20 tips for handling customer calls

Chapter Twelve (Part I): Phone Sales

20 tips for handling customer calls

Whatever your company, it most likely lives or dies by the phone.

Retailers depend on shoppers who call to check store hours. Manufacturers discuss production details with clients via the phone. E-commerce sites rely on Mr. Bell's invention to solicit and receive orders.

It's easy to take this everyday communication system for granted, but you shouldn't. As a primary contact method with the public, it's important that your and your employees treat phone customers well. Otherwise, they may not be your customers for long.

Whether a client is ringing you or you're doing the dialing, these 20 tips will help ensure your company's phone calls connect:

1. Answer the phone promptly.
"Promptly means within no more than three rings," says Bette Price, president of The Price Group, an Addison, Texas, management-consulting firm. "If you can't answer within three rings, make sure you have a back-up person or a voice message that is customer friendly."

2. Call customers by name -- the right name, that is.
"Using names seems like a no-brainer, until you're the customer being addressed by an overly-familiar stranger who butchers your name," says Kristin Anderson, author of Great Customer Service on the Telephone. "To do it right, start formally and make notes in the customer's file about correct pronunciation: Smithe rhymes with tithe."

3. Have customer information handy.
Getting the caller's name correct is a lot easier if you have a system that allows quick access to client data. "Use the caller's phone number or some other simple method to pull up information," says ArLyne Diamond, president of Diamond Associates, a management consulting firm in Santa Clara, Calif. "If the local pizza parlor can do this and tell me what I ordered last time and know where I live, why can't everyone else?"

4. Take notes.
It will help you focus on the person and will aid in resolving any problems. This also will let you update immediately the customer's file so it will be current for the next call.

5. Create a company cheat sheet.
Quick access to information about your business is as important as customer data, particularly as the company grows and adds employees. A cheat sheet that answers common phone questions can be a lifesaver. Your company also may wish to include a sheet that describes the responsibilities of various employees so receptionists will know who to transfer calls to. "Have that information posted for easy reference," says Wendy Weiss, the self-termed "Queen of Cold Calling" and author of Cold Calling for Women.

6. Teach your employees phone etiquette.
Maybe everyone you hire knows precisely what to say, but maybe not. The best way to guarantee good phone service from employees is to explain your expectations and how to meet them. Such training can include how to answer the phone, when to answer it (in how many rings) and what to say.

7. Focus on the caller.
Rude is rude, whether it's in person or over the phone. Do not chew gum, eat, drink or have conversations with other people in the room when you are answering telephone calls.

8. Smile.
This isn't just for videophones. Smiling can help whomever answers the phone sound gracious. "It is a medical fact that when you smile you cannot sound grumpy," Price says.

9. Put yourself in the customer's shoes.
The Golden Rule definitely applies to good phone service: Treat the customer as you yourself would like to be treated. "If you're not sure, ask yourself, 'How would I feel or react if someone said or did this to me?' Act accordingly," says Weiss of Weiss Communications in New York.

10. Listen.
This simple advice is too often ignored. Is the customer saying nothing's wrong, but in a tone of voice that indicates otherwise? What does the customer really need and how can you help?

11. Stay on the line when transferring a caller.
This lets you explain the situation to the co-worker you're sending the call to. In addition to preparing the employee, it speeds communication and resolution because the customer doesn't have to repeat the problem or request. Plus, you can retrieve the call if the person you're transferring the customer to isn't in. "There's nothing a customer hates more than having to tell their story over and over again," Price says. "Liaison the call, and you'll be a winner."

12. Don't ask someone to call back.
If a customer calls and the person he asks for is out, don't ask the customer to call back. It's lazy and rude. Take a message instead or ask the customer if he would like to leave a voice-mail message, says Robert W. Bly, author of Secrets of Successful Telephone Selling: How to Generate More Leads, Sales, Repeat Business, and Referrals by Phone.

13. Avoid the hold button.
People dislike being put on hold. Sometimes it is unavoidable, but always think twice before you hit that button. Ask permission before you proceed, and make sure the caller isn't kept on hold for too long. Many customers prefer to leave a message than be on hold for 15 minutes.

14. Stay off the speaker phone.
"It sounds like you're talking in a cave," says author Anderson, who also is president of Say What? Consulting in Minneapolis, Minn. "If you need to keep your hands free to type or page through a file, invest in a good quality headset."

15. Keep voice-mail messages and phone menus short.
When calls to your company get routed to a messaging system, make sure your customers don't get trapped in voice-mail hell. "Always, and I repeat always, allow us to talk to a live operator," says management consultant Diamond.

16. Answer your own phone.
You may be the boss, but it's disconcerting for customers to call and have to go through a gatekeeper, Bly says. Whenever possible, take the call yourself.

17. Have a business-only line if you work out of the home.
This is a professional necessity for home-based workers. And be sure to have an appropriate business message on the answering service for that line. "It's annoying to call and have a child answer," Bly says. "I love children, but you wonder if you can leave a reliable message."

18. Hire people who are good at working the phone.
If someone doesn't speak clearly and isn't comfortable with telephone conversations, then maybe that person shouldn't be hired for an outbound phone sales position.

19. Get to the point.
Most customers don't have the time for idle chitchat. When you're calling a client, have notes on hand of what you want to discuss, recommends Stephan Schiffman, president of DEI Sales Training in New York. "Very often people are nervous on outbound calls and they beat around the bush," he says. "Instead be succinct. Try to save customers' time."

20. Prepare before initiating a customer call.
Remember that system that lets you tap into customer info as soon as you pick up the phone? Use it when you're the one placing the business call. Before you dial, have the client's vital information at your fingertips. You'll be able to check on previous orders and answer questions that might arise.

Not sure how your employees rate on phone etiquette or whether the office voice-mail system is a boon or a bane? Find out by letting your fingers do the walking.

"Call your office and ask for you," says Schiffman. "Then try asking for someone that doesn't work there." This will demonstrate how your staff handles the call.

Schiffman says a business can't afford to have employees with bad phone manners. "It sounds like a cliché, but nobody has the luxury to ignore customers on the phone," he says. "A nurse who is rude in a doctor's office eventually carries back to the doctor.

"If you are in business, how your employees deal with clients on the phone reflects on you. Companies that don't pay attention to that will eventually fail."

Jenny C. McCune is a contributing editor based in Montana.

n Posted: Aug. 28, 2002

Discussion Questions:

Use the article (top of page-above) to answer the following discussion questions. Type the question and the answer on a word document to be e-mailed to the instructor.

1.      What is a customer “cheat sheet”?

2.      Why should you smile when you’re on the phone?

3.      What does the “Golden Rule” have to do with phone etiquette?

4.      What’s wrong with the speaker phone?