Well they are certainly an integral part of a successful delivered wholesaler. Our latest research highlights a massive opportunity for further training and development of telesales teams to make these staff reach their full potential. Read more here...
Great telesales staff should be encouraging impulse sales, but those retail customers who rate telesales “excellent” are not currently diverting from their shopping list. 9-in-10 retailers are using a list every time they order. Telesales staff are also not encouraging retailers to trial new products (NPD). In the last three months retailers who rate telesales staff as “excellent” have stocked nine items of NPD compared to ten items for the average retail customer.
So what qualities do telesales staff need to have to according to retailers? The highest ranking trait by a country mile is for telesales staff to be polite and friendly, 2nd is for staff to be good at attention to detail, to make sure that they are getting orders taken down correctly. 3rd place is the fact that staff are aware of the retailers business needs i.e. when they might need to place an additional order (may be due to good weather or when a retailers' favourite product is on special promotion.)
There is a huge opportunity for telesales staff to influence the retailer’s purchases. 65% of retailers would not mind telesales staff recommending other products to them while they are placing their order. Currently, no-one cites telesales staff specifically as the reason for purchasing NPD, 23% mentioned promotions.
Although the telesales team is only part of a delivered wholesaler’s total operation, they should be seen as a crucial resource. If the telesales team were provided with the education around how to drive impulse purchases and promoting NPD there could be some very quick wins. Education can be done at a relatively low cost especially if suppliers get involved and provide the support, advice and information surrounding new products or promotions. Suppliers could incentivise sales teams and create special events such as RaRa days to get staff motivated about a new product launches, they really do work.
The information in this blog is taken from him!’s Delivered Wholesale tracking progamme - him! has spoken to 1,000 retailers who order goods for their store through a delivered wholesaler. For more information please contact Katy.Moses@him.uk.com 020 7611 0421/ 07912 717 567 or visit www.him.uk.com to sign up to him!’s free wholesale insight alerts.
Tags: Convenience, customers, insight, research, retail, retailers, wholesale
Posted: 26/09/2011 14:43:17
by
Natalie London
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