Building A Better Teleprospecting Rep: Step 3
This is the third and final blog in a multi-part series introducing the three main categories through which AG Salesworks evaluates and manages the skills development of its Teleprospecting or Inside Sales reps. We’ve found through the years that in order to have the highest level of talent in our space we’ve got to go well beyond simply hiring the best. They aren’t the best when you first sit them down. You’ve got to train them, coach them, reward them, and promote them. Over the years, we’ve broken the teleprospecting job into three main disciplines. In order for a rep to be optimal, they must excel in each. Once we established the three main areas of skill that must be optimized, it became much easier for us to identify areas of opportunity and attack them. The three main skill areas that we focus on for our reps are as follows.
1. Organizational Skills
2. Phone Skills
3. Work Ethic
In Step #1, we discussed organizational skills. They provide the foundation for world class teleprospecting. However, you can’t stop there.
In Step #2, we discussed the all important phone skills. What good is having all your ducks in a row to begin catching people live if you don’t have the confidence and message you need to turn them into fully qualified leads.
In Step #3, we are going to tie it all together by discussing some quick and easy ways to evaluate and improve the overall work ethic of your Teleprospecting and Inside Sales reps.
Contrary to what many of my friends and colleagues tell me, I believe that work ethic can be developed. It isn’t something that we can only learn from our parents. I believe strongly that if you create a company and an environment that people truly enjoy working in and care about then you can actually help them develop a strong work ethic. Make special note of what I just stated in the last sentence. You CANNOT develop a strong work ethic in someone if you haven’t first gotten them to care about and enjoy their place of employment.
So, for the sake of this blog, let’s assume your reps truly do care about their company and their jobs. Here are three quick and easy ways to both assess and improve their overall work ethic.
1. Educate them on the impact they can have: Make sure you take the time to sit down, one on one, with each of your reps and map out for them how each dial they make impacts the bottom line of your business. They need to understand that every behavior they engage in that keeps them from focusing on prospects comes at a cost, not only to them, but to the company as a whole. Build the waterfall for them. So many calls, leads to so many conversations, leads to so many passed opportunities, which leads to “X” amount of forecast, which leads to “Y amount of closed biz, which leads to corporate growth and advancement for all..etc.. You get the picture. Make sure you clearly explain how by going even a mere 5% above their daily activity goal can impact the company to such a degree that their lives will improve immensely. In many cases the increased understanding leads to very organic work ethic improvement.
2. Reward the right behavior: There are certain behaviors that scream “GREAT WORK ETHIC”, so make it a practice to get out of your comp plan comfort zone and reward them. It doesn’t have to be money or prizes, simple recognition goes a long way when building work ethic. Staying late, arriving early, volunteering for training of new hires, organizing team events are all great examples of little things people do that should be recognized verbally. Make sure the whole team knows how much these acts mean to you in the hopes that it provides motivation for the rest of your team to act accordingly.
3. Don’t just try to build, but maintain as well: You’ve probably got many employees who came to you on day one with a work ethic that rivals your own. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that they will always feel that way. Managing work ethic needs to be done for your whole staff, not just those that need improvements. Make positive examples of your best people for those that you are trying to improve. Consistently remind them of how much you appreciate their extra efforts and when the time comes, put them first in line for advancement in your company.
There you have the AG Salesworks crash course on building and maintaining a world class Teleprospector. We stick to the basics outlined in these three blogs and can boast a staff that is one of the hardest working, well organized, and skilled Teleprospecting teams around as a result.