Inbound customer service representatives answer questions and provide sales assistance. These live operators are your employees and it’s up to you to house them, equip them and train them. These inbound representatives offer a lifeline to customers who are upset or confused.
With with proper training, they’ll likely develop their skills, ideally learning to sell and cross-sell items. Inbound sales often result in a large amount of business, so make sure to follow these steps and take good care of your inbound agents.
Designate a Space for Inbound
Generating sales via
inbound marketing
is incredibly important, so it’s important to give your inbound employees an office space that promotes this function. You wouldn’t want your inbound customer service representatives to be sandwiched between behind-the-scenes employees, like secretaries and file clerks. Their conversations aren’t going to be relative to sales and might be distracting to inbound agents.
An inbound representative’s only function should be to answer phones, promote sales and file orders. So keep them far from people who will request they do something less productive with their time. It’s equally important that inbound reps are seated in a quiet area – where they won’t be disturbed while generating leads and making sales.
Equip Your Sales Team
You’ll need to invest in multi-line phone systems. There may be more calls than there are employees to field those calls. Multi-line phones allow receptionists to place calls on hold or pass them to an employee’s voicemail. You don’t want your phone line to have a busy signal when a potential sales call comes through.
If you’re starting out with a small team, their work may eventually lead to an expansion. Make sure the phone system you’re installing can handle any influx in business.
Set your team up with individual extensions and voicemails, so their loyal customers will know how to reach them for reorders. It’s important that phone lines coincide with software, so that all calls can be recorded for quality assurance. It also ensures that should the employee quit, someone else will be able to step in and manage their customers.
You’ll also need to provide individual reps with their own headsets, keyboards and other office equipment. Sharing often results in arguments and winter-time colds. Most offices assign these items to an individual, allowing them full use of an item until they are reassigned or terminated.
Headsets may be an inbound customer service rep’s most important piece of equipment. For most offices, noise canceling headsets with built-in microphones work best for inbound sales and marketing. They keep the background noise to a minimum and allow reps to focus on the call and not tinkering with gadgets.
The technology behind these devices has advanced impressively in recent years.
Headsets Direct
, for instance, offers wireless, corded, VOIP, and Bluetooth enabled headsets that have up to 350 foot ranges.
Other equipment includes:
- Personal computers
- Software capable of recording calls
- Keyboard
- Computer chair that promotes productivity
- Virus protection and anti-spyware protection
Train Your Team
Your inbound sales team is at the forefront of your business, handling your best leads. It’s important these employees understand
how to close sales
and promote return business. If these representatives are trained correctly, sales will increase, as will overall customer satisfaction.
Training should include:
· How to effectively sell without gimmicks
· How to control calls
· Customer retention
· How to handle complaints
· How to overcome objections
It’s important that your employees understand what practices improve overall call quality and which are proven to push customers away. Just because a customer calls to inquire for more information does not automatically mean they’re ready to buy. It’s going to take skill to turn that call into profit.
