Internet Service Provider Breaks Sales Records with Transformed Call Flow 

New approach also increases sales efficiency and customer engagement 

Executive summary 

When a rapidly growing Internet Service Provider (ISP) transitioned to a third-party sales team in the Philippines, the ISP set a clear goal: maintain the sales levels of the previous onshore team. However, initial numbers didn’t meet expectations, showing that the new sales team needed more than a clear goal to succeed. 

The ISP brought in OutSell Consulting to diagnose the challenges, revamp the call flow, and deliver customized training that would drive lasting results. 

The new sales team members learned quickly from OutSell’s engaging, science-backed training. Within weeks, the new team had not only met but actually exceeded the performance of the previous sales team. The team also: 

• Increased its sales efficiency (sales per 100 calls) by 17%.
• Improved customer engagement. 
• Boosted monthly sales by more than 2X, setting a new sales record. 

The company 

The ISP offers fiber and DSL services across 20 Midwest states and had an established, internal sales team that could naturally connect with customers. 

When the new offshore team ran into obstacles, the OutSell Consulting team reviewed the call flow and listened to recordings of more than 100 calls to identify key challenges. 

Challenge one: an overly formal call flow slows down sales 

The new team’s call flow, though certainly polite, felt overly formal by Midwestern standards and didn’t allow for authentic customer connection. For example, the opening line was: “Thank you for choosing [company name]. My name is _____. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” This language felt impersonal and created a barrier between the agent and the customer right from the start.

The subsequent flow, used to verify information, relied on permission-based, closed-ended questions like, “Would you mind giving me your address?” and, “Do you mind sharing your email address?” This language gave customers too much power in the interaction and trained them to provide less information rather than to open up about themselves and their ISP needs. 

This wordy call flow also unnecessarily lengthened calls, dragging down the team’s efficiency. 

Finally, OutSell’s team noticed that agents aggressively tried to close sales, rushing customers from curiosity to commitment and skipping over the all-important enlightenment stage. 

The OutSell Operating System in Action

Our approach incorporates cutting-edge research on behavior science and training. For this client, we:

• Identified specific actions the sales team needed to take to drive results.
• Trained the sales team and then practiced with them using evidence-backed methods to help make these actions habits.

Learn more about the OutSell Operating System.

Solution one: a friendlier, more effective, call flow 

First, OutSell redesigned the call flow. 

The opening line became, “Thanks for calling [company name]. My name is ____. How can I help you today?” After that welcoming start, an assurance of help followed: “I can definitely help with that,” which immediately put customers at ease. 

Next, the agent would engage in a name exchange, asking, “Again, my name is _____, what is yours?” This simple action fostered a more personal connection, making customers feel valued and reducing their resistance. 

These and many other call flow changes helped agents increase their efficiency and made room for more customer discovery. With a friendly connection established, agents could start dialogues about customers’ internet usage, build customer trust, and increase sales. 

Challenge two: training sales agents to take the right action every time 

To follow the new call flow, the agents needed to change their behavior and overcome ingrained cultural norms. For someone raised in the Philippines, the new language felt overly familiar and omitted social niceties that, from a sales perspective, sometimes led to conversational dead ends. The sales team also needed help handling situations that the call flow didn’t cover in a way that felt natural to an American customer. 

The good news is that the sales agents were motivated to change. But reaching their goals would require them to also take the right actions. This scenario is very common. As behavior science has found, motivation alone is rarely enough to change behavior.

Solution two: training that rapidly translates into results 

That’s why we use science-backed training methods that make it easy for sales teams to implement what they learn every day. 

These methods helped the ISP’s new sales team rapidly improve. Soon, the right actions felt natural and became automatic. As a result, sales agents felt more confident and were better able to authentically connect with customers. 

Rapid and lasting results: increased sales and improved team morale 

The OutSell Operating System

Most sales training focuses on motivation and teaching concepts.

That’s a great start, but it’s not enough to get your sales team to consistently take the right action at the right time, every time.

We use science-backed methods to make sure training translates into consistent action that drives results.

Learn more about the OutSell Operating System.

We began working with the ISP’s new offshore call center in May 2024, and by August the team had broken sales records and surpassed the performance of the previous team on both total sales and sales efficiency. Customer engagement improved, and sales team morale grew. 

Most importantly, these results have endured. That’s the power of an approach focused on training your team to consistently take the actions that drive results. We call this approach the OutSell Operating System. 

Contact us to learn how we can create similar results for your business.