What hath Alexander Graham Bell wrought?
Oh, that dastardly telephone!
It sits there, on your desk, or in your pocket just waiting to be used and abused as you go about your daily routine. Who should I call? When should I call? Can’t I just send a text? How about an email? Or an emoji stream? But do I really have to call and actually TALK TO SOMEONE?!
Oh my!
Yes folks, we are losing the art of verbal communication and social media is largely to blame. It is too easy, too impersonal, too convenient. But mastering the art of verbal communication is critical to the sales efforts of your hosts. After all, I can train anyone to call someone, or send a text, and offer a player some free play to make a visit to my casino.
But what about to engage a player in conversation? To build a relationship with them based on that exchange. To use it to not only sell to your players but enhance and grow their experience with you and your property? That is an art that takes time to master. And one of the ways we do it is through that dastardly phone.
Yup, I am talking about teleselling. NOT TELEMARKETING! No, I mean teleselling. What’s the difference?
The same as that between direct mail and junk mail. Junk mail is unsolicited. Direct mail is solicited. Someone gave you their address and told you to send them stuff. Well, the same goes for the phone. Telemarketing is unsolicited. Teleselling is solicited. Someone gave you their number and told you you could call them.
We really need to remember this when engaging in teleselling with our casino hosts and best players, because the techniques used to telesell are very different from the hard-core sales techniques of telemarketing. And many is the time we’ve heard from best players complaining about having their arm twisted over the phone to make a visit or come to an event. They don’t like the aggressive high-pressure tactics that are the mark of a good telemarketer.
So how do the two differ? Well, in many ways. But for purposes of this short and sweet “how-to” article, let me just point out my top five differences between telemarketing and teleselling and my top five do’s and don’ts based on those differences.
Top Five Differences Telemarketing and Teleselling
- Telemarketing is about driving a buy decision – get the sale. Teleselling is about building relationships and gaining trust with your player.
- Telemarketing is aimed at controlling and manipulating a conversation towards a stated goal (the buy decision). Teleselling is about giving up control and letting the player dictate where the conversations leads.
- Telemarketing is about pitching a product. Selling is about active listening and finding out what your players really want.
- Telemarketing is fast, quick, and impersonal. Teleselling is efficient but goes at the player’s pace.
- Telemarketing measures results through call to sales conversion rates. Teleselling measures results through player trip frequency and spend per visit (the more touches you make, the more theo you generate).
Top Five Do’s and Don’ts
- DON’T pressure your player to stay on the line and talk. DO ask, “Is now a good time to talk?” And if not, offer to call back at the player’s convenience (that’s a no-no in the Telemarketer’s handbook).
- DON’T call and make an offer you know your player is not interested in. DO try to build player call lists that match the offer with the players’ interests. (When you offer something I don’t care about it tells me you don’t care about me).
- DON’T spend a long time pitching and arguing with players over the phone. DO make your call efficient and match the call length to the player’s interest and response.
- DON’T negotiate price over the phone. You will be shopped. DO stick to your original offer and ensure the player understands that what you are offering is the best you can do based on their level of play. (It is called price integrity and leads to a trusting relationship. How can I trust you when I know you are trying to low-ball me with offers below my worth?).
- DON’T terminate the call without some sort of follow-up. DO always let the player know you will talk with, or see them, again. It is never goodbye but rather … until next time. Can I call you at X time? Will I see you at the show? I look forward to meeting you in person on Friday. And so on.
There you have it. Just some quick thoughts on the phone, selling, and your best players. Hope it helps to clarify your teleselling efforts. Don’t telemarket… TELESELL instead! And the next time you call someone don’t forget to thank them for their time and attention. After all, they really look forward to your call because they love the attention … and you want to keep that going … don’t you?
Does your operation need a host and player development review or teleselling training? Contact Raving today https://betravingknows.com/contact/
