How To Know Youre On A Winner

The catchword today for business is flexibility.

With changes in suppliers, customers, and the processes connecting them altering almost daily (or so it seems) the future clearly belongs to the organisations which can adjust to change quickly and effectively.

The good news for Call Centres is that, unlike more traditional sales organisations, the modern Call Centre has the equipment in place to measure this easily.

Instead of doing a sales training course and then waiting some weeks or months before you can reasonably evaluate the effectiveness of the course, the Call Centre can institute any change regarding CRMs and measure its effect on sales on a frequent, regular basis.

In the traditional face-to-face small-scale operation, the manager can make the change but not be sure of its effectiveness or whether the change is due to the changes instituted as things change anyway.

How do you know the improvement in sales is due to the new processes or due to something else? Or what if it is successful - how long does it last?

And what does this mean in practice?

At CustomCall, in line with its company Core Value of Continuous Innovation, this issue was dealt with in the following way: 6 CRMs from 4 different teams were brought together for 2 hrs for a workshop to improve their sales.

Then the sales conversion rates were measured over a one month, two month and three month period.

These results were compared with their results for one two and three months preceding the workshop.

This produced an improvement of

one month + 11.43%
two months +22.04%
three months +22.66%

Looks good but maybe everyone else changed too without any training.

So the same comparison was done with the whole campaign. Comparing Campaign After-workshop-date to Before-workshop-date sales gave the figures:

one month –1.37%
two months +05.80%
three months +05.71%

Removing the changes which happened anyway for the whole Campaign, the final difference for the effect of the workshop on the training group was:

one month +12.80%
two months +16.24%
three months +16.95%

Over three months the workshop produced a 16.95% increase in sales conversion rates.

Then the workshop was repeated for another 6 CRMs and after only one month the change (minus Campaign change) was 16.30% improvement in sales conversion rates.

Getting CRMs from different teams means the change is not due to one Team Leader for some reason bringing about a special improvement. Comparing the test group with the whole Campaign means they're not undergoing an improvement which is happening anyway, as the full Campaign serves as a control group for the test group.

This makes measurement a no-brainer.

Interestingly when I told one of the CRMs his sales had gone up 45% over the three months he said "Oh I didn’t realise". So even those who benefit from change are not necessarily the best judge of the value of that change, Luckily with mechanisms in place to keep track we can make an informed objective judgment.

That was just one example but since all modern Call Centres have the equipment in place to do the same, it's a waste of resources if they’re not doing some research like this at this very moment. Maybe giving a group of CRMs an apple a day would result in increased sales. Maybe giving them an extra 10 min break would do that too. Maybe oranges would be better. Who knows?

The key is to try something and then measure it.

(c) Jon Lonergan 2005

Jon Lonergan NLP Consulting
http://www.gettablegoals.com/CRuMpet/
PO Box 12 Beverly Hills
NSW Australia 2209
Ph +61 2 9867 2445 Mob 0401 856 057

---

How To Get Your Phone Call Returned

When selling your product face to face with a customer,... Read More

No More Cold-Calling? Well, Almost...

We do not advocate cold calling in High Probability Selling.... Read More

7 Ways to Jump Start Your Cold Calls

Cold calling has to be one of the most feared... Read More

10 Tips for Telephone Success

The telephone is an often under-appreciated and much maligned piece... Read More

Telemarketers May Have Ruined Everything

I had to really look at things a little different... Read More

Sales Therapy 101: Breaking Your Fear of Cold Calling

Almost every day, visitors to my Unlock The Game? website... Read More

The Cold Calling Conspiracy

A consipiracy exists in the world of selling. A cold... Read More

Telephone Sales Basics for Start-ups

Everyone picks up the telephone to do business. Yet the... Read More

Sales Call Success - Turbo Charge Your Sales Calls

Do you want to be a sales champion? There are... Read More

3 Simple Rules For Your Next Sales Call

The other day I received a call from a telemarketer... Read More

Control Your Sales Calls From The Start

Sales calls that you control are what all salespeople want.... Read More

The Dos and Donts of Cold Calling

Having your fingernails removed!Many salespeople would rather have their fingernails... Read More

High Phone Bills Can Affect More Than Your Expenses

I got a phone call today from a gentleman in... Read More

Cold Calling Does Not Generate Sales Leads

It is a fact of life for most new sales... Read More

Predictive Dialers - Human Interaction Maximized

Predictive dialers are many steps removed from their predessors, the... Read More

Telemarketing Tips for Direct Sales Success

Unfortunately, the DNC legislation has many small businesses that use... Read More

Feel the Fear

It sometimes surprises people when I tell them I get... Read More

Conference Calling Evolved

Originally the conference call was limited to businesses paying exorbitant... Read More

Choosing a Phone Dialer that Works

If you own or operate an outbound call center, you've... Read More

How To Know Youre On A Winner

The catchword today for business is flexibility.With changes in suppliers,... Read More

Stop Selling and Make More Sales

A few months ago I spent time training some telephone... Read More

Phone Tips To Get Things Done: Professional Phone Skills

It happens all the time, you hear someone over the... Read More

Proven Two Minutes Magic Exercise to Conquer the Fear of Phone

I got a confession to make! The little communication device... Read More

7 Cold Calling Secrets Even The Sales Gurus Dont Know

More and more e-mails are arriving in my in-box from... Read More

Generating Leads Through Telemarketing

Telemarketing is one of the most common ways that a... Read More

How To Be A Cold Calling Superstar!

Our emotions and feelings are changing all of the time... Read More

Overcoming Objections Over the Telephone

In sales, one of the things you will be doing... Read More

What Level Of Telephone Sales And Customer Service Do You Provide?

Using the telephone as an effective sales and customer service... Read More

Get Instant Rapport On Sales Cold Calls

Immediately establish rapport on cold-calls by matching your prospect's voice... Read More

4 1/2 Steps for Doubling Your B2B Appointments

Cold calling. Most people hate to do it and there... Read More

Telsales Just Got Easier!

Your sales structure for outbound calls can be summarised using... Read More

K.A.R.M.A. of Phone Prospecting

Do you ever wake up on the wrong side of... Read More

Cold Calling for Introverts

In her book, The Introvert Advantage, Marty Olsen Laney talks... Read More