Taking Phone Calls At Work

[bishoujo 0]

A potential client's first contact with the company is usually through the phone, so it is important that you make it a pleasant experience for him.Important phone etiquettes to bear in mind:When answering the phone, identify your company, department and state your name immediately name e.g. This is [name] from the [department] of [company].When talking to customers, call them by name. By repeating the name, you are more likely to remember it the next time. It also sounds more personalized and friendly.Know how you sound like to others. You can find this out by recording your voice. Then critique your tone, manners, friendliness and vocal quality.Use the hold button if you must temporarily leave the phone. Otherwise the person on the line may end up hearing some not very nice sounding things that embarrass you and the company.Excuse yourself when leaving the line e.g. "Just a moment please, [name]," will do. If it will take a longer time, make sure you reassure the customer every 20 to 30 seconds that you have not forgotten him. If you must do this more than twice, it is probably better that you call him back when you are able to talk or you have found out what he needs.Listen to your caller. Allow your caller to talk and encourage her input. When pauses occur, don't interrupt until the caller is finished with her thought. Take brief notes to ensure that you do not forget the caller's message.Keep a notepad and pen by the phone so you can quickly write messages or notes.Screen calls for the caller's name by asking: "Who's calling please?" Try to remember the people who have called up that day. A person always feels good if he knows that he is remembered.Let the caller hang up first, in case he suddenly decides to add something. To avoid cutting off the caller's thoughts, let him hang up first.

[sheepdog 10]

Very good common sense information.

Now lets touch on a related subject,

How to leave a Message on an Answering Machine

 

State your name, and a short, but SPECIFIC reason for the call. I hate those calls that just say...I saw your add.....I may have a dozen ads runing, how am I supposed to know which one you are talking about?

 

And for crying out loud, when you leave your phone number say it SLOWLY and plainly. Don't rattle it off so fast the person listening to the message can't understand you. It actually helps if you say the number twice. It also helps if you know your number before you leave it. Yes, I know this may seem obvious, but you wouldn't believe how many times people start to say a number, then say, no, wait', it's.... and you end up with a long string of random numbers that you have no idea what part of are the actual number.

[moutonoir 0]

Speaking slowly and clearly is indeed very important. I worked for a few days as a receptionist, and so many people would rattle off information incoherently, and I felt awful asking them to repeat themselves but what else can you do? By trying to speed thigs up by talking quickly, you really end up taking more time since you'll probably have to repeat stuff or your information will be taken down wrong.