I didn't do this very long, so I got the basic crash course. It did make an amazing difference, but there's a lot more to learn. Generally, though, if you're selling a product you believe in, you're halfway there - for these telesales companies so much of the training is down to getting their staff to project enthusiasm for products they have no connection to.
Largely it's down to doing the same things that make you a good communicator in general. A couple of very simple examples:
Sit upright when you call and smile. You want to be relaxed but alert (sitting upright) so you breath calmly and have plenty of energy behind your voice. And smiling when talking changes the entire character of your voice. Make an exaggerated smile - in general people come across as smiling less than they think they do, and this is even more the case over the phone. It really does come across as much friendlier and relaxed. Try it and record your voice with and without a smile.
And listen to any cue you get about their business and parrot it back to them either as statements or questions. "So you feel your payment provider don't understand your side of the story?". The more they talk, the more likely they are to talk themselves into buying your product, because the more people get to talk about themselves with only small interjections that shows you've listened to what they say, the more they feel you understand them.
If they start talking a lot, you often only need to very subtly tie that to your own experience (creating shared experiences creates a connection) related to providing your product or services. E.g. "I feel the same way - when I started building X, it was because I'd done Y in a previous job and I kept running into the same problems; once we ...; I think we have a good solution, but how are you solving that for your business?"
Generally, I'd say a foundation to get comfortable with this for someone who is uncomfortable selling, is not a sales book or course, but a conversational skills book. Look up Leil Lowndes - she has a lot of easily digested conversational skills books and most of the skills are directly transferable to making your more comfortable with sales. And especially if you're selling your own product that you can muster excitement about, coming across as confident and a good conversationalist brings you 90% of the way there. Get that in place and you can top it up with some general sales skills later.
Largely it's down to doing the same things that make you a good communicator in general. A couple of very simple examples:
Sit upright when you call and smile. You want to be relaxed but alert (sitting upright) so you breath calmly and have plenty of energy behind your voice. And smiling when talking changes the entire character of your voice. Make an exaggerated smile - in general people come across as smiling less than they think they do, and this is even more the case over the phone. It really does come across as much friendlier and relaxed. Try it and record your voice with and without a smile.
And listen to any cue you get about their business and parrot it back to them either as statements or questions. "So you feel your payment provider don't understand your side of the story?". The more they talk, the more likely they are to talk themselves into buying your product, because the more people get to talk about themselves with only small interjections that shows you've listened to what they say, the more they feel you understand them.
If they start talking a lot, you often only need to very subtly tie that to your own experience (creating shared experiences creates a connection) related to providing your product or services. E.g. "I feel the same way - when I started building X, it was because I'd done Y in a previous job and I kept running into the same problems; once we ...; I think we have a good solution, but how are you solving that for your business?"
Generally, I'd say a foundation to get comfortable with this for someone who is uncomfortable selling, is not a sales book or course, but a conversational skills book. Look up Leil Lowndes - she has a lot of easily digested conversational skills books and most of the skills are directly transferable to making your more comfortable with sales. And especially if you're selling your own product that you can muster excitement about, coming across as confident and a good conversationalist brings you 90% of the way there. Get that in place and you can top it up with some general sales skills later.