6 Techniques for Approaching and Delivering Qualifying Questions

It’s a familiar scenario and feeling. Sometimes when inside sales reps ask questions, they get answers they do not expect, or even want to hear. And, when they ask questions, they give clients opportunities to deflect and post rejections. So, inside sales reps operate in self-preservation mode. They take the easiest ways out. They simply don’t ask qualifying questions and hope for the best later in their presentations.
Call Center Today has developed expert methods for asking qualifying questions. These questions, almost always asked at the beginning are designed to glean information and allow a relationship to develop. We suggest asking qualifying questions in the first 30 seconds of a call, after the intro.
Why? Because when customers respond positively, agents are in a great place and on the right track.
When they respond negatively, you’re in the same position you would be later in the call, but you’re able to get it out of the way sooner.
The 6 Steps:
1. Find the right time
2. Begin with a transition phrase
3. Don’t stumble
4. Use inflection, pace and tone appropriately
5. Ask direct questions
6. Converse between questions
Great qualifying questions unearth insights and build rapport. We try to get our clients to use questions about the weather, TV, dates on the calendar or other empathic happenings that create rapport. In other words, if it’s cold outside, then talk to the customer about the cold.
To get the specific steps on how/why to ask each of the 6 questions above, read our new white paper
“Six Techniques for Approaching and Delivering Qualifying Questions on the Telephone”.

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Choose Your Supervisor Leadership Style

What follows are 15 key areas of Agent supervison that supervisors should be aware of. The goal for supervisors is to place each of these areas within the context of their own operations. Although the differences between supervising telesales and customer service agents are extremely slim, some aspects, such as being late to work, may be more of a priority when managing inbound customer service agents than outbound telesales agents. Still telesales and customer service agents are both required to show up on time and meet minimum standards on the telephone. Supervisors must be cognizant with regard to their shifts. In the case of telesales agents, it may be more important that agents meet their minimum sales numbers. Whereas in the case of customer service agents, it may be more valuable that they arrive promptly to work so customers may have their telephone calls answered properly. Senior management needs to determine exactly what they want their supervisors to monitor, and how strict they want that monitoring to be.

Key Areas of Agent Supervision

1. Being late to work
2. Coming back late from break
3. Failing to move to the next call or email after one is completed
4. Coming back late from lunch
5. Incorrectly handling a customer/prospect issue
6. Setting poor qualified appointments or sales
7. Leaving work early
8. Communicating poorly on the telephone
9. Staying off the telephone too long
10. Spending too much time working on personal projects
11. Being rude on the telephone
12. Being insubordinate to a supervisor
13. Treating teammates and peers inadequately
14. Failing to meet goals and objectives
15. Not adapting to changes within the call center

For 4 powerful ideas that will allow you to push past personal emotions to be a strong leader, despite the gossip, read the whole white paper available on www.callcentertoday.com

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Communicate with your employees, it’s good business

Failing to effectively communicate with your employees isn’t just bad for business. It also can create a work environment that’s ripe for legal trouble. If you take time to communicate, explain your actions, stay involved and make the workplace seem rational to employees, you will increase your chances of staying out of the courtroom.

Below are five of the most common errors that land employers in court—along with tips on how to avoid making them in the first place. As you’ll see, communication lies at the heart of all of them.

1. Failing to document performance issues

Remember this: Arbitrators, judges and juries will believe one document over 10 witnesses. Your documentation doesn’t have to be formal or perfectly written, but it does have to be understandable, contemporaneous—and dated! Many employment cases—especially those involving retaliation claims—hinge on timing issues alone.

If the offense is not egregious, follow a progressive disciplinary process. Judges and juries appreciate when the employer can show it bent over backward to try to save an employee. And while not critical, obtaining an employee’s signature on documents involving progressive discipline can be very helpful.

2. Failing to have effective policies and preventive measures

In today’s environment, the best way to limit your exposure to employment claims is to have policies on workplace harassment, FMLA leave, workplace violence and standards of conduct. They’re critical.

Before putting such policies in place, it’s always a good idea to seek legal counsel from an employment attorney to ensure they are drafted correctly and that you have covered all the bases.

For example, standards of conduct must preserve an employer’s ability to be flexible. Harassment policies need to include information about the proper method to report violations if employees experience or witness harassment in the workplace.

Job applications and employee handbooks also can be great tools to help avoid employment claims. They are the employer’s two best friends. On job applications, courts have upheld provisions addressing at-will employment and the right to check with prior employers for references. Your handbook can include a mini-statute of limitations, restricting the period of time that employees can file employment claims against the company.

3. Failing to provide accurate and honest performance evaluations

At many wrongful discharge trials, the plaintiff’s first exhibits are recent performance evaluations—almost always showing good, if not excellent, performance. If evaluations inaccurately reflect good performance, employees will often argue that their termination from a company was illegal or discriminatory.

Hold supervisors accountable for the accuracy and timeliness of their performance evaluations. Make sure the forms themselves encourage frank and constructive criticism.

For example, some forms have a checkbox format that allows managers to select general performance descriptions such as “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations.” With those options available, managers rarely check “does not meet expectations.” If they do, it raises questions about whether the employee should be working at the company in the first place and whether the supervisor is doing his job.

Avoid generic forms that tend to result only in positive reviews. Where possible, tailor evaluation tools to the specific job and use objective criteria and metrics to measure performance.

4. Failing to explain a termination decision

Employers that are afraid to tell employees why they’re being terminated are opening themselves up to legal action.

Tell the truth when you’re letting someone go. Don’t try to soften the blow by waffling about the reason for the termination, implying that it’s not his fault, or that he’s simply being “laid off.” Failing to be up front with an employee you’re terminating is a cardinal sin of management.

Worse is refusing to give any reason at all. Chances are good the employee will seek answers at an attorney’s office.

5. Creating a perception of favoritism

Employees get disillusioned and angry when their work environment becomes stressful because favoritism is the rule of the day. When workers believe that favoritism is driving a manager’s decision-making, turning to legal counsel or a labor organization for protection is often the next step.

To avoid this, it’s critical to train front-line supervisors to maintain consistency and clarity in personnel actions. They must know how important it is to be clear about why they are doing things the way they are. Monitor supervisors’ performance to make sure they’re not creating the perception of favoritism—or worse, discrimination.

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4 Parallels between Call Centers and School

Agents see their job in the call center as an extension of the years they spent in school. Supervisors see that metaphor as well. School is a symbol all employees can relate to, whatever their country of origin, because everybody that works in a call center has lived through the experience of school years. Supervisors will sometimes talk about their agents and refer to them as “my kids.” We’ve heard supervisors say “My kids are doing great.” Or, “The kids are loose again,” or my favorite, “All right everyone, play time is over, back to your desks.” Supervisors know from their school experience that their role mimics the teacher’s role. The meaning of supervisors equating agents to school kids is not to demean the intelligence of the agents, it is to emphasize the similarities between school and the call center that everybody can relate to.

Parallel 1 – Cliques and Styles

We can all remember the cliques that formed in middle school and jr. and high school. People gravitated towards the group that had people most like them, or most like who they wanted to be. The cliques were a big part of each student’s experience in school. The same is true in call centers. Supervisors must recognize that agents bond differently with one another based on a multitude of factors. Remember in school when you would eat lunch with your group of friends? Usually those groups were somewhat familiar. Agents treat lunch the same way. Remember in school how you only liked certain classes, parts of the day, and certain teachers but not others? Agents view the call center the same way. For example, agents may dislike taking member servcie calls from Alabama, but love taking calls from Oregon. Agents may dislike one supervisor but value the intelligence and input of another. And agents may dislike making outbound telsales calls to prospects before 10 a.m., but love to do so after 2 p.m.

TO READ MORE, INCLUDING 3 MORE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE CALL CENTER AND SCHOOL, DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER “HOW CALL CENTERS ARE LIKE SCHOOLS!” HERE http://store.callcentertoday.com/frwhpa1.html

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The Call Center as Morgue

I got trapped this week on the phone with an agent who sounded like he was calling from the morgue.  I was actually tricked by his monotone voice, – I thought he had to be someone I knew with really bad news. I stayed on the phone even after I realized no one I knew died, because I was having so much fun imagining the call center he was calling from – in my mind it was underground, wet and cold, no natural light, with an eerie greenish light over the place.

I got that visual and a chill down my spine just from his five words, “Hello is this Mrs. Smith?”

My heart ached for all those customers out there who really want to buy your products and services but who are literally bored into SAYING NO by dull, monotone presentations.

Then my mind jumped to those innocent customers who zone out as soon as a rep starts reading the script word for word, EXACTLY as it’s written.

I’m starting a movement to Shock your customers by talking with energy and using your “real” voice.  Or, instead of high energy, when the situation warrants, use your voice to comfort and sooth customers.

Of course, it all depends on the products or services you offer. Don’t sound upbeat if you’re selling cemetery plots. And don’t go all morgue-like on callers if you’ve got the greatest solution to their most pressing problem!  When you use a real voice, you spur customers to get excited about making purchasing decisions over the phone.

I challenge reps to think of themselves as DJs at a huge party or on the radio.  Listeners can choose any station or style of music they want to hear, they just have to press a button.  When you hear a song you don’t like on the radio you just switch stations or tune out.  The DJs and radio personalities have to keep people tuned in by keeping it interesting.  They use interesting topics, exciting information, and high energy voice inflection to keep people’s attention.

Some DJs, especially on talk radio, do such a great job holding listeners attention, they even get people to call in to ask questions or make comments.  That’s the level of engagement you’re looking for.

People will respond to your style and talk to you… when you use your real voice.

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First 30 minutes of the call center shift makes all the difference

The contact center game begins when agents walk through the door for their shifts. The supervisor gets a split second chance to start things off right. When supervisors fail to start the process correctly, agents fail to respond. The first thirty minutes of any contact center shift should be controlled entirely by the supervisor, not the agents. Make the entry to your contact center PHENOMENAL. And create a theme that resonates from the minute agents walk in the door.

Do you feel that your contact center lacks an introductory game plan each day? If you or your supervisors don’t have a solid plan to keep your agents motivated and focused, then you are probably failing to do all you can do to affect performance, and retention.

Imagine a restaurant where you seat yourself but no waiter comes to serve you. Or a restaurant where you try to serve yourself at the buffet table but there’s no food in the trays. Imagine an airplane full of passengers while the pilots are in the employee lounge, or a stadium packed with fans while security employees are just beginning to organize their duties.

The communication presented to contact center agents in the first 30 minutes of their day sets the stage for the rest of the day’s performance.

Behavior from management matters greatly; providing agents with messages of hope and letting them see your positive spirit  helps create a culture that brings out the best in people. The mundane nature of the agent’s job dictates they should come to work leery. Every day has to be fresh. They need management to set the tone, to create an environment they want to do their best work in. When managers lead, contact center agents fall into step.

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Call Center Zen

A recent study found that call center managers who spend their floor time listening to call center agents are 999% more effective than their competitors.

True or False? Well, false, there was no actual study done, but it’s definitely true that managers and supervisors who spend more time listening than talking are wildly more successful. The best communicators are the best listeners. And I would say that to a certain degree, the same can be said about managers and supervisors. The zen of call center management says, “Seek to understand”. Don’t worry about being understood. Take yourself out of the primary position. Even as a manager with a capital M, you don’t come at every situation with the answers already figured out. Heck, you don’t even have to come to a new situation with all the questions figured out! Instead, approach employees and customers seeking to understand.
I play a game with myself these days. Every conversation I have, I’m trying to be the one who does the least talking. I’m really competitive, so it’s a struggle, and there are even some awkward moments, but I’m forcing myself to focus my attention on the other person, what s/he is saying and NOT saying. The zen is getting out of my own head and into the space between us where so much that is communicated is usually lost.
You know how people say “read between the lines” or “listen for what’s not being said”? Well I never knew what that meant, and I still don’t what that means, but good listening skills are more than common sense, they speak to something deeper. The something that’s a little deeper is humility. This year be willing to try something new, listen for what’s not being said.

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Writing Goals Down Helps Make Them Happen

The American business author and former management professor at the University of New Orleans, Michael Leboeuf, said: “When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.”

There’s also research that says writing goals down makes them more likely to be achieved. There’s some neural pathway that’s ignited when you commit a goal / plan to paper.

If you want to improve your concentration, productivity, and output in 2012 STOP MULTITASKING!!!

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Research proves that managing two mental tasks at the same time significantly reduces the brainpower available to concentrate on either one, ultimately damaging the quality of any final product. Plus it takes the brain four times longer to recognize and process each thing you’re working on when switching back and forth among tasks. Work literally takes much longer because of all the time lost switching gears. The growing body of scientific research asserts that multitasking can actually make you less efficient and, well, less smart.

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The Inside Sales Engine

Inside sales is magical when companies embrace it.  Inside sales can be used in two key venues:  1) Hunting for new business, from leads.  2) Nurturing relationships with customers.  Imagine inside sales as your most profitable return on investment.  A team of any size will do. And, when implemented and operated, the inside sales engine becomes very successful for the growth of your business.

Here’s a quick taste of inside sales. Imagine that people never think about you, even when you think they should.  So, staying in-front of them is critical.  It is remarkable what happens when you call somebody up and say “hello, do you need anything”?  In fact, just calling people up – and staying in front of them – is a giant reason why inside sales is so successful.  Remember that inside sales is more than just calling, too. It involves email, blogs, direct mail, webinars, and more.  When you create an inside sales team, you are creating an engine of touches to captivate customers, prospects and leads.

Here is another taste of inside sales.  Imagine how the magic of compound interest can work wonders for your business.  For instance, when your inside sales team touches a customer, or sells a new customer, it is the start of the relationship.  Then, using inside sales to keep the relationship is important – because your profit with that client is in its second, third, eighth, and fifteenth purchase, not the first.  While the “hunter” inside sales department continues to on-board new customers, your “nurturer” inside sales department continues to get more from existing customers.  The compound interest adds exponential revenue to your business.  And, more customers mean more opportunity.

What do we recommend you do now?  Plan the development of your customers for 2012.  Identify what they did in 2011.  Then, create a system of buckets to manage those customers in 2012.  Right now, your team should be identifying the buckets they want to manage customers from, and then prepare to “cook” those buckets in January.  From there, your team can identify which customers need to be targeted first, and you can start the inside sales process.

For more information on inside sales development, email Training@CallCenterToday.com.  Or call 888-835-5326 x111.  Or visit www.CallCenterToday.com.

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