Telephone sales is a unique channel that even experienced salespeople can struggle with. Because it doesn’t happen face-to-face, non-verbal communication is out the window, and an agent’s success can ride on their ability to quickly adapt to objections while keeping a prospect moving along a heavily scripted path. And, while there is no substitute for strapping on a headset and gaining experience, the top sales organizations understand that ongoing training is key. 

One of the most powerful tools available to make telephone sales training both easier and more effective is a good power dialer, like the one included with CRMDialer. CRMDialer’s built-in dialer provides a variety of tools that managers and human resources departments can use to not only evaluate sales agents, but also to develop laser-target training opportunities to help each agent meet their full potential. 

 

Identifying Training Opportunities with the Power Dialer

The power dialer is an ideal tool for identifying sales agent weaknesses and training opportunities because of the system’s ability to provide both hard data and live, in-context monitoring. By leveraging the two together, managers can build a complete, 360-degree picture of each agent’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall performance. Targeted, individual training programs can then be developed around the insights the power dialer has provided. 

Power Dialer Analytics

Improving agent training with CRMDialer’s power dialer starts with the dialer metrics section. The built-in dialer metrics provide an easily searchable, easily sortable analytics suite that puts all the key data regarding calling operations a few clicks away at both the organization-wide and individual agent levels. 

The power dialer analytics provide the insight necessary to identify which agents are meeting key performance targets and, in turn, which are falling short and may need further training. Just some of the insights CRMDialer’s power dialer analytics provide on each agent include:

• Inbound and outbound connections
• Inbound and outbound call time
• Number of voicemails dropped
• Total wait time
• Missed calls

Overall dialer activity can also be analyzed on a call-by-call basis on the group, user class, and individual user levels. Finally, managers can monitor the status of all live calls currently underway and view all calls queued to dial in the future. 

Listen-In and Call Recording

Data is extremely valuable, but it’s impersonal and often lacks key context that can help managers understand why an agent is struggling or failing to hit key KPIs. CRMDialer’s “listen-in” and call recording functions allow managers to identify that context by actually listening to an agent’s calls, either live or after-the-fact. 

The ability to hear an agent’s current and historical calls can help managers understand their sales style and determine which parts of the phone sales process are failing. That deeper knowledge allows managers to target the agent’s remedial training to the areas that will provide the biggest return on performance and profitability. 

 

Delivering Training Programs with the Power Dialer

With training opportunities identified, there are many ways to deliver ongoing training programs, one of which is the power dialer itself. CRMDialer offers two tools that managers can use to deliver live training to agents, right while they’re on calls – whisper and barge. 

Whisper

Whisper takes listen-in to the next level by allowing managers to actually speak to agents in the middle of a live call, without the prospect ever hearing it. It’s an ideal training tool because it both allows managers to monitor agent progress, and to provide transparent instruction that can help guide the agent without interrupting the flow or feel of the call. 

Barge

Barge provides similar functionality to whisper, except any interjection from a listening-in manager is also heard by the customer. Barge is useful in a variety of situations, including any time a customer or prospect requests to speak to a manager. But, from a training perspective, it’s extremely useful when training new sales agents who have little experience or are extremely rough around the edges, since they can be thrown in the deep end with live calls, but managers can still keep everything on track, ensuring sales aren’t lost.

 

Telephone sales is a competitive field where agents often deal with highly resistant prospects. Good training can be the difference between an agent burning out and quitting or becoming a top performer and revenue driver. The power dialer included in CRMDialer not only represents a way to streamline calling and make agents more productive, it also represents a valuable training tool that can help managers identify opportunities for improvement and formulate and deliver the agent-specific training programs required to create great sales teams.

 

To find out more about how CRMDialer’s built-in power dialer can unlock new training opportunities and change the way your organization handles sales calling, reach out to a member of the team today. Better yet, start your no-commitment 14-day free trial and start putting CRMDialer to work today!