5 Ways to Provide Professional Customer Service Over the Phone

Providing quality customer service, even over the phone, is paramount in keeping your customer’s happy and your business profitable. How do you want your brand to be perceived by those who call? Friendly? Smart? Trustworthy? When we speak, our listeners get an impression of how we feel from our tone of voice. It is not enough to just say the right words; we also need to be cautious about the tone we use so that we convey our message effectively and professionally. If your customer service reps let their underlying frustration with a rude customer interfere with the conversation, it is sure to make the situation worse and you may even lose a customer. Follow these helpful tips to keep the professionalism in your company’s phone conversations:

Speak Softly. Over the phone, your customer service staff can easily sound angry and annoyed, even if they are sticking to the script. Generally speaking, using a quieter voice will signal a less aggressive tone. Speaking loudly may come across as yelling or confrontational, even if they don’t mean it that way. A friendly voice isn’t a loud or shouting one. A quieter voice will also show more respect to the person on the other end of the phone by ensuring they don’t speak over the customers while they’re explaining the problem.

Advise Them to Smile When They Speak. When we are happy, we smile when we speak, and people can hear it! Instruct them to use their smile as much as they can to help their speech sound more pleasing to others. It may feel silly, but others can tell when you’re smiling even if they aren’t looking at you.

Set Language Standards. Friendliness can be projected through the actual words used as well, so the emphasis should be on using courteous, thoughtful, and caring language when engaging with customers. People are less likely to find someone who curses as a friendly person, and feel as if they are being aggressive. While keeping it casual may be appropriate depending on the situation, it is never appropriate to use foul language with your customers.

Give Them Time to Practice. If one of the reasons why your customer service reps don’t sound friendly is because of nerves, have them spend some time memorizing telephone conversation openers so that the call can get started without them feeling nervous. Focus on getting the other person to do a lot of the talking with open-ended questions and a genuine interest in the customer. This will give your staff time to warm up and find their “friendly voice”.

Make Sure Someone is There. There is nothing worse than needing help and being sent to a company’s voicemail, or worse- listening to the phone just ring endlessly.  Many callers today do not leave voicemails and they may never call back, leaving their issue unresolved.  An unhappy customer who can’t get their problem acknowledged and solved may turn into an evangelist against your business. Professional companies should always have a live person staffing the phone, able to take calls at any time. Luckily, there are telephone answering services available that will make sure this problem never happens for your company.

We all recognize that communication skills are critical to how effective we are in our dealings with customers, especially those who may be unhappy. This includes the tone used to convey the message, the words chosen, and the availability of your staff. Take the time to encourage your employees to speak with a smile, listen and be respectful to all callers – and you will see your customer service efforts really improve.

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Related Links:
Tips for Dealing with Angry Customers on Customer Service Calls
How to Choose a Professional Answering Service for Your Business