Changing How Your Business Approaches Call Center Sales: ERQ

No matter what type of call center you operate, you’ll need to manage sales. Customer service centers need to upsell and cross-sell. Outbound centers need to sell. Even customer support is a sale in a way, a sale on continued business. 

But, how do you get you to improve call center sales in your business? And how do you do it in a way that extends the life of your customer lifetime? 

The Problem Most Call Centers Sales Teams Face

Almost all internal call centers fight with the concept of interdepartmental mingling. The finance guys need the sales numbers to be X. The customer service executives need a certain quality to be Y. Both departments tend to go back and forth trying to reach their goal. It’s a constant struggle in call centers.

So, how do you meet sales quotas while keeping quality metrics high? 

Most businesses with a customer engagement centers managing sales offer some sort of commission, proficiency, or incentive to reward call center sales. Sadly, associates sometimes do anything they can to make that sales quota.

As a result, these companies see more low-quality sales, sales with high cancel rates, and sales with low stick rates.

While the agent wins in the short term, both the business and the call center hurt in the end with these types of sales tactics.

The solution is to rethink how your call center approaches sales.

What’s the Best Way to Close Call Center Sales?

At Expivia, we’ve done away with the word “sale” in our call center for both our inbound and outbound programs. Why? It tends to have a negative connotation. Instead, we use the term, End Result of Quality (ERQ).

On sales programs, ERQ is the end goal. In short, it means that our associate secured a sale the right way. But what is the best way to secure a sale in your call center? 

Here’s a short checklist you can use to ensure your call center agents go beyond the sale: 

• Be Compliant: Agents should use the proper language in full context (including reading the disclosure verbatim). If your agents even get close to the line, they’ve crossed it. Stay compliant.
• Use the Appropriate Tone: While on call, the agent needs to avoid being “pushy” or talking down to customers. The tone is the message. Getting the right tone is key to closing the sale.
• Sell the Product: Avoid focusing on trying to sell the customer on refunds or other low sticking points. Instead, agents should highlight what makes the product or service unique. Focus on features and benefits.
• Perfect the Technique: Depending on the field, agents may need to follow strict scripts (this is especially true in insurance and financial services). They should also not leave dead air for the customer to take control of the call. Instead, they use the answers to transition the customers’ questions back to the script.
• Be Truthful: Your agents should answer any question a customer asks truthfully and fully. They should leave nothing out. 

ERQ is a RESULT of hard work and focus. It’s not only about helping leads convert. It’s about showing customers why they should partner with businesses long-term. That provides more money for the business AND more benefits for the customers.

If your agents follow these five steps in full, they’ll have a much higher chance of securing the ERQ.

5 Ways to Increase Call Center Sales

Now that you’ve replaced your goal, focusing on ERQs instead of sales, you need to set a strong foundation for helping your business acquire more customers. This is how you increase call center sales. 

1. Hire the Right People: You can train agents all day, but if they’re the kind of people who put the sale before integrity, you’re putting your business at risk. Instead, work with the right agents. You want team members who believe in the product and truly want to help improve people’s lives.
2. Set the Attainable Goals: If your call center sales goals are too high, your agents may feel pressured to rely on unfavorable tactics to secure the sale. Instead, set targets your agents can reach and give them the support to reach their goal.
3. Create a Positive Workplace Culture: It’s hard to carry a positive tone or focus on the script when you’re unhappy or unsafe in your work place. For example, instead of pitting agents against each other in a cut throat race, try call center games to lighten the mood.
4. Provide Adequate Training: When agents are struggling, it usually isn’t because they don’t care. Sometimes, they simply need more training and support.
5. Use Better Tools: You can have the best agents in the world, but without the tech to support them, they’ll be working at a disadvantage. Improve sales in your call center with tools like speech analytics, chat-bots, and other trending call center advancements, your team can close more sales with ease.

How Outsourcing Can Secure More Call Center Sales

Anyone can get a sale. Sales are easy. And anyone can fudge numbers or push sales through. That doesn’t take any skill or talent. In fact, most call centers look down on the mindset of getting a “sale”.

Instead, you need to change your approach. You need to the culture of your call center. 

All centers that have to meet sales targets shouldn’t be looking for sales. They should be trying to achieve more ERQs.

That’s how you lock in customers for the long-term and help a business grow.

Find out more about how our Call Center can help you with your inbound and outbound sales program.  Visit www.expiviausa.com now!