Every interaction between a customer service or sales professional and an existing or prospective customer will ultimately fall within two stages. In nearly all cases, there is a Discovery stage when the agent or rep is asking questions and gathering information, and a Fulfillment stage when the rep is providing information and responding to questions. Both stages must be managed effectively and appropriately executed for a customer service or sales call to be effective.

While most sales professionals claim to know the importance of asking effective questions and listening carefully, many are unable to apply a disciplined strategy in real-life selling situations. This is especially true in the telesales environment when the window to engage a client can close very quickly. In such circumstances, many sales professionals are unable to complete critical Discovery work before proceeding to Fulfillment. Pressure from prospective buyers to provide information forces many agents to succumb to their own sense of eagerness and start providing specific Fulfillment information. Many don't know how to ask strategic questions or even how to phrase those questions. As a result, they prematurely “bounce” to Fulfillment and fail to connect with the buyer’s agenda or needs.

“Bouncing” prematurely to Fulfillment almost always results in costly customer service or selling mistakes. Agents miss vital information, make statements that are in conflict with undiscovered elements of the buyer’s agenda, or make statements that un-sell because the remarks are too predictable or otherwise lack credibility.

Discovery/Fulfillment sales and customer service training programs teach agents how to effectively manage the sales process through consistent, disciplined customer service and selling practices within a wide variety of sales situations. Once properly mastered, this discipline enables agents to become more skilled, confident, empowered, and in control. When an enterprise adopts this customer service and sales training methodology, the Discovery/Fulfillment discipline becomes a corporate “sales language,” and a consistent formula for successfully planning and executing customer service and selling initiatives. Finally, Discovery/Fulfillment® provides sales managers, telesales supervisors and QA managers with an unmatched tool for evaluating and mentoring employees as they emerge as skilled customer service and sales agents.

* Anilor Discovery/Fulfillment Sales Training programs are adapted [in part] from the Discovery/Fulfillment® Sales Discipline and the Discovery/Fulfillment® Customer Service Discipline, licensed by permission of Dave Mrocek & Associates, Copyright 2003 Dave Mrocek & Associates.

Discovery/Fulfillment is a federally registered mark of Dave Mrocek & Associates.