Why sales training should not be ignored
22nd November 2011 - The importance of sales training in a call centre/telesales environment is something that is often underestimated. Here, Russell Ward explains the need for this type of skill development in the industry, based on his previous experience.
Following last month’s Top 50 Call Centre Workshop seminar, sales performance consultancy Silent Edge – (http://www.silentedge.co.uk/) - has shone a light over an often neglected area in telesales and customer service operations. The under explored area in question is that of effective sales training, which based on results – holds much potential.
An often attributed factor for this oversight on sales development, both at a team and individual level, within an organisation lies on the department tasked with handling such a challenge. More often than not, training programs are controlled by the operational side of the business, which rather than implemented as cyclical evaluation and improvement schemes, are a one-time thought only.
Despite, perhaps, appearing to attain business requirements sufficiently in the short term, this idleness never addresses, nor maintains one of the most important assets of any company – the skills of its workforce. Indeed a sustained effort should always be adopted to ensure individuals are trained to the highest of standards at any given time. Why wouldn’t employers want to maximise the productiveness of their staff, especially in a sales environment?
This concept, which we at Silent Edge advocate, is simply one of quality control. To improve, one must first recognise an issue and then be willing to act upon it. Goals, measurable in nature, should then be set accordingly, prior to that of coaching and development programmes. Finally in the evaluation process, results should then be benchmarked against the aforementioned objectives for purposes of feedback and improvement.
At a time of economic downturn, four of our Sales Academies enjoyed their highest-ever sales. One of our clients, who are a leading broadband provider, managed a 126% increase in sales, contributing to a healthy £23 million rise in profit over the previous year.
For telesales, we implement tools that can examine and benchmark performance at every typical stage, from that of welcoming, objection handling, to closing the deal. Quality control isn’t revolutionary, but it’s fundamental in achieving optimum productivity from staff, and more broadly speaking, long term profitability.
It is, however, worthwhile to look at the bigger picture whilst discussing that of sales or the bottom line as being the only motive to employ sales skills training. Indeed it is easy to be drawn into this, however as has been the case with many of our clients, employee morale and job satisfaction is considerably benefitted. As long as implemented correctly, employees will appreciate the attention and consideration given to them from the employer in terms of thorough training and support. Employees that are on your side are always more productive than those that are not.
A recent article I read online really drives home this need for employee attention through skills training. Results from a survey conducted by a leading recruitment firm found that over forty per cent of workers in the UK felt that their employers did not fully appreciate their skills potential. Conversely a similar percentage of employers bemoaned a lack of employee skills, attributing this to stalling company growth. These results suggest that employers might have taken their eye off the ball.
Forward thinking: Just as there has been a shift to customer retention through the realisation of the value of keeping existing customers, employee skills training, I’m sure, will follow suit. Never has it been so important, especially in the telesales arena, to ensure that employees are equipped with relevant skills, which are harnessed by the company, both for that of morale and the bottom line.
[Article is in reference to article by Call Centre Focus, titled: Skills shortages? Make use of existing staff. Available from:
http://www.callcentre.co.uk/page.cfm/Action=library/libID=1/listID=51/libEntryID=4066 ]
Russell is the CEO of Silent Edge; a leading sales performance consultancy, that runs sales academies for major firms such as Barclays and BT. He founded the organisation in 2002.
His 11 years experience as a Sales Director in 4 different industries included 7 years at information provider MAID plc. Between 1995 and 1996 he was European Sales Director there, growing revenues from £2m to £26m in two years and expanding the sales team from 15 staff in 3 countries to 165 staff in 13 countries over those 2 years. His extensive experience in sales also includes consultancy for established and start-up enterprises.