Providing excellent customer service should be on the top of every business owner’s daily to-do lists. Coming up with a specific way for your team to handle its customer interactions is extremely important in establishing a strong and very favourable brand image. This is especially true for companies that do the majority of their business over the phone. When speaking to someone over the phone, you don’t have the luxury of body language and facial expressions to tell your story.
This is why a strong customer service regimen practiced over the phone is so important. As you know, there are many elements to a business phone call. As we’ve blogged about in the past, the ways in which you both answer and end your calls are of extreme importance. There is also a particular way that you should go about putting your callers on hold. No one really likes holding. That’s why it’s vital you do so in a way that improves the customer experience.
Here are five smart techniques for placing callers on hold:
1. Ask, don’t tell. Kindly ask your caller if he/she wouldn’t mind being placed on hold. Posing the question “May I place you on hold for just a couple of minutes while I look into that for you?” sounds a lot better than the instructional “I’m going to place you hold to take a look into that for you”. It offers a greater show of respect when you essentially ask for and are granted permission to place someone on hold.
2. Provide the approximate amount of time your caller will be on hold. As we pointed out in our last point, it’s wise to inform your caller of how long he/she will be on hold. That way, you won’t give the impression that your customer will have to wait for too long. If the work you’re doing takes longer than the time frame you’ve given, be sure to come back to the line to let the caller know how much longer you’ll be.
3. Give reasons for the hold. Our previous example also gave a little bit of insight into what the purpose of the hold time was. You’ll want to be sure to provide such reasons so that your callers don’t assume the hold time is unnecessary. Informing your caller that you are pulling up his/her account, consulting with a supervisor and/or performing troubleshooting duties will help for your customer to better appreciate the time you are taking to resolve the issue.
4. Utilize custom hold music. In our last blog, we pointed out some of the main benefits that come with hold music. Firstly, and most obviously, hold music lets a caller know that the line has not been disconnected. With music playing, your caller will be a lot less likely to hang up. As well, your custom hold music can be used to advertise your company’s latest promotions, making it a great marketing mechanism!
5. Offer a callback, if necessary. In some rare cases, you may not be able to resolve a caller’s issues right away. If such a circumstance arises, ask your caller if he/she can be called back once the problem has been resolved. Customers will greater appreciate this gesture than to be kept on hold for very long. Some people have spent hours on the phone trying to get their problems resolved. The longer it takes to find resolution, the less satisfied customers usually are.
For more information about MeloTel’s Commercial Phone Services, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the “Live Chat Support” feature on our website!
