Telephone Skills Relating to Customer Service

By Kristina Evey • August 27th, 2010

Can customer satisfaction and retention really be impacted by the telephone skills we display?

Using the phone for business is a necessity across all industries. Anyone who is in business has some percentage of their business coming through the phone, whether it is the initial phone contact to inquire about your products and services, or the entire sales process is conducted on the phone.

There has been a recent trend in call center outsourcing. As businesses are growing and finding the need to expand, it can be a daunting task to ask staff that is currently managing multiple tasks to take an increasing amount of phone traffic. When outsourcing, there are few things to consider in order to ensure that customer service and satisfaction are not compromised.

The phone contact point is often the most telling factor of the experience the customer will feel during the business transaction. This is the position into which much care and consideration needs to be placed on hiring and training. Should you choose to outsource this responsibility, it is important to be sure that you are able to manage and monitor what is being said to your customers and exactly how the information is being relayed.

Be sure that whoever you have handling the phone calls into your business possesses the right mindset for that. They need to be engaging, enthusiastic, and happy to educate customers about your products and services. If they are merely “manning” the phones and processing the calls, you will likely see customer satisfaction rates drop dramatically. People call businesses looking for help and information. Be sure to deliver the best service by hiring for politeness, friendliness, and enthusiasm for your brand.