 to discuss how we can transform your sales.

Whether you believe you’re good at your job but need that extra boost or feel completely out of your depth- hiring a sales coach may not have even crossed your mind. Embarrassment, lack of time or not seeing how a coach could help you  might be among the reasons you’ve not entertained the idea of appointing one. Here’s why you could be missing a trick…

1. A Fresh Perspective.If you’ve been in your job a while you might very well be an expert in sales in your own right but the saying ‘two heads are better than one’ springs to mind. You might be stuck in a rut or struggling to think outside the box. A sales coach could fix that. An objective outsider with your best interests at heart could offer new ideas and a fresh approach that hadn’t even occurred to you. In short, they could be the muse that prompts you to come up with the initiative that generates results for your company.

2. It might not be you that needs the training.You might have just hired a wave of new, raw sales employees who don’t have the experience yet to thrive in the role of sales but you don’t have time to train them. Instead of simply ‘making do’ or letting them learn on the job why not offer them extra support? A professional sales coach, such as on from Your Ideal Sales Advisor, could offer practical advice and support to new recruits, saving you time in the short term and improving the results your recently hired employees in the long run.

3. A Extra Pair of Eyes and Ears. From having someone to who can listen to your new sales call script and role playing a big call in advance of hitting the big scary dial button to brainstorming and bouncing ideas around with a friendly face a sales coach can be more beneficial than hunched over your desk alone, desperate for answers or validation of your ideas.

4. Infectious Confidence.The chances are sales coaches will radiate a quiet confidence, both in themselves and their abilities. They will know not to be too obnoxious with this self-assurance as over-sized egos would put any perspective client off but if you spend time with someone who has strong self-belief then the chances are it will rub off on you. Confidence can be contagious and, when this is translates to your work, it can have spectacularly positive results for your business.

5. That Va Va Voom.If you’ve just started a job in sales you may seem daunted by the task you are confronted with day-to-day or you may simply be in a lull with your job, having been in the role for several years. Sale coaches are innately enthusiastic and are guaranteed to motivated you and return that zest you once had, or desperately need for your job. Having energy and excitement for your job will shine though when it comes to performance.

6. A Personal Touch.A sales coach is trained to be non-judgmental and understanding and everything your tell them is in the strictest of confidence. So you can offload all your work worries and they can serve as the perfect confidant and friend. With a whole host of experience under their belts, sales coaches would have seen it all before, so don’t be afraid of being judged.

7. The Service Is Tailored Exclusively To You. Any good sales coach will also take the time to fully assess your needs and understand your strengths and weaknesses. That way they won’t patronise you and can help you more effectively.

8. Success Doesn’t Happen Over Night. Sales coaches know they can’t transform a client’s abilities and confidence overnight. They take the patience to go at your speed and are flexible enough to work around your hectic schedule.

9. Keeping You on Track.If you have a tendency to get distracted or not work at a fast enough speed a sales coach can be the boost you need to get yourself in gear, having you report frequently on your accomplishments and progress each week.

10. Celebration and Comfort.Your sales coach can be the person you celebrate your professional triumphs with, rant your frustrations to or mourn your failures with. Either-way they will motivate you to carry on doing the job you know you’ve got the capacity to excel at.

For high quality sales coaching that could help you transform you, your career and your business get in touch with Your Ideal Sales Advisor today.

How it works:

For an example: Construction professionals, for example, architects, engineers, surveyors and the like, all work on projects, know about new projects, know construction clients, other construction professionals, main contractors and some sub contractors and suppliers.

Main contractors work on live projects, tender for new projects, and know construction professionals, some construction clients, sub contractors and suppliers.

Sub contractors, work on projects, know a few main contractors and other trade sub contractors, they also know about the projects they are pricing.

Suppliers, know main contractors, trade subcontractors, projects they supply to, and projects they are submitting prices to supply to.

These four groups of people all have project intelligence and know lots of people you would like to know. The problem is, no one is sharing the information.

If you were part of a power group and the group was being lead by a facilitator, and everyone was willing to share intelligence, imagine how many new leads you would generate and how easy it would be to be introduced to new people through a referral.

For this to work, there could only be one occupation or trade category in any power group, and everyone would have to be committed and trustworthy.

Trustworthiness and credibility could be developed over time, from regular meeting or by completing profiles, with track records, so each company can prove credibility.

If you like this idea and want to know more, please contact me, I have the process and systems all worked out and run one myself for my clients. My contact details are at the end of this report. I call my group TROJAN – one in all in

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