Phone Skills for Flawless Customer Service

Talking to customers on the phone is not an easy task. When you’re not seeing the face of the person you’re taking to, your message can be easily misinterpreted. This can be tricky especially when your job involves helping customers and ensuring their pleasant experience with your company.

To help you improve your phone conversation with your customers, we have listed the top three skills for a flawless customer service:

1. Use a positive tone
   Having that enthusiastic and attentive tone while talking to the customer can make them feel more comfortable. From greeting to ending the conversation, it’s important to use a positive tone. Even if the customer sounds irritated, you have to maintain that professional, calm, and friendly tone. Doing that can actually help calm an irate customer.

2. Use your customer’s name
   As soon as you get your customer’s name, use it. If you’re unsure on how to pronounce it, ask him/her (they’ll appreciate it). Using your customer’s name during the phone conversation can help your customer feel more at ease. It’s also a way of showing them that they matter.

3. Finish the conversation on the right note
   Before you hang up, make sure the customer understands the information you passed along. It’s also a good gesture to offer information they may need in the future such as numbers to call if they experience certain problems. Ending conversations this way creates lasting positivity.

Rising Trend of Self Service

If you’ve been paying attention on existing business practices, you may have noticed the growing popularity of self-service solutions (SSS).

What are self-service solutions?

The birth of self-service solutions has made it possible for businesses to achieve their productivity and efficiency goals. The self-service technology is widely utilized now. In fact, you can find it being used in almost every industry including banking, shopping, and customer service. It comes in various forms including e-support, click-to-callback, self check-outs, and virtual agents, like we have at Contact One in Tucson.

Why is it becoming popular?

There are several reasons why self-service solutions are on the rise today. These include:

• Consumers’ preference on uninterrupted interaction
  Self-service solutions are empowering customers. It enables them to purchase, request, or trade without direct interaction with a representative of the company they’re dealing with.

• Unique customer experience
  Businesses who are successful in retaining customers are those who are able to provide them with pleasant and unique experience. Self-service technology enables them to do that. It enables customers in a way that they’re able to learn and utilize available data.

• Helps build the customers’ trust
  Self-service solutions provide customers with better experience, which in turn, create better reputation for the organization. This creates opportunities for gaining loyal customers.

Make a Good First Impression – Even Over the Phone

Even though a lot of business transactions happen online these days, there’s still a good number of transactions that occur through the phone. This is why it’s important for any business to know proper phone etiquette, and how to make a good impression on the phone.

To help you out, we list the top 5 ways to make a good impression on the phone:

1. Smile
   This may sound silly as the person on the other line can’t see you, but smiling while talking on the phone can make a difference in the tone of your voice and delivery of speech.

2. Follow the two-ring rule
   Every company can come up with their own rule as to how many rings they allow before answering the phone. However, the two-ring rule is ideal. This way, you’re not causing the person on the other end to wait for too long.

3. Be willing to find solutions
   One thing that usually throws off callers is the unwillingness of the person on the other end of the line to find creative solutions to their problems. To make a good first impression with your customer, you have to be willing to go above and beyond to find a solution for their problem.

4. Focus on the conversation
   When you’re in a phone conversation, it’s easy to get distracted and do something else. However, doing this will take away your focus from your client. The client may not see you, but they will eventually notice that you’re distracted and not paying attention.

5. Add a personal touch
   It’s not just how the phone is answered that matters; who answers it matters too. So, if your business wants to leave a good impression on your client over the phone, voicemail is not the way to go.

This is the reason why live answering services are becoming valuable. Having a live person on the other end adds a personal touch to every conversation. By investing in an answering service, you are making your client feel important. It contributes to overall customer satisfaction and creates a positive brand perception.

How a Call Center Can Help Create Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty can be a result of affordable pricing, outstanding experience, convenience, general satisfaction, and connection to a company. However, studies found out that only two out of these five common reasons can lead to true and long-term loyalty from a customer. These are outstanding experience and having a connection to a company.

Even with the convenience of emails and chat support, many customers still prefer a phone conversation with the company’s rep. Aside from the ease of voicing out their concerns or queries, phone conversations, when handled well, can make a customer feel that he/she is valued. Phone conversations also provide that ‘personal touch’ especially if the calls are answered promptly by a real person.

Hiring the Services of a Call Center

Handling customer calls can be a challenge especially if you have limited resources. You are more likely to hand it to someone who is not trained to do the job. This can lead to an overworked staff and dissatisfied customers.

So, what can you do to maintain customer satisfaction without compromising the productivity of your employees? Get the services of a call center.

Benefits of Contracting Call Answering Services

If you get an answering service, you can reap the following benefits, which can eventually lead to customer loyalty:

• Prompt and professional service
  When you hand the job of answering the calls to an overworked staff, your customers are more likely to receive less than stellar customer service. It would be different if you hire the services of a call center. Reputable companies like Contact One have agents who are trained specifically to do the job. Getting their services will give you a peace of mind, knowing that your customers’ calls are handled professionally.
• Provides help and advice
  Call center agents can do more than just answering calls. They can also provide help and advice to your customers. And since these people are trained specifically to do the job, they can address your customers’ concerns promptly.
• Services are available 24/7
  Even if the solution offered is not ideal, customers who receive a prompt response from a company especially in a phone conversation yields to better customer satisfaction. Nothing’s more impressive than a company who does this 24/7.

If you’re working on building customer loyalty, contracting answering services from a reputable call center company is a good start.

Customer Expectations for Phone Interactions

Customer interactions are vital in every business. Whether in-person, through email, or over the phone, the way you or your employees handle that interaction can make or break your business.

When it comes to phone interaction, customers have a certain set of expectations. A thorough understanding of what those expectations are, can help you come up with strategies for improving your customer support.
Below are some of the most common expectations customers have when it comes to phone interaction:

• Personalized interactions
This simply translates to addressing the customer by his/her preferred name and knowing their product or service history with the company. Many customers agree that not having to repeat themselves (including information about themselves) is one factor that affects their experience.

• Being proactive
Providing help even before it’s needed is something customers desire in every customer service-related phone conversation. Customers tend to have a more positive view of a business with proactive employees.

• A quick solution
Whether it’s a product inquiry or a complaint, answering the call and addressing customer needs promptly is always impressive. Most customers are not willing to wait for more than five minutes on hold. If you can’t provide them what they need when they need it, they are more likely to look elsewhere for services.

• Empathic listening
An empathic listener can provide customers with a pleasant customer service experience. Empathic listening is not just hearing what your customer is saying, but also getting into their frame of reference and understanding how they feel.

These things can be learned through training and practice. However, if you don’t have the resources to hire and train a new employee, we can help. Contact One call center in Tucson, Arizona is a company that offers call answering services. Our agents are trained to take your calls promptly and professionally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Call us to find out more how we can help boost your customer’s overall satisfaction.

Tips for Good Phone Manners

For many industries, phones play an important part in their operations. They are used for contacting customers, vendors, or business associates. It also provides opportunities for clients or customers to contact the organization within its hours of operation. Because of this, it is necessary for any business, regardless of industry or size, to practice good phone manners.

The way a customer perceives a phone interaction with a company impacts the organization overall. Create a more positive business image by learning how to handle a phone conversation well. Below are some telephone etiquette tips that can help keep you on track:

• Answer and end the call with a positive greeting
  When answering the phone, make sure to begin with a positive greeting such as “Good morning,” or something like, “Thank you for calling Julie’s Beauty Salon, how may I help you?” It also helps to use your name.
  When finishing the call, wrap up with a summary of why the customer called and how the problem was solved. Verify that they have no further questions, and thank them for their time before politely saying goodbye. The customer should leave the call feeling satisfied that their questions were answered with care.
• Speak clearly
  When on the phone, speak in a clearly in a voice that is neither too soft nor too loud. Words should be properly enunciated and should be clear enough for the caller to understand what is being said.
• Do not interrupt the caller while they are talking
  It is rude to interrupt someone while they’re talking, whether in person or on the phone. Even if you feel you already have the answer to their question, let the caller finish before you interject.
• Ask permission when putting a customer on hold
  If the caller needs to be put on hold, ask for their permission and offer an option to leave a message. When returning to the call and taking the caller off of hold, thank them for their patience.
• Explain the need for call transfer if it is necessary
  If you say something with no explanation such as, “Let me transfer your call,” this may make a customer feel like you are putting them off onto someone else. If there is a need to transfer a call, politely inform the person on the other end of the call and explain why you’re doing so.

It takes time and proper resources to train employees to follow professional phone etiquette. Phone answering services can help you save time and money without compromising the quality of your calls.

We take calls in Contact One is an answering service company based in Tucson, Arizona. We are at your service 24/7. Call 1(800) 278-3347 to find out how we can help grow your business today.