Call Centre Training - Listen to calls

We are often asked if we can provide recorded telephone calls for training purposes. Our customers like to listen in to telephone calls and then review them in the training session, which can be a fantastic way of reviewing customer perceptions and our own attitudes to calls.

We have always preferred not to provide such calls as we feel it is unfair to 'label' an organisation by one specific phone call to one individual. We encourage our customers to record their own calls if this is something they want to pursue.

It is actually very easy to record telephone calls and all you need is a standard recording device (tape recorder or even a microphone attached to your pc) and a speaker phone. You then make a basic call to a company requesting a brochure or enquiring about their service.

Of course, we always do what we can to help our customers and so we will soon be developing a set of 'fake' telephone calls, recorded by Trainer Bubble team members, which will be added to our free section at Trainer Bubble.

In the meantime, we have found a set of calls that were made to banks by thisismoney.co.uk the link is here. These should assist those customers that need help quickly.

We hope this helps.

Achieving Sales on the Telephone - Closing a Sale

Although you will close the sale at the end of the call it is important to realise that a close is not just about a commitment to purchase, but also commitment of interest. A good salesperson will display the intention to close throughout a call, so that it does not come as a surprise to the customer at the end.

Once you have reached a point where you have summarised the agreed customer needs, related the product advantages (benefits) to these needs you are ready to ask your closing question.

There are many different questions and methods that you can use to close a sale. However, there are three golden rules you should consider. These are…

• Present the close in the form of a question

• Once you’ve asked your question be silent and wait for an answer

• If you don’t ask, you will never know if they would have purchased

Remember, both you and the person you are talking to know that your role is about closing sales. You will not ruin a good relationship by trying to close. Be confident about closing, but do not let this over-run into high-pressure tactics or rudeness. Part of your responsibility is to leave the door open for future sales.

Examples of closing questions

The Direct Close

This requires a yes/no answer. ‘Would you like to go ahead and purchase then?’ You may get a ‘no’ response, if this is the case, ask the customer why, you may have more objections to overcome.


The Alternative Close

Give the customer a choice. ‘Would you like this product, or the other?’


The Secondary Close

Ask the customer a question, which by answering means they will purchase. ‘Would you like to purchase this? Where should I send it to?’

This article is an excerpt from the workbook of the Trainer Bubble training material, 'Achieving Sales on the Telephone'. You can purchase this training course by visiting our website at www.trainerbubble.com