>>Looking
for affordable phone skills training.
My
customer service representatives desperately need some
phone skills training and we have a very small budget. Can
you recommend any resources?
Myra's
answer to: Looking
for affordable phone skills training.
For
starters, I'll share with you 9 tips from my own
customer service training that you can share with your
customer service reps. Additionally, explore the links
on the right hand column of this page for customer
service training links.
1.
Smile -You can actually hear a smile through the
telephone. When you smile, you sound friendly,
interested, and helpful. You also make the customer feel
that your sole intent is to be of service and people
really can tell the difference. So smile!
2.
Tell the caller your name - Giving the caller your
name demonstrates accountability and communicates a
sincere desire to help. It also gives customers a
reference should they need to call your company back.
3.
Ask questions - You should ask questions for these
reasons:
To
gain information To focus the conversation To gain
consensus when necessary To begin the call closure
process
4.
Paraphrase the caller's message - Paraphrasing is
simply restating in your own words, what the customer
has said. You will paraphrase to ensure you understand
the customer's request/problem. The customer will
clarify if you don't have all of the details.
5.
Repeat the caller's name - Repeating the caller's
name during a conversation helps you remember their
name. Remembering names (and using names) shows you are
genuinely interested in your customers and makes future
dialogue or problem solving much easier because using
names helps you create rapport.
6.
Always tell the caller what you're going to do -
We've all felt that helpless feeling when we've been put
on hold indefinitely or transferred to 3 departments and
still not be able to get through to the right person.
When we do this to callers, we are telling them they
have no choice and certainly no control over the
situation. These feelings produce frustration and a
negative impression of you and your company. One way to
avoid this is to tell callers what you are going to do
before you do it.
When
transferring callers to another person, give customers
the name of the person you are connecting them with. If
you need to place callers on hold, tell them so and ask
if that's acceptable. If you have to research the
problem or speak with your manager, tell the caller
exactly what you need to do.
7.
Return calls promptly - Doing this helps you (and
the company) quickly gain a reputation for being
responsive and professional.
8.
Give every caller your best - The caller on your
phone is your most important priority, more important
than calls in queue, more important than your to-do
list, next meeting or anticipated break. Focus on the
call and never make the customer feel that you are
hurried or not interested.
9.
Let the caller hang up first - It's polite to let
your caller hang up first and in most cases, your caller
will hang up within 2 - 4 seconds of the last spoken
word. If we rush to disconnect, we may cut off a
customer who had one more question or we can give the
impression that we are in a hurry (which is interpreted
as "we don't really care").
When
you do these very simple things, you will create a great
impression for the company and you'll find that handling
difficult callers and high call volumes will be MUCH
easier because your customers feel taken care of every
step of the way.
I
just want to take a moment to "thank you" for
your very valuable Tuesday Morning e-mail newsletter.
Our Customer Satisfaction Department finds it extremely
valuable and helpful in our mission to satisfy customers
every day. We also share the many great ideas and tips
for handling customer complaints with our franchise
owners. Thank you again... we hope we can continue to
look forward to Tuesday Morning for a long time to come.
Beth
Vickers
Director
Customer
Satisfaction Department
McDonald's
Corporation
