My department has just been established. How do I recruit more people and retain them? What I want to recruit is the position of telesales. Please give me some advice.

The phone itself is just a communication tool. If you want to exert its huge communication power, the key is to look at the ability and level of the telemarketers. Many people think that as long as telemarketers have a good working attitude, their abilities can be improved through rigorous training. In reality, training can only do so much. If the people you recruit do not have suitable characteristics, no matter how good the training is, the performance will not be truly improved. Therefore, in this chapter, we focus on sharing what characteristics telemarketers should have and how to recruit talents with such characteristics through scientific and reasonable procedures. This is the basic condition for exerting the power of telemarketing.

Main factors affecting sales performance

According to years of research and statistical findings by authoritative organizations, the main factors that usually affect sales performance include:

Sales potential ( salesaptitude)

There is a story in "Zhuangzi": A man caught a newly born eaglet in an eagle's nest on a high mountain. He took the little eagle home and fed it with the chickens at home. Therefore, this little eagle always thought that he was a chicken. Gradually, the little eagle grew up and had wings, and the owner had the idea to train it to become a falcon. However, the owner tried many methods, but none of them worked. Finally, the owner was so angry that he threw the eagle from the cliff. The eagle began to fall straight down like a fast stone. In panic, it flapped its wings desperately, and just like that, it finally flew! From this story, we can see that the eagle had never before discovered its potential to fly.

The so-called sales potential refers to the innate qualities suitable for the sales job itself. Among the determinants of sales performance, its importance exceeds 50%, which is what we often call using the right people to do the right job. thing. Because sales is divided into many positions, including internal support sales, telephone sales, developmental sales, key account sales, etc. Therefore, sales potential is also related to the sales position held. Different positions require different types of sales potential. Human interviews and feelings are not enough to trust sales potential. When necessary, professional testing tools should be used, such as DISC, MBTI, CPQ, etc. It would be best to have an assessment tool specifically tailored to telesales positions. Therefore, in a certain sense, suitable sales calls are recruited. In the following, we will use a representative assessment tool as an example to illustrate the characteristics that a "telephone sales" position should usually have.

Product knowledge (product knowledge)

This is related to each company's own business operations, and of course includes knowledge of the market and competitors. The key depends on whether the sales staff can master it proficiently and use it flexibly in practice. Generally, companies have dedicated people responsible for training in this aspect.

Saleskills

The so-called sales skills are the professional skills you need to do sales itself, including common listening skills, mining Customer demand skills, personalized communication skills, etc. If you are not proficient in these skills, you are not a professional salesperson. However, having good sales skills does not mean that the results you achieve will necessarily be good. It is said in society that "sales geniuses who can sell anything to anyone actually do not exist." Whether your performance is good or not must be a combination of factors. result.

Selfmotivation

This is what we usually call the mentality part. Some people can be self-motivated, or become stronger the more they encounter difficulties. We call this self-motivation. Usually, such people can score high in self-esteem.

But some people must be forced or motivated to do things. This is called external motivation. If you want to become a successful person, you must change from "I want to do it" to "I want to do it". The personality and ability factors involved in this aspect are the most complex and the most difficult to grasp in human nature. According to the famous psychologist Jung, people can only be motivated by themselves, and it is difficult for others to change and inspire us personally for a long time.

However, we can create a favorable motivational environment, such as providing employees with a bright and spacious office environment, having suitable leaders to help improve their capabilities, including targeted training for outstanding employees. These methods can all be used to influence employees. An important factor in self-motivation.

Seven steps of self-motivation

1) Always ask yourself this question: "Am I already motivated to do this job?"

2) Have Strong sense of purpose - having one or more goals and staying focused on them. If you focus on your goals, excitement and enthusiasm will naturally arise. Setting effective goals (must comply with the SMART principle, that is, specific, clear, time-bound, and measurable) and then achieving them is one of the most fulfilling methods of self-motivation.

3) Keep breaking out of your comfort zone – don’t just because something was done well in a certain way in the past, so it has to be done that way now. The biggest characteristic of the sales profession is the courage to challenge yourself, constantly innovate, constantly set bigger goals, and constantly challenge your own limits. You will find that you can do better.

4) Treat every communication with a customer as a good opportunity to learn again - take some time to reflect after each sale, recall the process just now, and think carefully about the following questions: What aspects can you do yourself? Well done? What aspects should have been done well but were not? What problems are new? What areas do you still not understand?

5) Failure and success are always inseparable - success is inseparable from attempts again and again. Failure is inevitable in attempts, and failure breeds the seeds of success. If you don't go through these inevitable processes, don't summarize the reasons for failure, and don't improve your behavior, then success will be out of the question.

6) You do not work for your boss, but for yourself - you are the most important person in the world, and your destiny is controlled by you, not by your boss or you. Service companies dominate. What you want to get depends first on what you want, and then on your actual actions. Your efforts will always be rewarded. Everything you get is the result of what you put in.

7) The most important thing is - act, act, act again!

Not everyone is willing to motivate themselves all the time. If salespeople have no desire to improve, they simply cannot devote themselves to work and study.

Sales process (salesprocess)

Sales skills are how a person handles things when they encounter them, while sales process is a replicable and standardized work process that demonstrates the professionalism of the company and the individual. , which is what we often call SOP (Standard Operation Procedure). Based on this, the company's sales staff know what should be done and what should not be done. Often a great help for new sales getting started quickly. In the "direct telephone marketing system", the sales process also occupies a very important position. We will discuss this issue specifically in the following article.

Selection steps for telemarketers

For the position of telemarketing, it is also necessary to pay attention to whether the sales staff themselves have suitable sales potential and characteristics.

Different positions have different trait requirements, and different sales tasks have different trait requirements. The steps to correctly select personnel based on their characteristics are:

The first step: clarify job roles and job responsibilities;

It is also telemarketing, but it can be divided into different positions according to the needs of the company. For example, according to the business processing direction, we divide it into active outbound call type and passive answering type inbound.

In active outbound call, it can be divided into "primary development" and "secondary development" according to the business characteristics. Development", of which "primary development" is responsible for the stage from the status of a strange customer to the first transaction, and "secondary development" is responsible for how to upgrade the customer's purchase quantity and purchase frequency to consolidate and strengthen customer loyalty; the Inbound form can be mainly divided into "Order Hotline" and "Customer Service".

Among them, the "order hotline" position is currently widely used in the online shopping or TV shopping industry. It is mainly responsible for answering customer calls, confirming the customer's intention through sales skills, exploring other customer needs, recommending corresponding products, handling customer objections, and reaching an agreement. Sales goal: The main job responsibilities of the "Customer Service" position are to answer customer inquiries and calls (including pre-sales and after-sales), provide technical support, handle customer complaints and matters related to after-sales service.

Outbound telephone sales Inbound customer service

Job responsibilities

1) Responsible for the collection of customer information;

2) Responsible for the telephone Develop new customers;

3) Responsible for telephone follow-up interviews with customers and conduct up-selling or cross-selling;

4) Responsible for sorting and analyzing customer data; job responsibilities

1) Responsible for daily order service;

2) Responsible for answering customer inquiries;

3) Responsible for maintaining and further exploring customer demand information;

4) Responsible for handling customer complaints;

The second step: Use professional tools to conduct sales potential testing;

Sales potential (Aptitude) is innately formed and is also a person’s inner genes and subconscious. According to Webster's dictionary. "Aptitude" has the following four meanings:

1) Tendency, tendency;

2) Innate talent;

3) Learning ability; < /p>

4) Overall aptitude and suitability;

According to research, innate potential accounts for 38%-64% of the conditions for success, and on average the importance exceeds 50% %, sales potential can be scientifically evaluated but cannot be obtained through acquired learning or external conditions.

Potential tools that are currently used more internationally include DISC, MBTI and CPQ; some multinational companies such as GE and IBM are also developing on this basis in order to recruit sales personnel more suitable for their companies. Develop your own potential assessment tool. Currently around the world, tools for assessing potential can achieve up to 68% accuracy, and tools for assessing personality can achieve up to 95% accuracy.

Since each testing system has different standards, the following is just an example of CPQ, the most authoritative testing tool used in the world, to illustrate what sales characteristics are usually required for telemarketing positions?

The third step: Select suitable telemarketers through scientific interview process;

Selecting telemarketers with sales characteristics through scientific methods is very important for companies to build telemarketing teams. Important preparation steps.

The following is a general recruitment process and related interview points, which are described below.

1) Resume Screening Judgment

When we usually describe the job, in addition to clearly describing the main job responsibilities, we must also write down the qualifications for the position. When looking at a resume, the main thing is to see whether the candidate meets these basic qualifications. So, for general telephone sales positions, what aspects should we focus on?

1) Education: Basically, high school or college graduates are the best. This is because you have to face a lot of rejections every day when working in telemarketing, and sitting on the phone all day has physical problems. It is easy to resist this kind of job if you have too much education. Unless you are preparing to be trained into a managerial level, it is generally not suitable for people with a bachelor's degree or above to do front-line telephone sales.

2) Age: Have been working full-time for more than two years after graduation, usually between 18 and 26 years old. It’s not easy to be too old, because the older you are, the less willing you are to learn, making you less suitable for telemarketing work. Therefore, if there are older candidates, their learning attitude must be examined; while for younger candidates, their job stability must be examined.

3) Gender: It depends on the product being sold, but usually women are more suitable.

4) Home location: According to statistics, the distance between home and the company is also an important factor affecting the stability of salespeople near and far. Unless the salesperson is willing to move closer to the company.

2) Telephone online preliminary interview

In addition to examining the qualifications, telephone sales also examine whether the candidate meets the job requirements. Just like when we want to select a long-distance runner, we must first test his "lung capacity". Since we are doing telephone sales, we naturally have to listen to their performance during real phone calls.

Therefore, after resume selection, an online preliminary interview is conducted over the phone. Mainly examine the following job conditions:

Articulation clarity

Response sensitivity

Whether you have affinity

Learning ability

Logical thinking

Organized speaking

For example, clarity of speech and affinity can be evaluated through questions and answers on the phone, and responsiveness can be evaluated by asking stressful questions. , other reference evaluation questions include:

1) Please briefly describe the content of your current (or previous job)?

This question can test the applicant's expression and organizational skills.

2) Where do you feel most accomplished? Where is the most frustrating part?

This question can test the applicant's reaction and logical ability.

3) What do you value most about this job right now?

This question examines whether you are motivated and self-motivated, it is best to pursue high income or high achievements, and like to influence others or guide others.

4) Why do you want to apply for a telesales job?

This question tests your self-awareness and understanding of telesales job responsibilities.

3) Interview

“Seeing is better than hearing a hundred times.” Face-to-face communication with candidates is the most critical step in the entire recruitment and selection process.

The face-to-face communication with the candidates is mainly to examine their comprehensive quality and psychological quality. Some problems can only be discovered through face-to-face consultation. For example, whether the salesperson has a strong ambition, his emotional response to difficulties, etc. Usually, typical interview steps include the following steps:

Step 1: The examiner introduces himself to make the applicant relax;

Step 2: Let the applicant make a brief introduction and Talk about your work experience in depth. You can communicate in depth about the parts of your resume that you need to know about what you are interested in. Typical questions include:

1. Your previous work related to telemarketing What is it? What results were obtained?

2. How long did it take you to achieve such an achievement? How does your leader evaluate you?

3. Please describe the most difficult customer communication experience you have ever encountered? When did it happen? What causes this? What methods did you use to improve your relationship with your customers? What was the result?

4. How does your supervisor evaluate your performance?

5. Do you have a record of promotion during your tenure? What was your supervisor's reason for promoting you? How many competitors were there for this position?

6. Among the following options, what are you most interested in when choosing a telesales position?

a...High-income earning opportunities b. Sense of achievement at work c. Professional training provided

d. Friendly working environment e. Space for career development

< p>Note: When looking for a telemarketer, the best answer is "high income"

Step 3: Target the key parts with targeted STAR questions

" The "STAR" interview method is a scientific recruitment method based on examining personal abilities. Among them, "S" is the situation: "T" is the target: "A" is the action: "R" is the result. Using this interview method, you can quickly find out what the applicant has done in the past.

Usually the interviewer starts by asking about the situation: "Under what circumstances did you do this before?" Then he asks the target: "Can you tell me about how you did this? What is the purpose?" Next, ask about action: "What actions did you take to do this?" Finally, ask about result.

For example, some applicants will say: "I was the sales champion in my original company, and my sales volume ranking has always been number one." Many hiring managers and department managers will be very satisfied after hearing this. Think: "Yes, this person is a sales champion." But to the human resources professional, this answer means nothing, and the employer gets no information from it. Candidate says: “I’ve always been a good salesperson.

The interviewer will ask: "Under what circumstances did you do well in sales before?" How is the atmosphere in the company? How is the product? What is the regional demand for sales? ” Then ask: “What actions did you take to ensure sales?” Do you often visit customers and organize speeches? Or are you lucky and have a good product? "Finally, ask about the result. If he says "I am one of the best salespeople in the company", you should ask him: "How many salespeople do you have in your company?" What are some indicators that you are one of the best in sales? Is your sales number one or number two? What is your specific sales volume? "Continuously ask about what happened in the past, so that you can ask about the applicant's past behavior. At the same time, you can also ask whether there are any self-contradictory flaws.

Step 4: Explain the content of telemarketing work and apply a certain amount of pressure to observe the applicant's stress resistance

Telephone sales is a very boring and boring job, and the amount of daily phone activity is a great test of a person's stress resistance. Therefore, during the interview, describe the worst and most difficult situation to the candidate, and observe their reactions, especially the small movements of their arms and legs, whether they show resistance, fear or shrinkage, and whether their eyes wander.

Step 5: Express gratitude and end amicably

Whether you decide to hire the applicant or not, you must pay attention to being friendly and polite. Answer his questions with an attitude and end each interview in a friendly manner. Never ignore or neglect, and never show an arrogant expression to the applicant, because you are the interviewer, not only representing you personally, but also representing your company. It is the most basic requirement for every human resources worker to have a good impression of your company through your corporate style.