What Is Telesales? Definition, Agent Duties and Skills

A career in telesales requires excellent communication and sales skills and customer service knowledge. As a telesales representative, you will spend most of your working hours persuading prospective and existing customers to buy products or services. Understanding the skills and requirements of a telesales position can help you determine if it is an ideal career for you. In this article, we discuss telesales, how it differs from telemarketing and the duties and skills you need to excel in a telesales role. Top job searches near you Part time jobs Full time jobs Work from home jobs Hiring immediately jobs View more jobs on Indeed What is telesales? Telesales is the selling of products or services through the telephone. The aim of telesales is to build repeat business through excellent customer relations. Telesales representatives contact customers to promote offers or to set up appointments to support field sales representatives. As a telesales representative, you reach potential and existing customers directly by phone to encourage them to buy your company’s offers. There are two types of telesales: inbound and outbound. Inbound agents receive calls from prospective and existing customers while outbound representatives call leads to generate sales. Telesales requires you to be patient, persuasive and persistent. You also need exceptional communication and phone skills, typing experience and the ability to thrive in an office environment. Related: Telemarketing Resume Samples The difference between telemarketing and telesales While telesales involves selling directly to customers by telephone, telemarketing has a broader scope. Telemarketers use phone calls to generate interest, offer information, obtain customer feedback and produce leads. The role of telemarketing is to create sales prospects, while telesales converts the opportunities into sales and repeat buyers of a company’s products or services. For a better understanding of telemarketing and telesales, consider their functions: Telemarketing Goals