Don’t you just love telemarketers? You sit down to eat dinner and the phone rings with someone you don’t want to talk to, offering a product you don’t need. My thoughts exactly. But I must confess that I one of my most profound experiences occurred while training telemarketers to do exactly what we all dread that they will do right at dinnertime.
Snow was piling up in Iowa as I drove to the Holiday Inn, where I was teaching sales training the next day. Who knew that Iowa was a mecca of telemarketers? In many of the small Iowa towns, among the grain mills and the corn fields, telemarketing firms were filling in the growing employment gap.
They were a eclectic group of folks, to say the least. Displaced from the ravages of corporate farming, high school dropouts, married too soon, divorced too soon, stuck in night and weekend shifts in jobs that didn’t exactly bolster the self esteem. I had one short day to teach them how to be superstar telephone sellers, to some of the toughest customers any sales person could face.
We sped through the day with activities that involved establishing a rapport with the customer, focusing on product benefits, overcoming objections and closing the sale all while staying within the allotted time limit that would create numbers on the end of day report that would make their bosses happy.
At the end of the day, we had a “graduation ceremony,” complete with Pomp and Circumstance. As they walked to the front of the room, I presented each person with a just-off-the-printer certificate with their name handwritten in my best penmanship.
One young woman, probably not much over 18 years old, accepted the certificate with tears in her eyes. “I never completed high school. I never completed anything. I never got a certificate. Thank you! I am so proud of this.”
In one magical moment the spark of accomplishment was ignited, a glimmer of self confidence, a seed of hope that something different was possible.
Why does training matter? It is an investment in something bigger than we can ever imagine.
© Linda M. Farley www.LMFarley.com LMF@onr.com
Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LindaFarley
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Isn’t it wonderful that you made such a difference in someone’s life!?! That must inspire you to be even better next time. What a wonderful experience.
Patti
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