Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a sales rep knocking on the door of a potential customer. The door opens. You\u2019re greeted kindly enough. You begin your pitch about fibre-to-the-home, and you think you\u2019re onto a winner. But then they stop you.<\/p>\n
Oh, someone already came by about that\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and we\u2019re not sure we want to hear it again. The last person didn\u2019t give us a lot of space. In fact they signed me up to something I didn’t know I was committing to.<\/em><\/p>\n Poor practices serve no one, so you’d be forgiven for thinking situations like this were long dead, especially considering the UK’s history with field sales and fines. We thought these were relics of bygone decades. However, if you browse TrustPilot it tells a different story, even for long established players in the market.<\/p>\n Even so, we were surprised to be having a discussion with a telco who was experiencing these issues recently \u2013\u00a0via another company on the same wholesale network. We\u2019re talking misrepresentation, putting pressure on prospects, and getting customers to sign up to things they hadn\u2019t agreed to.<\/p>\n The thing is: in our experience it doesn\u2019t take much to fix the issue. Whether you\u2019re a wholesale provider, ISP or sales agency, you have a lot to gain from viewing compliance through the lens of your brand reputation. If you\u2019re struggling to stop poor behaviour in your field sales reps, we empathise. You can define what you want reps to say and do, and you can communicate this to them, but that doesn\u2019t guarantee they\u2019ll do it.<\/p>\n We\u2019re not out to blame the reps either. Poor behaviour is more of a symptom than a cause. It’s a tough climate out there, and if a sales rep needs a commission, they may well bypass what they\u2019re told to do so that they, or their family, can make it through pinch point moments of the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n While bad actors exist, the core of the issue isn\u2019t the reps or the management, it\u2019s the level of control that management have. And whether you\u2019re outsourcing your sales, scaling your organisation or recruiting for a project in a new region, that control is hard to keep hold of.<\/p>\n For telcos and the sales agencies that work with them, ramping up those new projects is a lot of work. There are considerations around what you\u2019re selling, the commission structures, the tech you\u2019re using, the people you\u2019re hiring\u2026 and it often needs to happen very, very fast.<\/p>\n So how should we handle field sales? How do you optimise your performance while dealing with so many variables? How do you manage risk, meet targets, and make sure the brand\u2019s reputation is intact? In the telco industry, particularly at the beginning of a new project, it\u2019s very easy for sales goals to become about two things: numbers and speed. And there\u2019s good intentions behind this: to get people out there, make it all happen, get the sales flowing\u2026 and worry about the rest later.<\/p>\n This short termism does help with speed to market, but it often produces a lesser set of results. Potential customers aren\u2019t just for lead generation, and customers don\u2019t just exist for the moment they sign on the digital dotted line. You want them to stick around, and to think well of the brand the reps are representing.<\/p>\n That starts with compliance. Better quality interactions with reps will lead to fewer broken sales and less churn, and this becomes your competitive advantage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With the right systems, processes and technology, you can see the sales results you need while building a robust brand reputation. Here\u2019s what you need:<\/p>\n The structures you put in place will reinforce the culture you do or don\u2019t want in your sales teams.<\/p>\n In particular, it\u2019s worth thinking about how your pay structures work. Commission-only based pay often leads to \u2018sales at all costs\u2019, but there are innovative ways to approach this that incentivise reps in smarter ways and inspire collaboration between sales teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n A high sales employee churn in the telco industry means that training is a constant need and can end up being very costly. There are ways of delivering this training via device<\/a> and games\u2026 but there\u2019s also something to be said for pairing up experienced team members with more junior members in the field.<\/p>\n Experienced reps count for a lot here. A new ISP we worked with chose to hire a team consisting only of experienced sales reps. Combined with our muliichannel sales technology, this ensured they only delivered best practice. As a result, they were able to penetrate a market and their brand currently has an excellent 4.4 out of 5 Trustpilot score. One reviewer commented: \u201cFor once the man who sold me the product was true to his word.\u201d<\/p>\n Training and experience only gets you so far, however. Like this ISP did, brands need to monitor their reps to ensure the training sticks and the experience is formed of good habits. That\u2019s where sales technology comes in.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen this aspect go wrong in two different directions. For ISPs and wholesale providers, we\u2019ve seen them opt for whatever technology their sales agency is using, without thought for how suitable it is for their product and market, and their overall business needs beyond this one team and channel. On the other end, we\u2019ve also seen sales agencies forced to use the technology, if any, that their client insists upon. Both approaches can lead to a poor technology fit.<\/p>\n The technology you need to monitor compliance is easy to define: it should provide real time data reporting fit for the telco industry. While to avoid mis-selling, you want technology that puts that data to work across your sales cycle, automating route generation so no rep prematurely knocks on the wrong door.<\/a><\/p>\n BillSave is a sales agency that uses our sales software in their pitch to clients. Their team recognises how important the compliance aspect is to what they do, and they\u2019ve found that educating their potential clients here has helped them to win contracts.<\/p>\n Investing in the right kind of technology has paid off for other kinds of brands too. When UNICEF put their donor teams back on the streets after the initial COVID waves, they could do so with real time oversight of the teams, so they could be sure the team were working in the correct areas, and biding by the rules and guidelines.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\nThe situation for telcos and sales agencies<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n <\/p>\nPlay the long game as well as the short<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How to set yourself up for success<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Smart systems and structures<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Training and monitoring<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Technology and effective territory management<\/strong><\/h4>\n