Job description

Telesales Executives are employed to make and receive phone calls to sell products or services to potential customers.

As a telesales executive, you'll be often working in a call centre environment and will usually be given extensive product training prior to beginning the job in earnest. As well as training on products, you'll also be trained on how to handle objections from customers and to convert calls into sales. Quite often you'll be working to a script, ie a pre-prepared set of questions and answers which will be provided by more senior sales people within your organisation.

It can be a highly pressurised environment to work in and successful telesales executives need to be able to handle a large volume of calls on a daily basis, with only a short time spent on each call to build up a relationship with the customer and secure a sale.

Duties include:

• Making or receiving phone calls about specific products or services.
• Answering any technical questions relating to the product you are selling.
• Keeping up to date with product developments or special offers.
• Persuading customers to buy products or services.
• Persuading customers to make an appointment for a sales person to visit them.
• Taking payment details from customers.
• Recording all sales and enquiries on databases.
• Issuing invoices relating to sales achieved.
• Meeting targets for calls made and orders taken.

Qualifications

Quite often employers will look more closely at your experience rather than your qualifications. At entry level, a sound level of education is usually required, as well as a confident telephone manner and an outgoing personality. Once in the job there are various NVQs which can be taken, as well as certificates offered by the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (ISMM). Gaining these qualifications can only enhance your future career prospects.

Salary Snapshot

Recent salaries advertised at the time of writing (January 2010) include:

• £16-20,000, OTE £35k for a B2B Telesales Executive working for a Telecoms firm in London.
• £28-35,000, OTE £70k++ for a Telesales Manager working for an IT company in Manchester.
• £18-26,000, OTE £40k plus benefits for a Graduate Telesales Executive working for a New Media company in Birmingham.
• £20-40,000, OTE £50k + for a Telesales Consultant working for a Stationery company in Leeds.