4 Important Qualities a Phone Operator Needs

 

For a large number of businesses, incoming and outgoing phone calls are very important. They enable you to stay in touch with clients and customers and essentially run your business. While some lines of work are more reliant on phone conversations than others, a large percentage of commercial businesses conduct their business on the phone. Now-a –days, there are some types of companies for whom call tracking is a MUST.

When dealing with clients or customers on the phone, there’s a few qualities that you or your reception staff need to have in order to get the best long term result. If you aren’t hiring a call service provider, the next best thing is to be prepared! Let’s take a look at 4 of the most important customer service skills needed.

Calm Under Pressure

Remaining as professional as possible is important. Every so often a customer will lose their temper, or fail to understand something. Sometimes it will be the fault of the company, other times it may be a simple misunderstanding. Regardless, these situations require that you remain professional and reasonable, without upsetting the client further. It can be quite difficult to bite your tongue when you have someone on the line barking at you, but it’s important to maintain your composure even when they are out of line.

Patience

 

Again, this depends on the line of work, but chances are that if you’re manning the phones, you’re going to come across many of the same issues again and again. You’re also going to deal with customers that are perhaps not as knowledgeable as you’d expect and take a little time to explain things too or have trouble understanding what you’re telling them.

Verbal Communication

This ultimately goes without saying, but it’s something that - in a lot of cases - people either have or don’t have. A professional receptionist or phone operator needs to be able to effectively communicate ideas and information in a clear, concise tone that can be understood by people that may not know a lot about the topic. To achieve this your phone operator need to the basic verbal communication skills. It’s also important to get to the point quickly, without wasting the customers time.

Persuasion Skills

This is important not only for potential up-selling opportunities, but the ability to get the customer on your side and share some sense of mutual understanding. At its core, persuasion is all about creating a connection, where the other person recognises that you understand their position and have their best interests at heart. If you are able to communicate this effectively and the customer picks up on this, you are sure to find a solution for them.


If you’re too busy to handle your incoming and outgoing phone call requirements, you can also consider another option. Answering service providers like Call Service takes a very professional and good care of your business calls and speak to your customers on your behalf. Being experts in communicating on the phone and finding solutions, they are able to pass information along, take message or book meetings and appointments. For more information, contact Call Service in Melbourne today.