Telephone Courtesy & Customer Service Skills

Overview:

Do you feel your team need to improve their Telephone Courtesy & Customer Service Skills?

Great telephone courtesy skills are essential for customer service staff.  When you are properly trained and can demonstrate professional courtesy in your customer service role, this can greatly improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The Telephone Courtesy & Customer Service Skills training course teaches you:

• to use consistent customer service skills, and to have a common process and language when assisting customers
• learn professional telephone skills, including phone answering, addressing the caller, practicing effective listening, managing messages and closing the conversation
• allows your business to brand their interaction of excellent service to their customers, which adds value to the business
• understand how to ask questions, negotiate with customers, make follow up calls, deliver bad news, avoid statements that give the wrong impression and manage various customer behaviour styles
• create a personal action plan to develop a more positive attitude, because your attitude is the key to your success

Help Your Business and Your Team with Telephone Etiquette Training

These days, consumers place so much emphasis on online communication that telephone etiquette training may not be at the forefront of your mind. However, when it comes to your business, being able to converse effectively with your voice is vital. At Corporate Training Options, we offer telephone courtesy and customer service skills training, to ensure that your team can deliver the best possible service with every customer interaction.

Tips Regarding Telephone Etiquette and Customer Service Skills

An efficient telephone conversation is truly an art form. There is no delay and no time to stop and think before you hit “enter” to send your message. Whether your company is a restaurant, a retail store, or a large corporation, how you handle the phone calls you receive is extremely important. A few of the things your team should be doing include:

• Answering calls as quickly as possible. Many of the people who call will give up if the phone rings more than a handful of times. Even the patient ones willing to wait two or three times as long won’t be in a good mood when you finally do answer. Your customers’ time is extremely valuable to them (just like yours is to you) and being forced to wait too long when they call sends the message that you don’t care – or that you are rude or unorganised.

• “Winging it” is not the best way to answer a business phone call. There’s nothing wrong with practising – or at least having a plan for what you’re going to say when you receive a call. Begin with a standardised greeting that is short, polite, and informative. Make sure the customer knows to whom they are speaking. Don’t forget to rehearse your tone as well; you should come across as friendly and helpful.

• Making time for a proper ending. Your calls should end appropriately, whether you have helped resolve the customer’s issue or not. Again, it’s all about being as warm and polite as possible. Never make the caller feel as if you’re in a hurry to get off the phone. Always ask if there is anything else they need. If not, then be sure to thank them for calling and wish them a pleasant day. One more tip: always make sure that the customer hangs up the phone before you.

The Benefits of Telephone Etiquette Skills Training

Even though phones are more ubiquitous than ever, they are used for actual phone conversations less and less. However, in a business setting, actually talking on the phone becomes more important than ever. Here are a few ways it can benefit your organisation when your team have excellent phone etiquette.

• Phone communication is already impaired. When you talk to someone on the phone, they cannot see your body language or facial expressions. It’s essential to make up for the lag in communication with excellent phone skills.

• To make a great first impression. For many people, their first phone call to your company is the first interaction they will have with your brand. An unsatisfactory phone call can drive away a customer surprisingly quickly.

• Telephone etiquette is less common these days. Younger generations talk on the phone less and less. A proper training course can teach your team the telephone communication skills they need to help grow your business.

How Corporate Training Options can improve your Telephone Etiquette Skills

Corporate Training Options has been in operation since 1992, offering telephone etiquette and customer service skills training for teams who wish to hone their Customer Service skills.

We have hundreds of facilitators working in every state, who present programs ranging from one-on-one manager training to instructing entire workforces of thousands of staff.  Our clients comprise all industries, from universities to government bodies to healthcare and more.

Be sure to contact us today with any questions or to find out how to get started with your telephone etiquette course.