Once you really see the advantages of driving incoming calls via your pay-per-call campaign — in particular, the conversions they produce — you’ll surely want to integrate that campaign into your company’s overall plan for increasing your sales.
Understanding exactly where your leads are coming from, how they’re moving down your sales funnel, and how your agents are (or aren’t) closing deals can be hugely informative when it comes to plotting strategy. And call tracking methodology can inform your sales training in multiple ways, doing everything from measuring call length to recording call content in order to compare sales pitches. The data can also reveal patterns to use when forecasting future revenues and expenditures.
Some specific tips on optimizing your PPC campaign and call tracking to drive sales:
- Invest in an automated tool that can filter out and block invalid and irrelevant calls (e.g., robo calls, wrong numbers and solicitor calls) so your data isn’t skewed.
- Show your calling center staffers the big picture, ensuring they understand how they fit into your company culture, how customer experience impacts loyalty and how their efforts affect the bottom line.
- Train new agents by their length of experience within the company, such that everyone gets the same training in stages. Consider incorporating role playing and critiques of recorded calls.
- Maximize the strengths of individual employees, perhaps training them in specialty areas so certain calls can be automatically routed to them as needed.
- Take advantage of interactive voice response (IVR) options that automatically route the customer to the most appropriate agent based on their strengths, location, the time of day, etc.
- Use a tool that provides immediate caller demographics to your staffers. Then provide them scripts so they can customize their greeting and approach accordingly. Knowing the customer’s intent, location and the type of business or product they’re searching for saves time and lends itself to more conversions. Scripts should be practiced to sound off-script and should include different scenarios, including how to direct callers who need further information.
- Play back calls with reps to discuss their challenges and provide them realistic tips.
- Ask your star sales personnel to coach others. How do they close their biggest deals? What are some common denominators in how they handle objections, ask qualifying questions and listen to prospects? What is their tone? Do they get down to business or chit-chat?
- Poll your staff on their ideas for driving sales.
- Use monetary rewards for reps who hit certain targets and/or go above and beyond during sales calls.
- While overall sales per agent are important, staffers should also shoot for minimal call times, high customer satisfaction levels and high net promoter scores.
- Use ongoing data from your PPC campaign to adjust staffing levels, choose advertising venues, fine-tune ad copy and graphics, and set goals for future revenues.
Perhaps the best news? Call tracking and sales planning generally work together in a symbiotic relationship; the more your PPC campaign succeeds, the more you’ll need advanced sales planning — and vice versa.
Talk to Dial800 about setting up a pay-per-call campaign that drives sales for your organization.