How to have a great telephone conversation with your customers
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Good telephone skills are critical for all service businesses. Although we know that a lot of business these days is done over email, especially in the trades business many transactions take place over the phone. So whether you're receiving an inbound call asking for service, calling a Service Central customer after accepting their job, or talking to an existing customer about your ongoing project, be sure to pay attention to this advice.
Fundamentals of good telephone service
First and foremost, you need to meet certain service expectations of your customers eg answering the phone quickly. To get this right, read our advice on making a service promise and then stick to it.
Once you've gotten the fundamentals right, you're free to have a great telephone conversation with your customer.
Identify yourself professionally
Whether you're receiving a call or making a call, a customer should never be in doubt about who they are speaking to. Never should they ask "Sorry, what company are you calling from?". Here at Service Central we speak to lots of customers who have some confusion about which company called them, and that's an immediate sign of failing to identify yourself professionally. We even get complaints from customers about companies that weren't the cause of the complaint!
When identifying yourself, mention your name and your company name - preferably at the beginning of the call and once more if you can work it in. If appropriate, also put yourself in the picture that the customer may have of the company already for example "You received a quote from my colleague John about your hot water system yesterday, and I'm the person who will be doing the job. Do you have any questions for me?". This ensures there is no confusion on the customer's side and they also get a great impression of your company's internal communication.
Customers, especially the ones that are uncertain about details and afraid to ask questions, will feel more comfortable talking to you if they're not obsessing about embarrassing themselves by calling you the wrong name or confusing your company with another!
Be well understood
This one's a no brainer but sometimes we get so caught up in the necessary speed of life (or in fact the customer's speed of life) so we rush through a call. Slow the pace down, enunciate your words, moderate your voice volume (especially if you're on a noisy site and tempted to shout to be heard above the hammering/drilling).
Keep the tone professional but friendly
The tone of your conversation is set by two things - your attitude and your language.
Your attitude should be easy enough to keep positive, but even on 'down' days or when you're really busy keep your attitude focussed (but unhurried), enthusiastic and attentive. Be attentive and conversation but try not to ask questions if you're not interested in the answer - it's hard to fake interest in stories about pets and random people you don't know!
Your language use can be trickier. The advice in our article about great business emails remains true for telephone calls but a telephone call is often harder to get right because you've only got one shot! Use simple words and no jargon or industry lingo, don't be too casual and of course remember to make any points or ask questions that you need to. If you naturally use 'fillers' when you speak, such as "um", or phrases such as "like" or "you know", train yourself carefully not to use these when you speak on the phone. Customers usually don't notice this but your overall impression will be more positive if you avoid the fillers.
Be practical if you get stuck
When you're dealing with a particularly difficult topic and get yourself tied up - be practical. Instead of giving the customer vague information, proactively tell them "I don't know the answer to that - let me find out and ring you right back". Or if you know you can get the information quickly, give them the option to hold on while you find out "I need to get that information quickly, would you like to hold for 30 seconds or would you prefer that I call you back?".
Dealing with service complaints
Service complaints can be complex, so listen attentively, take notes and be proactive with your solutions. If you don't have a solution immediately give the customer an idea of how long it will be before you'll ring back with a solution (and then of course, ring back before your times up!). This bit is worth a little more detail so see my additional detailed blog on dealing with service complaints.
Putting your customer on hold
All mobile and desk phones these days have a 'hold' function so don't just hold it away from your mouth to shout across the office or the site - use the technology. Many a time has one of my past (not present) colleagues been caught out this way - the person who responds doesn't know your customer can hear them and says something daft like "Oh who cares?". Ask your customer whether you can put them on hold before you do - and give them an idea of how long they'll wait when you ask them. Go back to the customer in that time frame even if you don't have an answer and give them the option to keep holding or receive a call back.
Be yourself
Some of the advice above may seem like to give good customer service you need to have a personality transplant. But that's not true - these are just principles you should adopt that will allow you to be yourself freely and still have great conversations with your customers.
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