Gone in 60 seconds!

Companies are losing potential customers because their telephone agents have failed to build genuine rapport in the crucial first minute of a call.

Direct Sales Accreditation Ltd (DSA) has launched Britain’s first ever accredited qualification for advanced telephone marketing, telephone sales and customer service to help companies build rapport with customers in under 60 seconds.

DSA is celebrating after gaining official NCFE accreditation for its Level 5 Diploma in Advanced Telephone Skills.

The diploma is the brainchild of Bournemouth-based DSA’s head of training Simon Bell who has 20 years of experience in telemarketing, training, telesales and customer services.

“It’s a proven formula for creating business rapport and building customer relationships. We are introducing a benchmark and it’s a high benchmark,” said Simon.

“We’re trying to change the way that companies look at customers and their relationship with their telephone agents. The diploma will also help companies to attract and retain high quality telephone agents.

“We will change the face of telephone marketing because we can measure emotional involvement between telephone agents and their customers.

“We will raise telephone agents’ skill levels to an unprecedented standard by introducing our formula for business rapport.

“Our formula increases the confidence of telephone agents and their willingness to engage with customers – improving conversion rates, increasing productivity and introducing the concept of customer loyalty in the limited timeframe of a telephone call.”

The course has been designed to help telephone agents better understand not just their customers but also themselves, in what is fast becoming a new career choice for professionals.

The diploma involves 100 days of study over five months, ninety-five per cent of which is work-based – avoiding disruption and increasing the direct relevance of the training – with the remaining five per cent taking place in a tutorial environment:

• Stage one – personal psychology
• Stage two – customer engagement
• Stage three – customer interaction
• Stage four – performance evaluation
• Stage five – new business generation.

At £1,950 per person – less than £20 per day – DSA is already taking bookings for the diploma from companies employing telephone agents who are seeking to boost productivity in an increasingly challenging business environment.

Picture – 60 second Rapport Team – left to right, Simon Bell, Hagen Rose and Neil Tregillis of Direct Sales Accreditation Ltd.