Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
0
What are the top characteristics I should look for in a lead qualification rep?
I am about to hire 8 people for our lead qualification team. This is my first build-out. Any recommendations?
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
4 Answers
Scott, By the way you've written your question I'm assuming you're hiring reps to follow-up on leads you've generated through marketing rather than to find their own leads. In that situation, perhaps two of the most important skills are phone and email follow-up. After that, they need the discipline to follow-up consistently where not only do they execute, but they also log their follow-up activities and findings in the CRM. Of course they must be able to initiate a relationship, question effectively, handle objections, and close for appointments if that's the ultimate goal.
From there, the skills are dependent on the training you give them about the lead campaigns and type of leads. For example, they may need effective questioning to qualify, or the ability to use the questions you feed them to deepen the conversation. They may need to know how to research contacts on the web & in social media if that information is not provided to them. They may also need to be able to do a web demo or quickly point people to a web location about whatever the topic is if that wasn't part of the nurturing campaign.
Some questions to help guide you in defining the experience you need might be:
- What information will we supply the rep about the leads he / she will be qualifying?
- What actions do we want them to take during and after they qualify a lead?
- What role will the rep play in the sales process after the lead is qualified?
- What growth path do we see for the rep within the organization after 12-24 months? (points to skills you'll want to devleop and talent you'll want to hire for)
These are a few ideas to get you thinking. Kendra
Hi Scott,
I've been hiring inside sales people for 25 years, and the two skills that stand out as most important is how coachable they are, and how personally invested they are in their work.
Kendra's points are great to build a skills profile around. Some companies don't have a standard process and workflow all reps follow, having that in place eliminates breakdowns. Ask a lot of questions where they give you examples of how they handle objections, how do they find contacts, etc. Get a good baseline of what they know now and where it maps to your skills profile. It gives you an idea of how technically fluent they are and how creative they are to find contacts. Then ask what they are doing to improve their skills, what sales books have they read and what did they like about them. Find out who they are calling on now. If they are used to calling low levels in an organization with success, they may not have the skills to call at executive levels (if that’s where you are looking to prospect) with the same success.
Then take a step further and ask them to give you examples of when they went above and beyond what was expected in order to help a customer.
Having a team that cares about the company and feels like they are putting their name on their work are invaluable.
Technical skills you can train, personal commitment and pride in their work is something they bring to the table.
I am happy to share some of our interview questions if you shoot me an email.
Mari Anne
Hi Scott,
While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Call Center environment. And while someone may have “The Right Stuff” to be a great Customer Service & Support CSR – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding, proactive, sales-oriented requirements of a Lead Qualification Rep.
Top Performing Call Center Operations drive their Revenue & Performance through Superior Hiring Tactics. Hiring the wrong Agent to begin with is the Root Cause of most Call Center Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line, and on your Lead Generation & Sales Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with a Poor Job Fit.
Typically there are 3 grades of Agents found in a Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).
(Above Average) Agents seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.
(Average) Agents perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit standpoint.
(Below Average) Agents are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) Agents have the Highest Levels of Absenteeism, Lowest Levels of Productivity & Sales, Poorest Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale. They represent the real problems in a Call Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) Agents may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to an organization.
SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software is easy-to-deploy, very cost-effective and highly-predictive of an individual's suitability for a particular Call Center job.
SPAS Call Center Pre-Employment Screening Software is a Proven Technology that meets and exceeds all Government Employment Standards Requirements as a Hiring Tool in the USA/Canada/UK/Australia/New Zealand/South Africa and everywhere else in the world where the ‘Language of Work’ is English.
SPAS screens out the Job Candidates who will burn out fast because they aren't suited for the work - and identifies the people with the Personality/Job-Fit, Soft Skills, Motivation, and Work Ethic to be Top Lead Qualification Reps. With SPAS as part of your Hiring Process you will be able to select new Call Center Agents who will fit your specific employment needs better - and stay on the job longer - leading to a Call Center Agent Workgroup that has more experience and is more productive.
SPAS Software is sold on an Unlimited Usage License basis - there are No "per Test" Fees - "Annual Renewal" Fees or any other User Fees. Technical Support for the SPAS Software is free & unlimited as well.
You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at: http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html
The top quality is Resiliency, by far. Yes, anyone can make 100 dials or more. Anyone can read from a script but my past experience is seeing inside sales or tele prospector's ability to get 1 Yes after getting 9 No's and still upholding a genuine commitment to our projects.
Answer This Question