5 Ways to Slash Your Telesales Cancellation Rates by 33%

One of the top concerns for telesales managers is product or service cancellations. While sales managers look to boost their conversion rates and their average sales rates, many times too much focus on sales results in high cancellation rates and damages the customer experience and brand equity. This article outlines some of the core reasons why customers cancel their purchases and outline some core interventions to slash cancellation rates.

1. Find Out What Didn’t Work and Offer a Better Solution

Ensure the new solution matches their motivation for buying. As part of the sales process, get reps to understand what it is that customers are looking for. Reps should be trained to uncover the need and paint a brighter picture for after the sale. They should be able to understand the issues with the current solution and excite them about the potential of a better solution - the one they are selling. In doing so, they will ensure the customer is aligned to the new, better tomorrow. For example, the rep should be able to offer a better solution for the customer’s actual needs. If the customer’s business has grown, the rep might suggest the customer upgrade their service accordingly. Or, if your company is coming out with a service that the customer might be interested in, your rep could sign them up as an early customer and offer them an incentive to be an early customer. Even if the sale is not made on the call now, by offering them a tailored solution, your rep will have won their loyalty and ensure their business is secured for the longer term.

2. Remove Buyer’s Remorse By Actively Showcasing Solution Benefits

Build excitement, not just loss avoidance. In many cases buyer’s remorse is one of the biggest triggers for an order cancellation. Often, a cancellation based on Buyer’s Remorse means that your customer did not make their choice based on best value, but rather based on a perceived amount of least risk. Customer must feel that their decision was the best to achieve their goals - not only to avoid negative consequences. Sales reps need to dramatize and visualize the benefits or their offer to excite customers. They need to establish and alignment between the customers expectations and the company’s product by asking clarifying questions to ensure that the right offer is being made. Through asking clarifying questions, reps can ensure they offer the right solution to match the customer needs. Asking questions before offering the sale can range from “Are you with me, does this make sense?” while the Sales Agent is presenting the product or service, to asking “Does this seem like the kind of solution to your problem?” Or, “Is there anything I haven’t covered that you think is important?” before the close of the sale. As the rep asks these questions and actively listens to what the Customer answers, they will be more effective at providing value instead of creating a sale that is based on the Customer’s fears and risk assessment.

3. Ensure Sales Are Really Closed

Take the time to ensure alignment. One of the simplest but most overlooked causes for cancellations is that the sale was not truly closed. While the customer might have actually completed the sales process, the sales rep did not fully convince the buyer that the product or service they were buying was the correct solution for their problem. And, as a result, the customer has lingering doubts as to whether their purchase really fulfilled their requirements. A deal that is closed with quick agreement on the part of the customer, or with the Customer still having questions or doubts is a deal that may result in a cancellation. While reps are right not to ‘burst through an open door’, they should still be meticulous in explaining the advantages of their solution and helping customers understand how it fits their needs. Faced with eager customers, commission-hungry agents may lose sight of the needs of the customers and forget to reinforce the buying drivers. Sales Managers need to ensure that their reps are not just focused on numbers, but are focused on results for the customer, and are willing to make sure that the customer’s questions and concerns have been addressed before the payment has been processed.

4. Maintain Sales Momentum

Avoid derailing sales by bouncing across channels. Many Call Centers are using voice-only platforms that don’t have the capability of allowing a reps to effectively manage all stages of a sales call. As a result, reps often send prospects to websites to see products, ask them to complete forms that they receive to their email, and ask them to print and scan forms back to them. These redirects hurt close rates and slow sales velocity. When reps can move through all of the stages of a Sales Presentation on one call using a single telesales digital solution, sales rates jump and cancellations rates drop. With a digital telesales solution, while on a call, reps can visually present the service or product to the Customer, they can present and agree terms and conditions and get signatures digitally, and they can collect payments in a PCI compliant fashion and instantly. Thanks to robust, digital sales solutions, there is no need for the sales agents to push customers to another media - like email or websites to complete sales. By eliminating any unnecessary steps, reps can be sure to create and capture sales excitement in the same call.

5. Eliminate Time and Obstacles after Closing

Streamline sales wrap-up and after call work to eliminate post sale frustration. After exciting customers, if sales reps are required to complete papers, gather forms and signatures, process payments, wait for emails, customer excitement withers and cancellations tend to spike. That’s because customers begin to have second thoughts and start to sour the initial excitement. Customer start receiving objections such as “This sounds great but let me talk to my spouse and get back to you.”. or, “This product sounds great, but I am not sure I can afford it right now.” The Sales Agent might be prompted to spend a large majority of the call answering the caller’s objections and yet not moving them forward towards confidently agreeing to the sale. To ensure that sales are buttoned up, reps should have the digital, instant tools to complete forms, signatures and payments while on the call. Moreover, they might want to reward customers with a special something to maintain the excitement at the end of the call to ensure there are no cancellations - something as simple as coupon for next purchase or a 1 month free extension.

Summary

Tighter rep-customer alignment can ensure customers buy what they want and want what they buy. With digital telesales tools, sales managers can ensure sales reps are not only engaging customers, but managing objections and buttoning up sales efficiently and in the moment. By doing this telesales reps realize a higher conversion rate and lower cancellation rate.