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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Three Elements To Great Telephone Sales Script Writing

Call Center Today writes some of the best inbound and outbound telephone sales scripts for clients.  Combine great telephone sales scripts with amazing sales effectiveness training and you have a phenomenal process to boost sales in the call center.  We have spent quite a bit on telephone script writing in our blogs, and wanted to write more here.  Telephone sales scripts are fantastic ways to get customers to act, and therefore the script that does the walking and talking for the rep is critical.  Craft a fantastic script and the customer responds. Here are 3 quick tips for your call center scripts:

1.  Get engagement, the customer that is engages responds and acts while the customer that has no vested interest in the call won’t proceed the way the reps want them to

2.  Ask questions. When the customer answers, you have won.  And, the answer provides information.  They won’t answer unless they are engaged

3.  Make sure they give you answers to your questions and then use the answers to build your case

There is so much more to great telephone sales scripts and telephone sales script writing.  This is just a little inkling of what your script can do.  For more information, visit www.callcentertoday.com or email us to talk script writing at mycallcenter@callcentertoday.com.

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Outbound Telephone Script Writing

What is the key to a fantastic outbound telephone script?  How can one best write an outbound telephone script?  At Call Center Today, we have written numerous outbound telephone scripts for clients, and through the benefits of editing and testing we have found a magical fomula.  The long answer is too long for a call center blog, but the short answer is compelling.

The perfect outbound telephone script needs to have engagement.  Inside Sales representatives are afraid to engage because they are afraid of answers and questions and dialogue.  The great inside sales representatives relish the answers, questions and dialogue.  So the perfect outbound telephone script needs to have engagement, let the script do the walking and let the rep follow the script’s lead!  Engagement questions early, often, etc, provide information and rapport and bond.  When the inside sales rep asks a question and the client answers that question, the game is over, the rep has WON.  Reps are afraid to ask questions, so they never get to this most valuable stage.

There are two types of engagement questions (open and closed). We prefer an open question in the early going of a script to present an AAAAA HAAAA moment for the client.  In many ways, the question sells the customer on the mission of the call, and sells the customer on why they might need to listen.  As a rep, you may not know the answer coming, but you can usually solidify what the 5-10 answers could be.  The engagement question, early, can be everything to your presentation.  Don’t be afraid to ask!  Customers just might answer your question and want to hear more.

For more information, visit Call Center Today at www.CallCenterToday.com.

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