Excellent customer service is made up of a number of components. Among the most obvious is a friendly and approachable demeanour that endears people towards your brand. This is especially important for companies that conduct the majority of their business over the phone. As we’ve pointed out a number of times before, body language and facial expressions don’t translate through phone lines.
Therefore, the “nice” needs to be turned way up in order to convey to callers that they are dealing with a highly reputable business. There are bound to be times, however, when callers aren’t particularly pleased with the ways in which their calls are being handled. Often, they’ll need to be placed on hold or transferred to other departments to have their questions properly answered. And people don’t generally like waiting.
However, there is a way to go about the entire call transferring process that will help customers to clearly understand that it’s a necessary part of getting them the customer service that they deserve. For the most part, people don’t mind being transferred to other departments. In many cases, they’ll actually prefer it – as long as they’re getting the help they called for. But what steps are necessary in order to perform the perfect call transfer?
Here are four:
1. Explain the reason for the transfer. As long as you’re keeping your callers in the know, you’re bound to avoid irritating them. Don’t simply state that the call needs to be transferred to another department. Instead, inform the caller about the reason that another representative will be of better assistance. Often, this will put the caller’s mind at ease, knowing he or she will be tended to by the right individual.
2. Ask, don’t tell. This is a policy that is important to adhere to whether you are putting a caller on hold or transferring him or her to another department. Ask the caller for permission to perform the hold or call transfer. This communicates respect and places the caller in a position of control . “May I ask you to please hold while I transfer you to the correct department?” sounds a lot better than “Please hold while I transfer you to the correct department”. Believe us.
3. Be sure to handle all matters pertaining to your department first. Even if you need to transfer a call to another department to respond to the first question the caller asks you, be sure to ask the caller if there is any other help he or she requires. If there is a request that you can handle, tend to the matter first and then process the call transfer. That way, your caller won’t be subjected to bouncing back and forth between departments.
4. Avoid blind transfers. When you connect to the appropriate department, don’t simply drop the caller off with the other associate. Be sure to stay on the line and introduce the two parties. With the caller hearing you, inform your co-worker about the nature of the call and what the caller has asked for. This way, you won’t irritate the caller by having him or her repeat something that was already communicated during the course of the call.
MeloTel’s VoIP-based Commercial Phone Services offer a variety of features including Call Transfer. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the “Live Chat Support” feature on our website!
