A Gatekeeper’s view of Telesales Calls

Ask a salesperson what’s tough about telesales and you’ll likely be told “dealing with gatekeepers”. At Office Response we like salespeople and we have set procedures to help them. We know anybody who calls us could one day become a customer so we like to make a good impression. We’re not obstructive to sales callers and do our best to help them but some could do a little more to help themselves. Our gatekeepers are Kat and Michaela and they know a lot about answering the phone so I asked them a few questions.

What % of calls on our reception number are sales calls?

Approx 60%, which is 40-60 sales calls a day.

What manner do callers adopt that lets you know they are selling?

It’s easy to recognise sales callers as they are either ‘over friendly’ or just rude.

The rude ones will say ““Iain please” without using any introduction and it’s not said in a polite way.

The creepy ones say things like, “Hi how are you? How is the weather? Looking forward to the weekend?” They think it will make us want to help them. Actually we hate it.

Do they ever tell lies?

Yes. Often they say that they’ve spoken to the relevant person before, even though they haven’t. They sometimes advise that the call is expected and the relevant person will know the nature of the call. They will try any way to get through to the relevant person – even if it involves bending the truth.

What else winds you up about sales calls?

We really don’t like it when we get called Love, Darling, Sweetheart etc.

Sometimes the callers try and bully us when they won’t take no for an answer.

Repetitiveness – some people will call a number of times a day even though they get the same answer every time.

What do the good ones do?

Listen. We have a clear set of instructions of how to assist sales callers and the good ones let us help them. It’s also good when the caller doesn’t appear scripted, and has a personality without being over confident or too friendly.

What are their most common opening lines?

‘’Hi it’s …. calling from…..can I speak to the person that deals with …?”

“Can I speak to the Managing Director?”

“Hi, can I speak to …, he/she’ll know what it’s regarding / he/she is expecting my call / it’s just a follow up call”

What advice would you give a telesales caller?

Don’t be over friendly – it’s annoying. Don’t lie – it’s also annoying. Be polite and clear why you are calling and treat us with respect.

Thanks to Kat and Michaela for their thoughts. For all of you sales callers we’d like to think seeing sales calls from the “gatekeeper’s” point of view is useful.

Niall Habba, MD of The Telemarketing Company www.ttmc.co.uk will be giving the view from the other side of the fence in the next few days.

Martin Blain

Sales Director