Working in a telesales environment can be demanding but extremely rewarding. You are the voice of the company and as such must be professional, polite and be very articulate. Your duties may include cold calling, order taking or simply making meetings for sales directors to attend. You need to be self motivated, be able to work on your own initiative and have top drawer communication skills. Job title include Telesales Executive, Telemarketer, Business Development Executive and Call Centre Operator.

Job description

The job of a telesales operator is to make and receive telephone calls to sell products or services to potential customers.

A lot of businesses have a telesales function and the role does vary depending on who you're working for. For example, you could be working for a high street bank - you'd almost certainly be based in a call-centre environment and the job would be mainly comprised of receiving inbound sales queries where you would be required to sell the bank's financial products and services to callers. Alternatively, you could work for a media company selling advertising space and it would be your job to identify sales leads and call them to introduce your company to them with the aim of selling them advertising space.

Whatever the type of telesales role you're employed in, some of your daily duties could include:

• Making or receiving a high volume of phone calls
• Providing product advice to potential customers
• Producing quotes for customers
• Completing order forms
• Liaising with other departments such as accounts
• Logging calls and scheduling appointments or follow up calls
• Encouraging customers to buy certain products

The telesales role can be very intense as you'll be under pressure to make or receive as many calls as possible whilst also keeping on top of any administration that's required between calls. You may also be on a commission structure, so the more calls you handle, the more you earn.

The working hours of a telesales operator can vary - for example, many businesses operate at weekends so you'll be required to follow suit and some have long working hours, with call centres which are open until late in the evening. Shift work is therefore quite common though you'll generally still be working the standard 35-40 hours in total each week.

There are usually no set entry level requirements for a telesales job - employers are mostly looking for either experience gained in a similar role or an outgoing and confident manner.  However, it's common to be expected to have at least a few GCSEs under your belt.

Upon entering a new company, it's likely that you'll be given extensive training before getting on the phones - you'll learn all about the range of products and services you're expected to sell, as well as any specific software that you'll need to use to do the job.

There are a number of qualifications that you can pursue which will certainly stand out on your CV. These include NVQs in Telesales and the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management's (ISMM) Certificate in Sales and Marketing. It's worth pointing out that if you are working in the financial services industry, you'll be required to be qualified in any exams stipulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Whatever your qualifications, future employers will almost certainly be looking for the following attributes:

• A confident personality
• An excellent telephone manner
• Tenacity
• A people person
• Good IT skills
• The ability to think and act quickly
• A good track record of sales in another position
• A good team player

Salary Information

At entry level, expect to earn £10-12k annually depending upon where you're working. A few years into your career your salary could be up to £17k. Successful telesales operators can earn up to £25k. A lot of these roles also offer some form of commission structure, so if you meet targets you could earn considerably more.