Sales

Important Tips for Training your Outbound Callers

OpenView

January 13, 2011

This is a part of a series that was cre­at­ed to help you get the prac­tice of out­bound prospect­ing built into your com­pany.  This series will walk through the process, nec­es­sary roles, in addi­tion to guides for each role to help your com­pany get started quickly.  In the next few posts, I’ll be releasing the contents of a quick start guide for the outbound prospecting manager to use to attain success during this process.

The average training period for a new hire should last anywhere from 5 to 10 days, depending on the backgrounds/skill levels of the individual(s).

 

Sample training schedule for the first three days on the job:

 

Day 1:

  • Administrative work with HR (9:15am)
  • Discuss schedule for the week (Establishing Expectations with Manager)
  • Intro to the Company, the Team, Outbound Prospecting Model, Goals/Responsibilities (10:00am)
  • LUNCH
  • Create a Twitter account for yourself in association with the company
  • “The Process” — Training with Manager (2pm)
  • Training with Product Manager (3pm)

Day 2:

  • Basics of Cold Calling (9:30am)
  • CRM Training (10:30am)
  • Blogging Training (11:30am)
  • LUNCH
  • Shadowing Sales Team (1pm)
  • Training with Product Manager (3pm)
  • Reviewing Scripts and Role Playing (4pm)

Day 3:

  • Meeting with Marketing Team (content and target segment review)
  • LUNCH
  • Shadowing Sales Team/Demos (9:30am)
  • Training with Project Manager (1pm)
  • Reviewing Scripts (2:30pm)
  • Role Playing with Manager (3pm-5pm)

 

The more shadowing that your new hires can experience with customer/prospect-facing individuals at your company the better; the “shadowees” could be your sales team, customer service team, etc. Have your new hires listen in on the calls and take notes on the types of issues/topics that are coming up during the conversations. Also, it is important that the hires understand the vocabulary that is being used on the calls with prospects.

Another key aspect of training is to have the new hires become very familiar with the product from a technical standpoint. Some may think that this isn’t necessary because after all, the outbound callers aren’t closing deals. However, the more educated your team is on your products’ functions, the more knowledgeable/respectable they will sound with prospects.

Finally, it is very important that you team up with someone from your marketing department to gather the essential content to make this program successful. Yes, you are developing the training, but you still need information about the competitive landscape, personas, case studies/customer testimonials, etc. Don’t be surprised if content is missing. At the expansion stage, most marketing departments do not have a complete portfolio of sales content. However, it is important that you gather what the marketing team has created, and also that you inform them of what you really need moving forward.

Next week, I’ll provide some tips and tricks for ensuring that your representatives are productive.

Photo by: Joe Houghton