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Telephone Service with a Smile
Companies are increasingly communicating with their customers with e‑mail from their palm pilots, notebooks, desktop and even their cell phones. While text messaging does offer many advantages, the telephone continues to play a key role in marketing, sales and customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Despite the many advances in communications technology, telephones are still a widely‑used business tool in today’s workplace. As a frontline customer contact, your employees’ telephone skills and courtesy, or lack thereof, can make or break your business.
Call Us Every company receives calls from its customers and potential customers. In addition to website and e‑mail contact information, a company’s advertising will often include messages that encourage callers to “call us direct” or “call our toll free hotline”. Poor telephone responses to telephone inquiries create a bad impression… and lose business.
To ensure your callers know that you value their business, review the ways telephone calls are being handled in your company and make sure every employee has the skills and techniques to make the telephone an effective business tool.
Two Rings Instruct staff to answer the telephone within the second ring. Nothing frustrates callers more than a telephone that rings incessantly without a response. Of course, sometimes employees are on the line or away from their desks. Set up the voice mail system to answer immediately when employees are on the telephone and on the third ring if they are away from their desk. Make sure employees know the importance of both the message they leave to greet the caller and a prompt response. Some companies set a benchmark such as responding to every customer voice message within 24 hours.
Greetings Employees should greet the caller by identifying themselves by name and company name. “Good morning, John speaking. You’ve reached ABC Company. How may I help you?” gives the caller the information they need to proceed. This also applies to answering calls that are transferred to another employee.
Similarly, when employees call customers they should begin the conversation by clearly stating their name, the company’s name and the purpose of their call. If they are leaving a voice mail, they should also spell their name and clearly state the telephone number twice.
Remind employees to update their voice mail messages daily. Encourage them to sport a smile when they record their greeting as it helps convey a friendly tone. The message should also give callers the option to call another extension or reach a receptionist if they do not want to leave a message.
Hold Please “May I put you on hold?” is a question that everyone has heard (and likely used). Of course, there may be a valid reason for putting a caller on hold; however, it is important that employees wait to hear the customer’s response before pushing the hold button. The caller’s permission should be acknowledged with a “Thank you. I’ll be right back”. If the caller cannot hold, they should take a few seconds to jot down the caller’s name and number and call back as soon as possible.
In busy times, on‑hold messages are often necessary for telephone processing. Studies show that callers will hang up just 15 seconds after being put on hold. Most callers do not have the patience or the time to wait. Other reasons cited for not staying on the line are long distance charges, cell phone charges, interruptions, or calling from locations where holding is not possible.
If the caller must wait because of the high volume of incoming calls, make sure the on‑hold message is professional and clearly indicates the reason and the estimated wait time until a company representative can answer. Give callers the option to leave a message. Both of these strategies communicate that the call is important and will not be ignored. Studies show that most callers prefer hearing messages when they are on‑hold rather than silence or the radio.
When the individual is not available, staff should not offer specific reasons but rather a brief, polite and general statement that the person is not available and offer to take a message.
Employees should not ask callers to call later as that transfers the company’s responsibility to respond and this may result in lost orders and customers. Naturally, it is best to have the call returned within the hour whenever possible. If you are expecting an important call, your assistant should be instructed to call you on your cell phone when that customer calls. If you will be away from the office, make sure that someone is delegated to follow up on important calls in your absence.
Visitors While support staff should be instructed to intercept drop‑in visitors when you are on the telephone, inevitably people do pop in. If you are engaged in a telephone conversation and someone walks into your office, acknowledge the visitor non‑verbally and, if possible, indicate you cannot be interrupted. If necessary, terminate the telephone conversation quickly and politely with a promise to call back or say “Excuse me – a colleague has just walked through the door. May I put you on hold for a moment?” As with any on‑hold situation, once you have the caller’s approval, explain that you will be right back, greet the walk‑in, and return to your telephone conversation as quickly as possible.
Meetings Answering the telephone or cell phone while you are meeting with a customer or prospect will quickly damage the relationship. Certainly there may be times when it is necessary to pick up a prearranged call and, certainly if you have call display, you will know when the call arrives.
If an important call may interrupt a meeting, be sure to explain this to your visitor at the outset. When the call comes through, excuse yourself and take the call in another office. Speaking to one customer in front of another does not convey a sense of confidentiality and may inhibit what you say to the individual on the telephone.
Staff Training Even when a company has state‑of‑the‑ art telephone systems, it is the people factor that makes the difference. Untrained employees contribute to poor customer service and loss of business. By maximizing your employees’ telephone skills, you can show customers that your company values their business.
In addition to stressing the importance of good telephone etiquette and ensuring everyone knows how to use your telephone system to best advantage, a training program should teach employees how to:
The training program does not have to be developed in‑house. Consider a packaged training program. Many of these are offered on videotape, some of which include humorous vignettes that drive the customer service message home. Larger businesses may wish to outsource the program to a company that will present on‑site telephone training sessions. In addition, when you upgrade your telephone systems, be sure to ask about training support as a component of the provider’s quotation.
Your Call is Important The way a company handles its inbound and outbound calls immediately communicates to customers and prospects whether it is prepared to provide the personal attention that callers expect. Make sure all employees understand your company’s telephone protocols and their importance in enhancing your company’s image.
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