Telephone sales - inbound (In-House)

1 The inbound sales process

• Each customer who contacts us will be at a different stage of the sales process. Some might be making general enquiries whilst others will be ready to commit, having made most of their decisions already. Sales and customer service people need to be ready to find out the stage the customer has reached before helping them to make the right decision for them

2 Engaging with the customer

• Having clarified where the customer is on their journey to making a purchasing decision, our next responsibility is to create and build a trusting relationship on both sides. This involves establishing rapport quickly to ease the communication process, thus enabling smooth transactions, both now and in the future

3 Questioning and listening skills for gathering information

• Developing these skills requires practice so that the communication becomes natural for the customer. This helps the customer to feel comfortable with us and work with us towards an effective solution. We discuss different types of question and how to use high-gain questions to uncover key information. Active listening will ensure that we can really help customers get what they need

4 Overcoming objections and excuses

• If we have followed the process properly and really understood the customer, then there should no further objections or barriers to completing the transaction. The reality is that there will still be the occasional issue that needs clarifying, so we need to prepare for possible objections and questions that customers might have. This includes probing objections so that we fully understand the customer's perspective before constructing suitable responses or solutions

5 Gaining commitment and ending the call

• Customers want to gain a solution to the issue they are facing and the sooner we can help them achieve that the better. Guiding the customer and helping them to believe in their own decision is part of our role. This section is dedicated to getting commitment all the way along the process, not just at the close

6 Dealing with difficult and challenging situations

• The realisation that everybody is different, with different personality types, different ways of looking at the world and different goals, is key to understanding sales. With this is mind we discuss these differences and how we adapt our approach to ease communication and maintain trust and understanding

7 Action plans

• Course summary and presentation of action plans