What selling skills do agents need?

“Sales ratios are a waste of time…making a sale is just pot luck!”  If you hear your agents lamenting their lack of sales success, take action.  Not disciplinary action – training action!

A lack of regard for sales techniques usually stems from a lack of training.  Sales training is an investment in your people.  It is also an investment in your business.

A whole new world of sales possibilities opens up to agents with accredited sales training.  The signs they missed before are suddenly illuminated.  Successful sales agents understand the techniques and interpret the language of their customer. What is the trick to sales success?  Listen to customers.  Understand their needs.  Deliver a solution.

All the clues available to a call centre agent are contained in the spoken word.  In the case of repeat customers, purchase history is also a vital clue to the customer’s needs and behaviour.

It is critical for agents to very quickly identify the customer’s need.  They must use open-ended questions so the customer can engage in conversation and with each word, shine a brighter light on their need.

The agent must be listening carefully if they are to offer a solution to the customer’s problem.  If the customer is thinking of taking a holiday with their children, the agent had better be checking flights or accommodation availability during school holidays.

If the customer is enquiring about budget flights, the agent will only create frustration and annoyance if they try to up-sell the customer to a business or first class fare.  Similarly, a regular business class traveller is not interested in hearing the seating availability in economy.

Focus on the benefits rather than the absolute features of the solution.  Perhaps the only flight the agent can offer, whilst not the customer’s preferred time, offers the benefit of being a non-stop flight with a more family friendly arrival time at destination.

Astute sales agents listen for the buying signals.  “How many seats are left?  How soon do I have to pay?”  As soon as the agent hears the buying signals, it is time to stop selling and time to make a move to secure the sale.  The agent must have the tools available to close the sale… “I can take your credit card number now to secure the booking for you.”  Offer an alternative payment method if necessary.  But don’t push.  The solution has been found – it is now up to the customer to commit to the purchase.

What if the customer bails out at this stage?  They need more time to think? What a waste of time and effort for the agent!  Wrong.  Good sales training allows the agent to close the call professionally, reinforcing branding and gratitude for the opportunity to assist.  Whilst disappointed the call did not convert to a sale, the agent should feel confident they have paved the path to a sale the next time the customer calls.

Good sales agents listen carefully to their customer’s needs.  They find a solution and pounce as soon as they hear the buying signals.  Good sales agents believe they have the power to achieve success and do not resign themselves to “pot-luck”.