The way agents deal with customers on the phone is decisive if we want to win in sales. An adequate telephone protocol improves customer service and service excellence, which will be a differentiating factor from the competition and therefore a source of numerous benefits for the company. It is the way to ensure that a customer can contact any department of the company, in any city, at any time, and furthermore, that they will be assisted in the best possible way. In this article we will give you the best customer service tips to optimize your activity.
Customers want to feel that the company cares about their well-being, and they expect to receive the same level of service quality that they have received, in their future dealings with the company. No matter the size or sector of the company, it must always strive to keep its customers happy. After all, our success depends on them.
To make it easier for you, today, on the Fonvirtual blog, we want to give you a few tips so that your call center agents know how to behave when serving customers by phone and thus achieve the excellence of your call center.
Best customer service tips to achieve excellence in your call center
How do you answer the phone?
How a company answers the phone says a lot about the kind of service you can expect to receive. How you answer the phone will basically set the tone for the entire call.
What do we mean? Well, that it is very important to choose the right words, the right time to say them, and their order to make a positive first impression and to convey an immediate message about the company. The basic rules are the following ones:
- First of all, custom professional main greetings, as this will be the first natural voice the caller hears.
- Answer the call before it rings 3 times.
- Greet the caller politely.
- Give your name, the name of the company and ask the caller for his or her name to call him by his name during the conversation.
- Ask the client how you can help him/her.
- Do not use a greeting that is too long or exaggerated, as it can be annoying for the customer. No one likes to be greeted with superfluous information, such as, “Hello. It’s a beautiful day here at James Smith Audit. How can I help you?”
How do you call the client during the call?
A key factor in customer satisfaction will be calling the customer the way he likes to be called.
Once again, listen to your customers, they will tell you how they prefer to be called. “I’m Dr. Johansson,” call him Doctor. “This is Mrs. Brown”, call her Mrs. “I’m Martha Williams”, call her Martha or Mrs. Williams, I’m “Anna”, call her only by her name.
Remember that if customers do not like how you have called them and they let you know, you must apologize and start calling them in the way they prefer.
How do you put the client on hold?
Whenever you need to put a client on hold, it is important that you follow a proper protocol that will help you avoid some pretty uncomfortable moments. The correct way to do this would be as follows:
- Inform the client that you are going to put him on hold
- Tell the caller why he is going to be put on hold.
- Gives the caller an approximation of the time he will be on hold.
- If the call on hold is going to be longer than expected, retrieve the call from time to time to inform him that you are still there.
- Thank the caller for waiting once you return to the conversation.
Sometimes being placed on hold is an inconvenient for the caller, so never automatically assume that the person will accept.
What does the customer hear while on hold?
Most customers prefer silence or a soft melody while on hold. No prerecorded advertising or heavy metal music. Any music that is loud or aggressive should not be an option for you.
How do you transfer calls?
Customers get a bad feeling when their call is transferred from one department to another, as the common tendency is to think that the staff is too busy to worry about him. That is why we advise you to do the following:
- Explain to the person why his call is being transferred and to whom.
- Ask the client if he or she has any inconvenience in having their call transferred.
- Make sure someone answers the call before you hang up.
- Tell the person to whom the call is being transferred the name of the caller and the nature of the call.
How do you end the call?
Never underestimate the importance of ending the call with a positive note. The key actions to optimally end calls are:
- Repeat what the solution to his problem will be or the next step to be taken to make sure you both agree on what is to be done.
- Ask the caller if there is anything else you can do for him or her. This gives the client one last chance to tie up any doubt that has not been treated during the call.
- Thank the customer for contacting you and let them know that it is important for the company to know which problems arise so that they can be solved as soon as possible (if any).
- Remind the caller that they can contact the company again whenever they need to and that you will always be happy to help them.
- Let the caller hang up first so you do not cut them off by mistake in the middle of a sentence.
- Write down any important information as soon as you hang up the phone.
Does your call center software not allow you to do direct transfers, put on hold or set up different voice mails? Contact us to get an efficient call center system that will make your employees’ work easier.
