If you’re responsible for a call center, you know how hard it is to deliver excellent customer service consistently, while at the same time continually reducing costs. 

The last thing you need is a whole new set of demands and challenges. But you’ve got them anyway, because now you’re now being asked to generate new revenue in addition to providing great customer service. Chances are, you’re already taking some steps to incorporate a sales element into your call center. But it’s not an easy transition.

Now It’s Time To Learn The Truth About Call Center Sales Training.

There are six common myths when it comes to call center selling, and throughout this series, we’ll be exploring how to avoid the pitfalls that can wreak havoc in your call center when you try to mix sales and service. Some of the issues we’ll cover include:

• What’s the secret to motivating call center reps to sell?
• How do you identify the best candidates, and should you change your recruitment strategy?
• Which behaviors really drive results, and how do you assess them?
• How should you reward your reps, even when it is difficult to measure their individual performance?
• How can you coach your employees through this transition and help them improve their performance?
• What type of call center sales training is most beneficial?

Myth #1: The Motivation Myth

Here’s the idea: Your CSRs are really going to be excited by this opportunity to get into sales.

Here’s the reality: You know better, because CSRs are not sales reps. 

And it’s not only because they have little training or experience in selling. It’s because they never wanted to be sales reps in the first place. You hired them for a customer service role, and that’s what motivates them. To them, “sell” is just a bad four-letter word that keeps them from doing what matters most: helping the customer. 

Force your CSRs into a traditional sales role, and morale will suffer, attrition will go up, customers will complain, and you may not even see the sales bump you were looking for. So before you even think about adding sales to your CSRs’ responsibilities, you have to address the question of motivation. Why would a CSR want to sell?

The CSRs’ emotional resistance to selling is based on their belief that selling is a form of manipulation. In other words, selling (as they understand it) doesn’t align with their value system. With the right call center sales training however, that doesn’t have to be the case.

It’s all about personal values. The CSRs’ emotional resistance to selling is based on their belief that selling is a form of manipulation. In other words, selling (as they understand it) doesn’t align with their value system. You can overcome this by showing them how your new sales strategy is designed to enhance the customer experience by meeting all the customer’s needs — both stated and unstated. When you take a more customer-centric approach to sales, one that focuses entirely on meeting customer needs, you address the CSRs’ fundamental misconceptions about their new role. 

This lets your CSRs do what they do best: Serve the customer. Instead of trying to manipulate customers into purchasing things they don’t need, your CSRs will learn to ask questions, uncover customer needs, and recommend solutions that meet those needs. 

When the motive is to help the customer, sales are often simply a natural extension of good customer service. By giving your CSRs a new way to offer real solutions to real needs, you’re creating a more proactive, comprehensive service model. Then, your customers, CSRs, and managers will all be happier, and you’ll finally see the hidden profits you’ve been looking for. 

Tom Stanfill

As Co-founder and CEO, Tom’s primary role is to create content that helps people live, sell, and serve more effectively. Find him on LinkedIn