Contributions to Profit: Track Call-to-Order Conversions
If you don’t have the capability to track in your software, you could do things the old-fashioned way. Tick sheets simply are pieces of paper a CSR uses to mark off each call and add a call disposition to each tick mark. You’d then collect these at the end of the shift, and do the math to get the conversion ratio.
Tip: Don’t include customer service-related calls, such as returns and exchange calls, calls to check on back-ordered items, and of course those “Take me off your mailing list” calls. They should be tracked separately, possibly diverted to a different call group or even given their own customer service call-in number.
Here’s a simple CSR training program that can increase conversions: Train CSRs to think on their feet and not just interact with customers and prospects by reading a script. Of course, good call center software with a scripted environment can be beneficial, but sometimes even the best scripting can’t beat a well-trained CSR’s instincts. Hire reps who can work this way, and then mentor and monitor them on an ongoing basis. (And analyze their call times, as CSRs can burn up valuable phone time in too-lengthy, personal calls.)
You don’t need elaborate monitoring equipment. Simply use a cassette recorder and some basic equipment you can buy at RadioShack to record the CSRs’ calls for a day. Split the group into teams of three or four, sit in a room together, and listen to the day’s calls.
Teach reps to actively and objectively listen to the calls, and coach one another on the cues and buying signals that sometimes get missed in real time. If you spot a missed buying signal, stop the tape (encourage all reps to stop the tape) and role-play how they could’ve made a difference in converting the call.
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
