One of the hardest things to do is conduct business on the phone. You can’t see the person you’re speaking to, so you must be extra careful to make sure that your tone and demeanour are as affable and professional as possible. However, you’re not always going to be the one handling every call that comes in to your business. If you run a business that requires members of your staff to take calls, it’s important to train them properly.
Of course, this is especially true for business owners who run call centres. Having a clear and succinct plan on how to handle calls will play a huge role in your company’s success. Naturally, happy customers lead to increased revenue. So what can you do to make sure that your staff is getting it right? As mentioned, it all starts with good training. Here are six steps to take to ensure you have a staff that is well-equipped for working on the phones.
1. Create a great greeting. First impressions are everything, right? When customers call up your company, they should be greeted with a clear, friendly and professional greeting every time. For example, “Thanks for calling (business name), my name is Peter, how can I help you today?” In such an example, a pleasantry is offered, both the company name and name of the representative are revealed and an offer of assistance is provided.
2. Demonstrate knowledge. Few things anger customers more than speaking to representatives who simply don’t know what they’re talking about. Before anyone gets trained on how to handle phone calls, they should be trained on the ins and outs of the products and services that your company offers. That way, when your customers call your business, they can be assured of speaking to someone who is knowledgeable about the brand.
3. Be mindful of volume, tone and speed. You don’t want your phone reps to be too loud or too quiet. You don’t want them to sound too excited or too dull. You don’t want them to speak too fast or too slow. So finding that perfect happy medium will be a key ingredient to your brand’s success in handling phone calls. A good idea would be to have your representatives listen to recordings of their calls so that they can assess ways to better their conversations.
4. Avoid annoyances. What are the things that you dislike the most when hearing someone speak? Consider such things as slang terms, long drawn out silences and non-words like “um” or “uh”. Using such language takes away from the prestigious nature of your brand and will make you sound unprofessional and lacking in knowledge. Be sure that your team follows a particular protocol for the ways that they are to speak to customers on the phone.
5. Create a great goodbye. Just as important as the beginning of the call is the end of the call. A professional business call shouldn’t really end with “see you later” or “bye bye”. Instead, a “thank you for calling (business name), it was a pleasure to serve you, have a great day” would be a better alternative. The end of each call may vary a bit depending on the nature of the call, but you get the picture.
6. Get a great phone system. All of the above mentioned tips are excellent when it comes to properly training your staff to use the phones in the right way. But they will all be for naught if your company isn’t equipped with a top-of-the-line phone system. At MeloTel, we proudly offer top-notch Commercial Telephone services that come with an amazing host of Telephone Features. For more information, call us up at 1-888-MELOTEL!