Posts Tagged ‘sales management’

PostHeaderIcon Create Loyal Customers and Business Will Thrive

It’s always easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one.  For this reason, owners of small businesses constantly look for ways to keep their customers happy.  Regardless of what you sell, there are a lot of ways you can maintain a loyal customer base.  Here are some tips:

Stay Professional by Keeping Your Training Up to Date 

Keep up to date on the news and innovations that affect your industry.  It’s critical for your customers to think of you as an expert in your industry.  Since information is so readily available on the Internet, customers are becoming more and more knowledgeable every day.  It would not be good for your customer to know more than you do about something you are supposed to be an expert at.  That is why it is so important for you to commit to ongoing training and doing what you need to do to stay up to date with your industry.  Your customers will reward you for your commitment to constant growth. 

Resolve Customer Problems Quickly 

It is rare that you will hear about a customer problem up front, so you need to use your intuition in many cases.  You could learn a lot by asking your customers periodically how their experience with your and your company has been and request suggestions for improvement that might make their situation even more enjoyable. 

Most important, when you hear of a problem never give in to the SODDI defense (some other dude did it).  It’s your business, so everything that goes wrong is your fault – take the blame with grace.  Then, take action to fix it fast.  Customers are more used to excuses than fast action so your commitment will be noticed.  Instead of the error being foremost in their minds, the amiable resolution will keep them returning as repeat customers.  In fact, you may find that some of your biggest “problem” customers will end up being your best referral source. 

Help Your Customer Recall the Reasons They Picked You 

Don’t be timid: it is critical that your customer is reminded of the advantages of choosing you over your competition, and you should praise them for their wise choice in you.  There isn’t a person alive who doesn’t like to be praised, and its the perfect opportunity to help them recall your competitive advantages at the same time. 

The ultimate goal when creating loyal customers is to give them service that is so good, everyone else pales in comparison.  Provide outstanding service to your customers day after day, and they will expect it as a matter of course.  That’s a loyal customer. 

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it easy to track repeat customer profitability.

PostHeaderIcon The Top Six Strategies for Hiring Successful Telesales Experts

by Greg Larter

Hiring “ahead of the game” telesales powerhouses is absolutely vital in order to create success for your company. Talented telesales pros know how to increase your profits while creating a positive image for your business in the minds of customers. There are several things to think about when trying to hire telesales professionals.

This article contains the top six strategies to keep in mind when you begin hiring “at the top of ladder” telesales powerhouses such as: why you should confirm the candidate’s experience, calling their references, asking for qualified referrals, conducting phone auditions, looking at the numbers and listening to your intuition.

The first tip for finding qualified telemarketers is to take the time to properly verify their job experience. You should never consider hiring inexperienced telesales people because this business is complex and takes a great deal of time and training to perfect the needed skills.

Tip number two to employing good telephone salespeople is to properly confirm their references. Their previous employer or client can let you know exactly how this candidate has been at achieving their sales goals and maintaining a professional image.

Strategy number three for finding qualified telemarketers is to seek qualified business referrals especially from other business owners in comparable fields. If you know a business that has achieved excellent results with their telesales pros, you should ask how they hired them so you can pursue the same method for finding competent telemarketer that get results for your business.

The fourth tip for employing good telephone salespeople is to interview them by phone. This dialogue should be like a tryout for the position and you can even have candidates for the job do a sales call role-play to analyze their abilities.

The fifth key for finding qualified telemarketers is to verify their past results wherever possible. True superstar telesales people know their closing ratios and can easily give you their numbers, because a superstarl knows how many dials it takes to make a sale.

The sixth and last strategy for employing good telephone salespeople is to listen to your intuition. Talking to your prospective telemarketers over the telephone should give you a decent picture of the type of impact they will have on your customers and how they will characterize your business.

Taking these six tips for hiring extraordinary telesales powerhouses into consideration will allow you to find skilled superstar telemarketers that can greatly improve your sales figures. Finding gifted telesales pros to hire can be tough, but it is worth the trouble since they are so valuable. Realistically, they control the success of your business to a great extent.

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PostHeaderIcon Six Tactics for Hiring Successful Telesales Professionals

by Charles Reinhurst

It would seem that hiring successful telephone sales professionals makes all the difference when it comes to having a extraordinaryl sales-related business. The right telemarketers can raise your revenues and serve as a reflection of the positive aspects of your company in the customers’ minds. There are numerous things to take into consideration when trying to hire new telemarketers.

What follows are the six keys for hiring outstanding telesales experts which include: reviewing the candidate’s past experience, taking the time to verify their references, asking for referrals from other professionals, giving them a phone interview, and trusting your instincts.

The first tip for finding qualified telemarketers is to take the time to properly verify their job experience. You should never consider hiring inexperienced telephone sales people because this business is complex and takes a great deal of time and training to perfect the needed skills.

The second key to employing good telephone salespeople is to take the time to verify their references. You want to hear from previous employers or clients how effective their phone skills are so that you know they are capable of getting results.

The third key for finding qualified telemarketers is to ask for referrals from other businesspeople in similar businesses. If you know a company that has achieved good results with telemarketers, you should inquire as to how they found them so you can follow the same steps and secure qualified professional telephone salespeople for your organization.

The fourth key to employing good telephone salespeople is to give them a phone interview. This interview should be like an “audition” for the job and you can even ask potential salespeople to role-play a sales call with you.

Tip number five for finding qualified telemarketers is to validate their history of results if at all feasible. Bona fide expert telemarketers have their closing ratios memorized and can easily provide you with their sales numbers, because being an expert means knowing how many numbers they have to call before they make a sale.

The sixth and concluding tip to employing good telephone salespeople is to go with your gut. Talking to your prospective telemarketers over the telephone should give you a decent picture of the type of impact they will have on your customers and how they will characterize your business.

Taking these six tips for hiring moneymaking telephone sales experts into consideration will allow you to find skilled expert telemarketers that can greatly improve your sales figures. Finding gifted telephone sales pros to hire can be tough, but it is worth the trouble since they are so valuable. Realistically, they control the success of your business to a great extent.

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