Consider these “annoyances” and write them all down. Evaluate yourself in a training context; if you have phone handling issues, it is not recommended that you train others, but that, instead, you attend the training yourself and then test the improvements.
In many cases, if the phone rings more than three times, it is too long; for the caller, boredom starts to set in. On the other hand, people who pick up almost instantly may startle the caller. Try to find a middle ground such as picking up after the first ring, but before the second. Consider the greeting. Many people find a greeting such as “Hi, this is Jack speaking” subtly annoying, as they assume the person’s name is really “Jack Speaking”, or that such an automated, informal response is suggestive of someone who is not able to help them sort out a problem. A simple improvement is “Hi, this is Jack, how can I help you?”
A near-automated “Have a nice day” finale can turn people off with regards to having anything to do with your company, because if the words lack sincerity it implies the customer service contact likewise has no sincerity. Also, consider the overall length of the call. If your office usually has in-depth and complex queries that take a while on the phone to sort out, then adequate time should be given to the client. At the other end of the spectrum, rushing a call or limiting call time can make the other person feel like they aren’t important, whereas making the call much longer than necessary can also become an issue. Train for quality over quantity. Employee knowledge of their industry and product is important in the role your office plays as a consultant.
For individual cases, actually call the employee you want to talk to. Quite often you can find out very quickly what could be a cause for concern, as this person may have a wonderful social manner face to face, but be rather unpleasant on the phone.
Avoid the “training recordings” as a learning method. It’s quite an old fashioned method to record and replay phone calls for training sessions, while everyone listens to a coworker on a call. This can backfire as no one knows if their calls are being listened to “Big Brother” style and it may put them on edge, especially when a caller is being particularly confrontational, or the phone handler is having a bad day that may be unusual.
A good example is the frequently suggested technique of smiling when you pick up the phone, but it works the other way, too; it’s detectable to clients when the person at the other end is trying to sound happy and helpful, but isn’t really–it’s like grinning through your teeth, or hiding your misery, it still comes through. It’s best to relax the face and throat (something that is taught in drama classes) to be able to speak more naturally and pleasantly. A gentle smile is fine, especially when it is sincere and reaches not just your face, but also your eyes.
For example, many customers prefer to get straight down to business and value speed and efficiency; however, some clients prefer to essentially “chat” for a short time to build a brief personal connection,trust before moving on to the main purpose of the call. Another major consideration is in regard to time zone differences. In many parts of the world, phone workers call during their daytime, but it may not be daytime on the other side of the world where the client is. Many people, when interrupted during their sleep, or during mealtime or family time when outside of work, may find such intrusions intolerable. Avoid mimicking the person’s accent, or using slang that is local to your client’s area or culture on the other end of the phone. In some cases it can be acceptable and make the person receiving the call feel more at ease, but this is actually a very small and rare demographic. Many people find a false accent to be insincere and fraudulent, or copying an accent as a sign of disrespect.
For people who struggle, or who quickly revert back to their old ways, it may be the result of other conditions such as personal or office relationship issues, and/or hardware, system or procedural issues. Or, maybe they just aren’t a customer service person. These people should at best be given non-phone work, but also should be encouraged to seek improvement on their own, skills as it is not just the company who can benefit from increased skills.
