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In the world of business, you never get a second chance to make your first impression. So it can’t be stressed enough the importance of business phone call etiquette, especially to greet customers over the phone for the first time. So, you need to know all the ways to establish a good first impression of your business and work ethic over the phone, as the customer is communicating via a medium that relies solely on voice.
This article will cover some of the key ingredients to a successful business phone call with clients or prospects with warm, welcoming and empathetic greeting techniques that can potentially lead to a successful business lead and conversion.
Let’s get started.
Be receptive in your tone
Showing good business calling etiquette is very important to make an excellent first impression of a business. If possible, answer calls quickly and enthusiastically with no less than three rings. Also, having a soft, friendly and receptive voice is excellent for maintaining a positive attitude during conversations and throughout the day. Yes, your customers can actually hear you smile because a smile makes your voice sound friendly, warm and receptive.
Address the caller by name
Once you politely ask and get the customer’s name, note it down and use it throughout the conversation. Addressing the customers by their names helps you remember your customers’ names and personalise the talk. It makes your words more personal and is interpreted as compassion and empathy. Similarly, customers will react more strongly to your response and cooperate with you even more.
Identify the purpose of the call
Before initiating a conversation with customers, be sure to confirm the caller’s identity and the purpose of the call. A professional call answering service backed by trained staff can quickly determine the caller’s state of mind through their tone. So be intuitive and try to understand if the customer is in a hurry, tensed, frustrated or angry quickly without asking too many questions and figure out the plausible reason behind the call before customers get to the discussion. This will help strengthen your relationship with the person calling you and reassure you that you are talking to the person who can best help you.
Don’t make assumptions
Even in the process of understanding your customer over the phone, don’t jump to conclusions so quickly. This point may be counterintuitive to the previous tip we discussed, but it is essential for you to listen to the caller first, even at the beginning part of the conversation. Make sure you fully understand the purpose of the call before proceeding with the solution. Don’t try to anticipate the caller’s request. Otherwise, you run the risk of providing misinformation and disappointing yourself in the process. Your interlocutor will not be heard, and his satisfaction will decrease as a result.
Have a clear enunciation
Always speak clearly during the call. Use precise words and phrases. The ability to understand what someone is saying on the phone separates productive and exciting conversations. The last thing you want to do is confuse the customers on the line or make them feel inferior. Also, try avoiding slang and filler words. For example, using “like”, “hey”, “yes”, “uh”, “um”, etc., reduces the quality of the interaction and makes it more challenging to achieve constructive problem-solving. So, instead, practice taking a break and come up with solid responses that sound confident and reassuring.
Keep a positive connotation
When processing customer calls, you should use words and phrases that have a positive meaning. Use compassionate words and phrases to keep your customer service conversations comfortable. Avoid phrases such as “I don’t think so”, “Why don’t you check again”, “There is nothing I can do”, and “Violation of policies and rules”. Instead, use words such as “please”, “we would appreciate your feedback”, and “we will respond as soon as possible”.
Calmly deal with rude approach
One of the most challenging customer service situations is dealing with angry customers over the phone. Some customers repeatedly ask about the same thing or about customers who are rude and abused over the phone when they receive terrible service. So, if customers are frustrated with your business- just a warm welcome won’t help. So if you sense hostility in a customer’s approach, keep your calm and have sympathetic and encouraging words like “you are absolutely right to be upset”, “we are extremely sorry that it happened”, etc., to make them feel understood, instead of interrupting or denying the complaints right on their faces.
Value customers time
Conflicts escalate when customers feel that you are wasting their time. Mutual respect involves assessing the client’s time. So please don’t make them wait on the phone, or worse, redirect them from one department to another and try to send them out. In addition to reassuring a customer by staying calm, you need to evaluate whether that customer is a good customer for your company.
Final words
Many large organizations and small businesses rely on virtual customer service. And with a dedicated call answering service in Australia, local companies can have a 360-degree customer care solution, providing accurate and timely service to the callers. Backed by highly trained business call receptionists 24/7, the phone answering service is a cost-effective solution for redundant calls, out-of-hours emergencies, and regular, real-time administrator duties.
By Emma Sneddon
who is a freelance writer and independent blogger. She mostly writes about sustainable and alternative living solutions. Emma likes to write in the most effective ways to drive new sales and revenue for local businesses.
Member since November, 2023
View all the articles of Emma Sneddon.
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