Whether you're leading a sales team or bringing on new talent, you likely already know that great outbound callers can have a huge impact on your bottom line.
A sales representative who can balance sales skills, outbound sales traits, and personal attributes is often the dividing line between an inbox full of voicemails and a pipeline bursting with real opportunities. But what sets successful reps apart?
Here are five key sales rep qualities that help fuel success in outbound calling.
Why These Qualities Matter
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s take a look at why these qualities are important.
When you engage in outbound calling, there is a limited window of time for you to grab a prospect’s attention, communicate value, and establish rapport.
According to data from HubSpot, 60% of customers say “no” at least four times before saying “yes.” It's indicative of how important it is for a sales representative to be consistent, adapt well, and read the room-or, in this case, the phone line.
A sales rep lacking certain key attributes—like resilience or empathy—might give up too soon or fail to understand the prospect’s real pain points. Or perhaps they shy away from making enough calls, depriving your organization of potential leads.
With that in mind, let’s explore the top five qualities that can help you pinpoint and nurture top-tier outbound callers.
1. Resilience: Bouncing Back from Rejection
Outbound sales can be a tough environment, punctuated by rejections, voicemails, and hang-ups. That’s exactly why resilience is such a critical trait.
A resilient sales representative doesn’t just tolerate rejection; they use it as a stepping stone for improvement. They dust themselves off after every “no,” learning from the encounter to strengthen their approach for the next call.
How to Spot It
Persistent Follow-Ups: A resilient sales rep consistently follows up on leads. They’re not deterred by unanswered emails or missed calls.
Positive Mindset: Instead of letting a tough call ruin their day, they treat it as valuable feedback.
Growth Mindset: Challenges are seen as opportunities to learn and improve on their sales process.
Why It Matters
According to a study from Marketing Donut, “80% of non-routine sales occur only after at least five follow-ups”. Without resilience, a rep may never make it to that fifth call.
Often, persistence with outbound calling is the thin line separating success from failure, and resilient reps are those who will continue to dial, no matter what obstacles they face.
2. Excellent Communication Skills: Building Rapport in Seconds
Communication lies at the core of any outbound sales call. Still, great communication involves more than smooth talking; it even surpasses knowing when to listen.
Good salespeople know how to cut to the chase and understand the subtleties of the prospect's tone of voice and their hesitation.
Key Components of Communication
Clarity: Whether explaining a feature or describing next steps, the best reps avoid jargon and ensure their words clearly convey what they want to communicate.
Active Listening: This might just be the secret sauce in outbound calling. By actually listening to what a prospect says, a salesperson is able to craft their pitch on the spot, working around potential misgivings.
Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and adapting to the mood at the other end of the phone call pays dividends in both rapport and gained trust.
Stats to Consider
It may go without saying that communication is key, but here is the thing: according to a poll by Gallup, companies with high employee engagement-almost always stemming from great communication-receive a 20% increase in sales.
Translation: having a tight, communications-savvy team can have a trickle-down effect into customer interactions and bottom-line results.
3. Empathy: Getting inside the Mind of the Prospect
Empathy may be among the most longed-for elements in outbound calling, at the same time that it offers great opportunities to create the missing link for bonding with a lead.
By the same token, an empathetic sales representative can easily make a prospect feel comfortable and confident enough to be really candid with him about their vulnerabilities and their potential to succeed in business.
Why Empathy Matters
Builds Real Connection: Prospects will show up if they feel that you hear and understand them, which opens them up for your solution.
Brings Forth Real Value: Empathy will help reps bring out real value by pitching their solution precisely on the needs of the prospect, rather than with some cookie-cutter pitch.
Thins the Defense: Hearing and acknowledging a prospect's concerns gives way to defenses down, tension diffused, and skeptical quarks assuaged, which means lots of room for a more productive dialogue.
Actually, in a Salesforce study, 79% of customers said that by the time they make a purchase, companies should demonstrate that they understand and care about them.
If your sales representative shows empathy, then you're already one step in the direction of building a relationship that can last.
4. Adaptability: Succeeding in Shifting Circumstances
Outbound calling involves endless variability. You could be explaining your value proposition in 30 seconds to a gatekeeper or be given the floor by a key decision-maker to go deep.
Adaptability ensures your sales representative will pivot seamlessly, responding to the specific dynamics in every interaction.
Traits of an Adaptable Rep
Quick on Their Feet: Hear any objection or curveball question thrown their way and respond with quick wittedness and poise.
Flexibility in Using the Script: Rather than memorizing a script, they remember a few key points and adapt their method according to how the call goes.
Continuous Learner: They study new sales methodologies, stay up on the latest industry news, and devour data within the CRM to perfect the method.
Proof It Works
Of course, this can also be corroborated by the recent LinkedIn State of Sales report, in which it was said that top performing sales reps would continue to sharpen new skills and further refine their approaches to new technologies.
And in fast-changing markets, it's often the ability to change tack quickly which differentiates good from great when it comes to outbound sales.
5. Goal-Driven Mindset: Focusing on Tangible Results
Last but not least, any list of sales representative qualities cannot be completed without results orientation.
Results-oriented attitude only means making quota but also personal performance goals, measuring their progress toward those goals, and striving in all cases toward better and better results.
Traits of Results-Oriented Attitude
SMART Goal Setting: The setting of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals keeps a rep energized and focused.
Key Metrics in Line: Calls made, Connect Rates, Demos booked-goal-driven reps regularly check their stats for further improvement.
Celebrate: Daily small victories to big quarterly successes, winning reps will be sure to acknowledge accomplishments while fueling the motivational muscle.
Success by the Numbers
According to Harvard Business Review, goal-oriented sales environments ensure up to a 15% better performance as compared to teams where the sense of objectives was obscure or ill-defined.
When the direction is clearly known-and combined with the ability to catch it-the sale process has become so much more effective as well as outcome-oriented.
Put It All Together
So there you have it: five qualities that every great sales representative in an outbound calling role would have. All put together, resilience, good communication skills, empathy, flexibility, and goal-oriented-ness get you a rep who will respond confidently to some of the most difficult parts of sales.
They're the ones who are moving past the gatekeepers, addressing objections with integrity, and closing on a regular basis.
Needless to say, these traits don't exist in a vacuum. They reach their best possible expression in a supportive sales environment with the right tools, training, and direction. From establishing crystal-clear expectations to giving feedback and coaching, it's up to your managers to cultivate each of these qualities among their teams.
How to Find These Qualities when Hiring
To those hiring new outbound callers, consider lacing some skill tests and role-play scenarios into your interview process:
Situational interviews: Present candidates with common scenarios they'd encounter on an outbound call-like facing instant pushback or attempting to have a meaningful conversation with a busy C-suite executive-and observe their adaptation in real-time.
Behavioral Questions: Probe for past experiences dealing with rejection or customer objections. Look for specific instances of tenacity and flexibility.
Listens to Exercises: Test for active listening by giving them mock customer stories. Do they ask questions to understand or immediately pitch?
Role-Playing Empathy: Act out scenarios where prospects are expressing concerns or frustrations. Do they truly acknowledge the issue at hand, or do they go straight to pitching?
If you want your organization to always be able to house a winning outbound team, you have to source the right candidate with already-developed selling skills. Arm them with great scripts, empower them with on-going practice, and embolden them with positive leaders so they can deliver their best.
How Tendril Empowers High-Caliber Sales Representatives
With all that said, it is not so easy to build a team of the finest outbound callers, and great representatives are improved by the proper tools and support.
That's where Tendril comes in: Our platform integrates seamlessly with the leading CRMs so your reps can focus on high-value interactions, not wrestle with menial admin tasks. Furthermore, with the phone pass-through feature at Tendril, specially trained agents make the initial calls and transfer the call to your sales representative only when a prospect is live and engaged, which infuses efficiency and further strengthens the five key attributes you look for in great outbound sales talent.
But if you’re looking to take an even more hands-off approach, Tendril also provides a fully managed phone sales solution: Instead of treating your calls like a high-volume, one-size-fits-all call center, we assign dedicated, full-time SDRs who immerse themselves into your business, adopting your brand voice, understanding your ideal customers, and leveraging the same resilience, communication expertise, empathy, adaptability, and goal-oriented mindset you expect from an in-house team.
In offloading the outbound to Tendril, you ensure every single dial is backed by professionals who know precisely what it takes to truly connect with prospects-freeing you to get down to the core business of running and growing your business.
Ready to empower your outbound callers and realize actual outcomes? Contact us today to see how our software and outsourced phone solutions will make your team the outbound sales superheroes.
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