Telesales - Need to build a virtual team. Suggestions?

8 replies
Hey guys

I'm in the process of building a telesales team but it's a total pain in the bahokey so I'm looking for some suggestions on here.

Basically, I want to stay away from outsourced call-centres as they ALWAYS charge per hour and lock you in a contract ... and this is a surefire way to rack up a huge bill and for them to have no performance accountability (Ideally I'm looking for a revenue share type of deal when it comes to call centres).

Also, recruitment of individual telesales people is a numbers game but I feel that without an actual office with PC+phone equipment and constant "motivational techniques" (cough cough) ... this will be extremely difficult.

Anyway, I hope to find some good suggestions from fellow warriors who may have ran a telesales team before and can offer some pointers.

The floor is open!

Best,
Nick
#build #suggestions #team #telesales #virtual
  • Profile picture of the author rdkelsey
    I'm not sure what part of the anatomy the "bahokey" is, but it does sound like a difficult situatiion ...

    I don't have an answer for you ... but saw a similar situation so I'll relate what I can of that.

    I worked for a company here in the states for a while who concentrated most of their efforts on the sale. The young man who owned the company was a salesman and I think he was actually addicted to "the sale". Unfortunately the company couldn't live up to the promises that he sold on and eventually went under.

    He has a room full of about 20 people most of the time. They were all untrained and working for minimum money. He started off paying them only a small amount of money but offered commissions on the sale. Sales ran from $500 monthly payment plan up to $2,000 monthly ... so a 10% commission could add up and make it a half way decent job.

    This too failed for him as he was violating labor laws ... (honestly, in hind sight this "business" was a complete joke).

    He used a "script" that was a webpage with a "fill in the blank" form. These people would make cold calls and then read from the script. If the person would talk to them they'd fill in the blanks to eventually submit a form as a record of the call.

    The script is what enabled these totally untrained people to make some sales ... albeit, a very few overall.

    He also purchased a "dialer" ... something that would dial numbers from a list and these sales people would have to grab the phone.

    All in all ... the "script" idea on the screen in front of them was not all that bad of a system to sell by ... the company was completely black hat sales though.

    Hope that helps a little ... I am not a sales person so I have nothing as to insight for you.

    --BK
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  • Profile picture of the author James Foster
    Hey Nick,

    I use to be with you about the commission being the better way to pay people, but John Duhram changed my mind about that.

    See, if you pay someone just when they make a sale, they have little reason to work with for you if they don't make a sale in the first couple calls.

    They get frustrated, feel like they're going through all this emotional pain for nothing... so on and so forth.

    But if you pay them by the hour, they have to be accountable. If not you fire them! (And a lot of people set up their agreement so the outsourcer works for a few hours unpaid to see if they have the skills to bring in the clients - if they do, they get hired on - if not you go back to looking)

    So for me, commission is hit or miss. If you hire 100 outsourcers and only pay them commission, 99 of them are going to give up right away.

    But if you hire someone hourly, they're not going anywhere. They want that money coming in every hour, so they'll recite your script until they're blue in the face, no matter what the out come.

    If you have someone repeating the script, then you just need to work on the script (to make that convert) not the person.
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    There are essentially 3 types of telephone sales reps:

    Lead Callers: Cold calls, qualify prospects, information integrity, etc.

    Lead callers are generally new to sales, prefer salary to commission and have significant turnover. Think college students, retirees and folks just looking for a quick paycheck.

    The good news is a handful of your BEST sales people will start out as Lead Callers.

    Fronters: They call warm leads, qualify prospects and introduce offers. If your sales funnel includes a low or mid-ticket item, they will close these sales.

    Fronters generally have some sales experience (some have LOTS) but are often mercurial and unreliable, hence they stay on the Junior Varsity team. They will want commissions and incentives and respond to competitive environments where they can earn bragging rights. Almost all of your best salespeople will have been excellent Fronters for you or somewhere else in their sales past.

    CLOSERS: These are your champions. They CLOSE large ticket sales. Closers are undeniably great salespeople who understand your market and prospects inside and out. They can articulate your sales message with finesse and skill. And they can drive you CRAZY but you won't mind because they make money hand over fist.

    Closers will expect significant commissions and incentives commensurate to the egos that they will inevitably (and justifiably) have. Closers often earn six-figures, some even multiple six figures. Some Closers are well suited to becoming sales management and leading their own crews of Lead Callers and Fronters.

    So, what does all this have to do with trying to develop a new, remote sales team?

    If you're successful, you're probably going to find that running a remote sales team is more of a hassle than it's worth. Certainly for Lead Callers and/or Fronters (Closers are usually more than capable self-managers).

    So, think with the end goal in mind. In a year from now, how does your sales team look?

    Additionally, in telephone sales TRAINING is KING. You MUST train your people well. Not only about what you sell, but HOW to sell effectively; how to stay motivated when they hit a slump; how not to get overconfident when they're on a streak...

    Your investment into a salesperson is tremendous in terms of time, money, resources and energy and somebody who flakes out after 4 months is colossal waste.

    Anyway, just trying to put some 'longer range' ideas into your head as you mull things over.

    Best,

    Brian
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Originally Posted by badboy_Nick View Post

    Hey guys

    I'm in the process of building a telesales team but it's a total pain in the bahokey so I'm looking for some suggestions on here.

    Basically, I want to stay away from outsourced call-centres as they ALWAYS charge per hour and lock you in a contract ... and this is a surefire way to rack up a huge bill and for them to have no performance accountability (Ideally I'm looking for a revenue share type of deal when it comes to call centres).

    Also, recruitment of individual telesales people is a numbers game but I feel that without an actual office with PC+phone equipment and constant "motivational techniques" (cough cough) ... this will be extremely difficult.

    Anyway, I hope to find some good suggestions from fellow warriors who may have ran a telesales team before and can offer some pointers.

    The floor is open!

    Best,
    Nick

    Motivation, recruitment... these are part of it. just like if you started an affiliate program. Only with telemarketing the roi is alot higher.
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  • Profile picture of the author V12
    I have access to a call centre here in the UK. It belongs to a friend of mine.
    PM me with details of exactly what you're looking for and I can
    pass it on if you like.

    Abdul.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamespitt
    Originally Posted by badboy_Nick View Post

    Hey guys

    I'm in the process of building a telesales team but it's a total pain in the bahokey so I'm looking for some suggestions on here.

    Basically, I want to stay away from outsourced call-centres as they ALWAYS charge per hour and lock you in a contract ... and this is a surefire way to rack up a huge bill and for them to have no performance accountability (Ideally I'm looking for a revenue share type of deal when it comes to call centres).

    Also, recruitment of individual telesales people is a numbers game but I feel that without an actual office with PC+phone equipment and constant "motivational techniques" (cough cough) ... this will be extremely difficult.

    Anyway, I hope to find some good suggestions from fellow warriors who may have ran a telesales team before and can offer some pointers.

    The floor is open!

    Best,
    Nick
    I have a team and I have a set up already so there's no problem about this. If you need any help I can do it for you.

    James Pitt
    Signature

    Get your totally free outsourcing guide here..

    Send me a PM if you want to hire top-calibre outsourced staff.

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  • Profile picture of the author BrashImpact
    Originally Posted by badboy_Nick View Post

    Hey guys

    I'm in the process of building a telesales team but it's a total pain in the bahokey so I'm looking for some suggestions on here.

    Basically, I want to stay away from outsourced call-centres as they ALWAYS charge per hour and lock you in a contract ... and this is a surefire way to rack up a huge bill and for them to have no performance accountability (Ideally I'm looking for a revenue share type of deal when it comes to call centres).

    Also, recruitment of individual telesales people is a numbers game but I feel that without an actual office with PC+phone equipment and constant "motivational techniques" (cough cough) ... this will be extremely difficult.

    Anyway, I hope to find some good suggestions from fellow warriors who may have ran a telesales team before and can offer some pointers.

    The floor is open!

    Best,
    Nick
    Nick,
    i have a report i put together last year, i sell it for substantial amounts of money, in your case, if you PM me, i will send it too you.

    The Title: How to hire sales superstars anytime, any place, for any job or task.

    Take the time to find one or 2 super stars, this could take you as long as a year, follow the details in the report, and create a money machine. Superstars must be handled in a completely different way than anyone else in the sales industry.

    Regards,
    Robert Nelson
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    You are right to hire your own people and drive your own production nick!

    Thats the right track if you want 10 times the results.

    The best place to advertise is career builder.com IMHO
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