Telephone sales etiquette

The news that emergency insurance provider Homeserve was suspending all telephone sales pending retraining of employees came as a shock to the markets, initially wiping a third off the value of the company.  Quoting an internal review, Homeserve said that in some cases its sales process “did not meet the company’s required standards” necessitating retraining.

Whether this breach related to internal regulations or compliance with tough Financial Services Authority regulations was unclear at the time of writing.  However, the Homeserve action is a warning to all who operate call centres that they need to be vigilant in case employees breach any of the rules and regulations which surround telephone sales.

These multiple regulations apply whether internal or outsourced call centres are used.  Largely brought in to combat aggressive sales practices, the regulations and best practices include areas such as:

• Telephone preference service
• Calling times
• Silent calls
• Cooling off periods
• Industry specific regulations

Between this raft of regulations and the need to achieve sales targets it can sometimes be hard to remember that there is an actual person on the other end of your phone line.  And yet, empathising with the customer experience and building this into your telephone contact etiquette can pay dividends. 

Within a comparatively short time frame telephones have become part of our lives.  The advent of the mobile phone has speeded this process up to the extent that we will often interrupt whatever we are doing, even existing face to face conversations, to answer a call. This gives the telephone power over us and it is a power which if misused can lead to resentment.  Those who understand this are far more likely to receive the sympathetic hearing which is the prelude to a potential customer relationship.  So, for example:

• choose your calling times to suit the preferred customer demographic
• check if it is a convenient time to speak if during a call you hear a child crying,
• offer to phone back 
• make it easy for the call recipient to contact you in return
• be polite at all times

There was a time when the internet boom coupled with the cost of calls gave rise to speculation that the sales call was on its way out.  Internet telephony (VoIP) has reversed this trend allowing cheap calls to be made across the world as well as enabling call recording and statistical analysis.  The sales call can therefore still be a vital part of the business model.  Simply obeying the rules is one thing, going a step further and incorporating company telephone etiquette could pay dividends in the long run.