Summary:
In this week’s episode of The CEO Warrior Podcast, Mike Agugliaro interviews Brigham Dickinson, who is the President and Founder of Power Selling Pros, which is a leading coaching and training program dedicated to teaching call-handling teams to wow more customers. During this episode, Mike and Brigham discuss how to handle calls from the greeting to the closing.
Main Questions Asked:
- What is broken in the service world when it comes to answering phones?
- What loss have you seen due to lack of reporting?
- What does it mean to be positive?
- Why is there such as issue of empathy?
Key Lessons Learned:
Customer Service Representatives (CSRs)
- CSRs look at their job as a set of tasks they need to complete, and have a transaction mindset.
- CSRs need to create a connection with the customer, as opposed to a transaction.
Recording Calls & Tracking
- If a call center doesn’t have reporting or record their calls, they have no idea what they are missing.
- If you aren’t recording calls, then you are missing opportunities.
- By increasing call conversion, even if its one additional call per day, you could be looking at an extra $125K per year (over 250 working days on a $500 booking).
Training
- Once you uncover the problems, you need to train your CSRs.
- A lot of companies focus on applications rather than experience.
- The goal is to teach the CSR about the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of what they are doing, not just handing them a script or sell system.
The WOW Experience
- In a WOW experience, the giver freely provides a service that the receiver didn’t expect. The byproducts are:
o More booked calls.
o More revenue.
o Happier CSRs.
o Stronger culture in the office.
o Seeing the end goal and purpose.
8 Principles for a WOW Experience
1. Positive
- This is about energy and teaching the CSRs to be proactive in the energy they are giving out.
- If the CSR isn’t trained, they will have a tendency to be reactive.
- Give energy and don’t take it.
- Take 15 minutes a day to actively work on your positive attitude.
2. Confidence
- A CSR that is well-practiced, which requires preparation and listening to their phone calls on a regular basis.
- CSRs shouldn’t be intimidated by whoever calls in, and should be ready to play every time the phone rings.
3. Listen
- Show the customer that you are listening.
- The goal is not to just transact but to connect.
- By listening to the customer, you learn things about them in order to connect.
- When customers have the opportunity to express themselves, they feel like you understand.
- People wont believe you can help them if you don’t show them that you’re listening.
- Show you are listening by how you interact such as using tone, rephrasing, reflecting, and asking additional questions
4. Care
- Empathize, don’t just listen and validate the customer’s worth.
- Customers share details because they want you to care.
- Empathy with younger generations is disappearing with the increase in transactional interaction.
- Showing you care is not as easy as saying ‘sorry.’
5. Say ‘Yes’
- We have a tendency to say no, can’t, don’t, no way, and unfortunately.
- Focus on what you can do and not what you can’t do.
6. Ask ‘When’
- Ask for the appointment.
7. Build Value
- Give people what they want, not just what they ordered.
- It’s not about selling but rather about great customer service.
8. Be Grateful
- When you are grateful, you say thank you and you made a difference
- When people feel they made a difference, they feel important.
- When people feel important, they become loyal.
- Loyal customers are difficult to come by.
- You spend a lot of money to make the phone ring.
Final Advice
- You’d be surprised how little you have to spend to book that opportunity.
Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes!
Links to Resources Mentioned
Power Selling Pros
Phone: 801-253-1004
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P.S. – Seize SUCCESS today! Subscribe to HomeServiceMAX to see how the pros do it.
P.S.S. – Jim felt it was time to get off the fence and learn something new. Fast Track Academy testimonial.
