Read more
List of contents
Worksheet index; Symbols; Introduction; Planning and assessing your coaching sessions; Why do you need to conduct telephone skills coaching?; Top tips for trainers; Introducing a session. Part I Outbound Calls: Introduction - outbound calls; What is selling?; Buying motives; Planning and preparation; Setting objectives for your call; The structure of an outbound call; Who to call; Getting through; It's only me; Opening statements; Do you need it?; How to turn customers on to your proposition; Looking for a yes; Quoting the price and asking for an order; Finishing on a high note; Successfully dealing with customer concerns; Handling rejection in a positive way; The cold call; The market research call; The outbound sales call; The sales support call; The credit control call; Telephone account management. Part II Games, Assessments, Checklists, Quizzes and an Action Plan: Introduction; Games; Competence assessments; Checklists; Quizzes; Action plan.
About the author
Pat Cochrane began her career in newspapers, working for the Guardian before joining the Lex Service Group to set up a new telephone sales and marketing team. She then went on to complete a similar project for Parcelforce. Since she formed PMC Associates (pmctraining.com) in 1993 her clients have included BT, Eircom, Legal and General, The Prudential, The Industrial Society, Credit Suisse Asset Management and BskyB. Pat is also the author of several books on the subject of using the telephone to develop profitable relationships with customers. They include The Power of the Phone and Outbound Telephone Selling. PMC Associates have undertaken a broad range of assignments that encompass all telephone activities from switchboard to desk-based account management. Training, consultancy and writing training resources for their clients identified the need for this training kit, which will allow trainers and managers to develop the telephone skills of everyone in their organization.
Summary
This title was first published in 2003: Telephone skills are second nature to most people - and that’s the problem. We make assumptions about the people we’re talking to, we’re careless and lazy about what we say and we fall into bad habits. Everyone has been on the receiving end of poor telephone skills - probably on many occasions - and yet none of us recognize the faults as our own. The Telephone Skills Coaching Manual contains ready-to-use sessions for working with individuals or small groups. The material is designed to enable the trainer or coach to help trainees reflect on their experiences, share success, learn from failure and practise new skills and techniques until they’re ready to try them out for real. The coaching processes involved in the manual will improve self-awareness, teach your people how to observe behaviour, give and receive effective feedback; all of which are essential to create a supportive work environment. The materials can be used to develop: ¢ everyone who needs to improve their telephone skills; ¢ receptionists and telephone ’gatekeepers’; ¢ call centre and telephone sales teams; ¢ credit control staff and other specialists. Volume Two covers outbound calls. Volume One focuses on the fundamental telephone skills that we all need, along with the skills for handling inbound customer service and sales calls.
