How to Lose Potential Business and Alienate Yourself

Nido had a chat with Shelley Fagence-Traynor to find out what makes her blood boil when she receives a cold call.

Given Shelley’s company First Time Response answers many calls every day for clients, she’s in a great position to pour scorn on the more abrasive elements in the industry…

As a person who receives sales calls on average 20/30 times a day my feelings are mixed.  This is mainly due to the incompetence of the companies employing the 'wrong representatives' to do the calling. 

I have experienced some wonderful sales calls and have complimented the person on the other end of the phone for their polite approach.  This hits the nail on the head!  If the caller is prepared to be polite, understanding and willing to listen then they have succeeded in getting my attention. 

When they demand to speak to the person in charge and then hang up when the information they are given is not what they wanted to hear, then they fail. 

When it takes a minute to actually hear another voice on the line which is crackly and distorted making them incomprehensible, then they fail. 

When they call politely and befriend, listen and adhere to advice given then they succeed!  I myself have been in the shoes of the sales person calling companies to promote services which gives me an understanding of the reaction from the recipients. Taking notes of names, times and who you spoke to when and about what is a major asset when calling back. 

Makes the follow up much more personal and on a friendly level.  Just what the business asks for.

Shelley Fagence-Traynor is MD at First Time Response in Crawley. She can be contacted on 01293 565520, or info@firsttimeresponse.co.uk

Indians Abandon Call Centres in Droves

Hardly surprising I think you’ll agree, but as this BBC article shows, the Indian call centre market is rapidly losing valuable, educated labour.

In short, the honeymoon is over. Here at Nido we’re almost a free-range pet rescue centre for undervalued telemarketers to work their verbal communications magic, so we know a bit about this.

Brand

On one end of the phone, the customer hears a dull, hazy message delivered with little enthusiasm and ultimately gives the wrong impression of the brand. Bad for customer experience.

Employee Engagement

On the other receiver, the telemarketer is mentally exhausted from reading the same script 200-300 times during the day. With little prospects and poor working conditions, the employee will want to do as little work as humanly possible and go home.

Ethics

Many UK-based outbound call centres don’t pay very well (we’re talking £5ish per hour), subject people to cramped conditions on automatic diallers, and employ job-lots of staff from agencies to keep those pesky little employment laws at bay.

So it’s not difficult to establish why call centres embrace a ‘revolving door’ staff retention culture, and why they are a breeding ground for the worst examples of telemarketing practice.

Coming soon: We’ll be slating the worst cold calls we’ve received at the Nido office. Have you had any howlers recently? Tell us about them - aidan@nidomarketing.co.uk