With the holiday season now here, it’s important to take your customer service to the next level. That certainly isn’t to say that you should be slacking at any other point of the year. Providing unbeatable customer service is a year-round must! However, it goes without saying that putting people in a festive mood is the definitely an important aspect of providing customer service at this point in the year.
Arguably, this goes double for individuals who work on the phone. When on the phone, you don’t have the luxury of using facial expressions, hand gestures and other forms of body language to communicate your points to customers. Therefore, injecting enthusiasm into your tone of voice is of huge importance. However, there are a few other ways you can step up your customer service game for the holidays.
Here are three:
1. Offer personalized holiday greetings.
It sounds like a no-brainer, but some businesses choose to stay away from offering holiday greetings so as to be politically correct. After all, who knows which holidays your customers may or may not be celebrating? Take it from us. We’ve never been told that we were being offensive by saying “Merry Christmas”. However, offering up a “Happy Holidays” should suffice for just about anyone.
The point, however, is to engage in light-hearted conversations with your clients in efforts to build greater rapport. Each of your interactions should work to grow a relationship that will last for the long haul. So, perhaps, instead of a run-of-the-mill greeting, take a moment to ask questions such as “Have you made any big plans for the holidays?” Showing genuine interest in your customers will go a long way.
2. Use holiday-themed hold music.
You may think this is corny. You may think this is cliché. But, in our experience, holiday music is one of those must-haves during this time of year. We find that it puts people in festive moods. When you consider how hard everyone has worked all year and how many negative stories our news broadcasts inundate us with every day, we could all use a little more cheer in our lives. If this isn’t the time of year to promote that idea, then when is?
If you’re stuck for holiday music to use for your hold music, look no further than Uncle John’s Holiday Hits! As you may know, MeloTel’s Founder and CEO is such a big fan of the holidays that he has recorded not one, but two collections of holiday music. They can both be downloaded for FREE from Bandcamp!
3. Create holiday-themed voice greetings.
You’re not going to be able to answer the phone each and every time it rings. Naturally, some calls will go to voicemail. Why not ensure that your callers hear the same upbeat, holiday cheer that they would if they heard your live voice? Your holiday spirit can truly do a lot to elevate the reputation of your brand.
At MeloTel, we’d only be too happy to help you achieve that heightened reputation. Contact us to learn more about our cloud-hosted Commercial Phone Services and the many features including Custom Hold Music and Voicemail to your Email that come with them. Call us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
