Marcia Barhydt

TELEPHONE TECHNIQUE AND VOICEMAIL JAIL

Go to jail, go directly to jail, ……….well, you know the rest.

And I know we've all been held prisoner by voicemail systems that send us round and round in circles and never give us resolution. We've all listened to music we hate while being assured that 'your business is important to us….' And we've all dealt with surly help desk people who have forgotten the true meaning of the word 'help'.

So, here's how we can fix many of these customer service gaffs.

Technique – Don't eat or drink while you're talking and don't have side conversations. If you answer your phone within 2 rings - that tells your caller that he's important to you and your company. And always ask before you put a person on hold – it's a simple courtesy.

Voice Inflection – When we're on the phone, we're missing a valuable part of all communications – the face-to-face impact. And so our voices have much extra work to do. We need to vary our tone, pitch and inflection. We need to vary our volume and articulate distinctly and we need to have ample force in our voices. Without these voice qualities, our message will be lost.

You can hear the smile in a person's voice – words are pronounced differently by a smiling person and that vocal smile sends a wonderful message to your caller. Having trouble smiling when you're answering the phone? Put a mirror where you can actually watch your own smile as you speak.

Answering the phone – Use a proper business answer including your greeting, your name, your company name and an offer to help your caller. Put some enthusiasm in your voice. Make your customer glad she called you.

Call Waiting – I can't tell you strongly enough how terribly offensive this habit is. If you answer call waiting, you're essentially saying to your customer 'Wait! There might be someone better on the other line that I'd rather talk to than you!' Never, never, answer call waiting. Have other callers go directly to your call answer and then check for their messages AFTER you've finished speaking with your customer.

Winning Words – It's a great idea to keep all your telephone words as positive as possible. So, instead of saying 'I'm sorry I missed your call; I'm either busy or away from my desk', consider saying 'Please leave me a message and I'll return your call by the end of the day'. You're still leaving the same message with your caller, but there's no negativity now in your voicemail.

I'm always amazed when someone calls me 'honey, buddy, pal' – even though I'm aware of their own personal style, a business phone call is simply not the place to use your relaxed phrases.

And instead of telling your caller 'Here's what you need to do', tell him 'Here's how I can help you'.

Voice Messaging – Answer calls personally whenever you can because your personal touch will go a long way to make your customer feel welcome. Return all voice messages at least once a day, more often if possible. And please, please change your message for absences to keep your customer informed, rather than leaving her wondering.

Call yourself and listen to your message – do you like it? Would you like to be on the receiving end of that message? Does your company voicemail system have warmth? Is it easy to navigate? Put yourself in your customer's shoes.

Closing Conversations – Thank your customer for calling and let her know you appreciate her business. Assure her that you'll fulfill your commitment in the time frame you promised in order to leave her with a positive feeling. And one final small courtesy - let your customer hang up first.

If we treat telephone conversations with the importance of any other communication with our customer and if we remember the importance of all the above aspects of our phone calls with our customer, then we'll be ensuring that our customers know their importance to us and to our company.

And we'll never be in voicemail jail again!

Like all great customer service, it's that simple.

© Willowtree Customer Service 2006

Marcia Barhydt writes a bi-weekly column for The Brampton News,  www.thebramptonnews.com , about customer service, as well as being a freelance reporter covering people, topics and events of interest in Brampton. Marcia also writes and edits content of marketing materials for her own clients. Visit her at http://www.willowtree.ca/