Improving Telephone Answering Skills for Your Support Staff

Speaking directly to customers and clients is a great way for your business to thrive in a busy marketplace. Being able to make a deal and gather new customers is always something that smaller businesses are looking for.In our previous post about answering service, we have discussed this issue in detail.However, improving telephone answering skills to your staff is an integral part of boosting your business.So let's have a look some of the important answering skills that your organisation's staff need to master:

First off, why not gather your staff around and talk to them about the importance of each and every call that comes into and goes out of your office. Talk to them about the importance of the middle, and crucially the end of the call as a way of allowing your staff to know where parts of the deal could be made or broken.

Take Notes Throughout a Single Call Journey

Take your support staff through a single call from beginning to end and write down all of the information that is given and taken during the call. This can be an easy way to figure out what faults were made during the call, what can be improved on and what was done well during the call - it is important to recognise the good things that your staff are doing right!

Guide your support staff how to use vocal pitch and pace while dealing with a customer call. If they speak too fast, information might get lost or misunderstand during the call, making your job more difficult at the end of the call. Use a friendly tone and be sure that you are not condescending to your clients and customers, this is especially important if you deal with debt or hardship issues in your business.

Pinpoint Improvements to Work on

Make an effort to pinpoint the improvements that are necessary across your support staff, and make sure to highlight the improvements that they may have already made. Take notes during the calls about possible annoyances that the callers may face, such as long pauses, umming and erring as well as not having enough readily available information for your customers at hand - callers hate waiting on the end of a silent phone.

Ensure that your Staff knows their Own Business

Prepare your support staff for every question asked regarding your business. This is considered as one of the most important aspects of training your support staff to make better calls for the success of your business deals and customer interactions are to ensure that your staffs know what they are talking about.

Even if your company sells state of the art rocket ships, it is always a good thing to know that when a customer asks a question, that they are not met with silence, no comment or are forwarded to someone who might know the answer to that question.

Train your staff in the business they work in and use all of the available resources in making your support staff fully aware of the products and services you offer. Even if they never get asked those tough questions, it is always favourable to train your staff for each eventuality that may arise. You may be thanked for it in return business in the future.