Best Way to Manage a Tele-Sales Team

These are salespeople who are based in an office and who use the telephone as their main selling tool. The work can take the form of

• contacting regular customers to obtain their orders, or
• telephoning prospects to persuade them to buy the company’s products or services.

Most often it is a combination of both.

Because tele-salespeople work in very close proximity to each other, the moods and attitudes of one person can affect the others very quickly. Therefore one of the main tasks of the sales manager is to promote and maintain a positive attitude within the team. Quite naturally, if a salesperson receives a series of rejections from prospects, he or she can become very despondent. The manager must ensure, through the right training, that these feelings are not transmitted to the rest of the team. On the other hand, when someone has been particularly successful, why not let everyone know? Whenever you go into a tele-sales office where the staff are highly motivated, you will find a definite buzz about the place.

Example: selling trade advertising

A publishing company produced a range of trade journals and employed several tele-sales teams to sell advertising space. Each team was responsible for a certain number of journals. Every salesperson had a group of regular clients with whom they had to maintain regular contact. In addition they were expected to sell to firms who did not advertise, or who only did so occasionally. The targets were set by the sales director. It was an interesting experience to visit the different sales teams. Some were buoyant, highly motivated and successful. In other cases, as you entered their office you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, and they really struggled to reach target. In every instance this was down to the way in which they were managed, particularly how they were motivated, and how the targets were presented to them.

Some key management techniques

Managing a tele-sales team is similar to managing any other salaried sales team but the following are of particular importance:

• Encourage and foster a close team spirit.
• Encourage each salesperson to help and support his or her colleagues.
• Provide small incentives, such as a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates, to encourage success.
• Remember to praise effort as well as success.
• Allow each person to take regular, short breaks. Tele-sales requires a great deal of concentration.
• Always involve the team in decisions which will affect them directly.
• Encourage ideas and suggestions from the team.
• Give help and support as required, but do not appear to be checking up on them.