May 5, 2017

Improving your First Call Close Rate

Did you know that 67% of lost sales are due to reps not properly qualifying leads before starting the sales process? Wow!

So, how can you beat this statistic and book more moves? Let’s start by taking a look at what a first call close is.

A first call close is the number of customers who book on the first call. Make sure you are tracking your number of calls that are new leads and the number you’re closing. New leads you close on the first call / All new lead calls = First call close rate.

For example, if you get 50 new customer calls and close 25 of them, your first call close rate is 25/50 or 50%.

In our experience, we’ve found that these simple things help increase your first call close rate:

First impressions matter! Sales are won by providing the best customer service experience starting with the first phone call. Here are a couple processes you can use to improve this metric:

Sales Scripts:
Buyers like to be led and buy when they trust someone. Saying the right things at the right time with confidence is key. By having a script you can improve your chances of booking.

A sales script helps you:

  • Provide a strong general message to help build trust.
  • Promote consistency on every phone call.
  • Reduce training issues with new sales reps.
  • Helps sales reps sound confident and reduces stumbling over information.

Following a script doesn’t mean agents have to be robots on the phone. Encourage them to have real conversations and be personable to build great relationships with your customers.

Phone Routing System:
Did you know that over 50% of sales will go to the vendor that responds first?

  • Route calls so that new customer calls go straight to a sales professional.
  • Have a waiting queue in place that gives callers the option to hold on the line for the next available rep instead of hanging up.
  • A callback queue allows customers to request a call back and automatically calls customers back when a rep becomes available.

These small changes can make a huge difference and significantly increase your first call close rate. Don’t give customers the chance to shop around!

So, what about the customers that don’t book on the first call? Stay tuned next week where we’ll discuss ways to book more of those existing leads.

p.s. Want to learn more about how Oncue can help with improving your first call close rate and with these processes? Email us at [email protected]. One of our team members would be happy to help!

 

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