Here are some effective techniques for training:
At the start of our telemarketing business, we recruited telemarketers and began training them using traditional methods, such as mastering the product, the call script and handling objections.
After some time and several hours of listening to recordings, we found that despite the growth of our company, the traditional training methods did not always meet the expectations of some prospects, who are more demanding.
We then decided to create and adopt the following 4 training methods. Since then, our telemarketers have become more effective, and the number of appointments has significantly increased.
Leaders should participate in the exercises:
In B2B telemarketing, telemarketers need to see that leaders set an example. Leaders must be a model of success, demonstrating the behaviors and skills that telemarketers should emulate.
An article published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology shows that employees are more effective and work more proactively when they see that their leaders are skilled and competent.
Our teams have adopted a very strict process. Each telemarketer must role-play with their supervisor, who acts as the prospect. New telemarketers and those with lower performance must do this exercise daily.
When we implemented this process, I took on the role of the telemarketer for an hour with each telemarketer, asking them to be demanding prospects and present challenging objections. If I wasn't very good at addressing these objections, neither would the telemarketers be. I conducted this exercise regularly to ensure that we could handle all types of objections.
Make the exercise more challenging:
Creating scenarios and role plays with easy questions and objections is a waste of time.
The exercises should be more challenging than conversations with actual prospects. This way, telemarketers are prepared for all types of conversations. Allow telemarketers to conduct exercises with their colleagues. Do not assist them when they get stuck; wait until they find the answer themselves. Do not let them leave the role play with provided answers. You can ask them more questions until they find the solutions on their own.
With this strategy, practice acts as a form of exposure therapy.
A study conducted by NYU researchers involved giving participants mild shocks while showing them an image of a blue square, creating an unconscious fear response to the image. Later, they removed this fear by regularly and consistently showing the image without the shocks.
Similarly, when telemarketers train on difficult phone conversations without the pressure of having prospects on the line, they work to overcome their negative and automatic reactions to challenging questions. When they face real sales conversations, they will be prepared to handle them without panicking.
Work on the entire appointment-setting cycle, not just the initial call:
Traditional training programs generally focus on the initial call for setting appointments. However, exercises on follow-up calls (such as reminders, follow-ups, and confirmations) are less common.
Competent telemarketers must master all interactions, from setting appointments to follow-ups and confirmations.
The principle here is overlearning:
Cognitive science is clear on this: It’s not enough to learn an exercise to perform it automatically. We need to overlearn it.
Researchers have demonstrated, after a decade of research, that repetition of an exercise, even if mastered, is essential for achieving peak performance. Memorizing a call script does not mean that the telemarketer is ready to handle calls. It is only the first step, and the learning process has only just begun.
Why? Professor Alaa Ahmed published a study in the Journal of Neuroscience, demonstrating that the repetition of an exercise leads to automation, and subsequently to a reduction in the effort required to perform that exercise.
Overlearning leads to a reduction in the mental effort required and, consequently, to improved performance.
Dr. Alaa Ahmed demonstrated that to perform a task with less effort, it is necessary to continue training even after the task seems to be mastered.
Even if it seems unnecessary to continue practicing a call script, imagining and handling different objections, following up with prospects, and sending emails, these repetitions make telemarketers' work faster, more efficient, and require less effort.
We applied this approach at Leads Provider. Our telemarketers used to spend between 60% and 65% of their call time talking to prospects. Now, they spend the same proportion of time listening to prospects.
Provide ongoing training even for top telemarketers:
A culture of training and coaching must be established within the company. No telemarketer, even the top performers, should be exempted.
A study published in Performance Improvement Quarterly reveals that a salesperson who undergoes coaching performs 2.9% to 6.2% better than other employees.
We have observed this coaching effect at Leads Provider. The results are an increase in both the number and quality of appointments.
Building a successful telemarketing company relies on effective phone calls. However, traditional training alone is no longer sufficient. It is necessary to implement programs to regularly enhance the skills of telemarketers to handle all types of sales conversations and objections.