Module 4 Telephone C- Events Management.docx

**Event Management** **Topic: Communicating on the telephone** **What is communication ?** 1. **State different contexts in which telephone communication may take place** - Office - Reception area - On tour, on site, on mobile phone, - With customers and or colleagues 2. **Outl...

**Event Management** **Topic: Communicating on the telephone** **What is communication ?** 1. **State different contexts in which telephone communication may take place** - Office - Reception area - On tour, on site, on mobile phone, - With customers and or colleagues 2. **Outline enterprise standards for answering the telephone** -telephone. -Customer service. -Quality. -Security. -Security dealing with Suspicious or threatening phone calls. -Company structure. -Department roles and functions. -Products and services. -Aftersales support information. 3. **Explain the importance of establishing the purpose of the call** \- you should know the result / outcome you/customer desire. Every point of contact should have a clear purpose guiding your preparation to respond, planning, questioning, and next steps. **1) Reduce wait time** While customers are ready to wait for an hour, when it comes to social media customer service, they will not wait for more than 28 seconds, waiting in a queue to contact an operator. Ideally, callers shouldn\'t wait for more than 20 seconds before they start a conversation with a customer service representative. Customers are impatient, and they don\'t want to spend time listening to your waiting-on-hold song. The more they wait, the angrier they become; and, by the time your operator says \"Hello,\" they\'ll be about ready to blow. **[Options:]** Add more team members to customer support phone lines. Offer your customers a callback option so they won\'t have to wait in a queue. It helps to avoid frustration and meet expectations. **2) Be an active listener** Customer support representatives are always busy. They have tons of things to do, dozens of phone calls to answer, and many details to keep in mind. It\'s all well and good, but when they are on the phone with a customer, they need to focus on that conversation: Even if a customer doesn\'t see your face, your tone of voice can tell a lot about how carefully you listen to them. You need to be an active listener and pay attention to everything a customer says. For them to understand you are on the same page, don\'t interrupt but take notes and respond with a personal touch. Don\'t sound like a robot, answering with the phrases from your scripts. To look friendlier, try the following: Use a customer\'s name when answering. Repeat the problem after a customer describes it to ensure you get it right. Use conversational indicators throughout the call: Phrases like \"I see,\" \"I understand,\" and others of this kind signal about your attention to a customer\'s problem. **3) Call them by names** Remember Dale Carnegie with his psychological tricks on how to win friends and influence people? As he said, \"Remember that a person\'s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.\" In other words, personalized greetings and using a customer\'s name during the conversation is your chance to win a person\'s favour. This tiny yet essential detail can influence your brand loyalty and trust by far. **4) Mirror their tone** It means that you should do your best to speak the way your customer does it on the phone. Mirroring their mood, a customer support agent lets them know that he or she is on a customer\'s side. How to do that? For example, avoid casual language or jokes if a customer\'s tone is formal. If a customer sounds more relaxed, feel free to relax your tone too. If they are excited about something, bring some energy to your tone as well. But it doesn\'t mean getting angry when speaking to an angry or frustrated customer! Here your goal is to let them down easy and make them understand you will help them by all means. The point here is to \"be like a customer\" but not to caricature them. **5) Make small talk** First, small talk can help you distract a customer while you look for the information he asks. Second, it\'s a powerful instrument for building positive customer relations: Small talk allows customers to see there are real people behind a brand and that you treat them like real people rather than client cards in your CRM. Plus, it can often be challenging for a customer to generate a thesis and explain the problem right away. Small talk and elaborative questions from a customer support representative will help to relax and feel more comfortable. Also, it makes a significant impact on a customer\'s feelings about your company. New call-to-action 6\) Be patient It stands to reason for every well-managed team of customer support services that a customer needs time to describe the problem and ask for the information. That is why patience and reflection become two must-have character traits for professional call center operators. To look friendlier, be patient even with angry or complaining customers: Don\'t interrupt them and allow them to speak their minds, even if you already understand the issue. When upset or frustrated, a customer may not be able to take what you say, even if the answer is to their benefit. So, listen carefully, wait for a customer to finish the speech and calm down, and provide the solution afterwards. 7\) Use positive language Try to avoid words with a negative context (such as \"wrong,\" \"can\'t,\" \"failure,\" etc.) in your customer support calls. The way you frame the situation affects a caller\'s experience and attitude toward your brand by far. If necessary, apologize for negative customer experience, but then jump into using positive language. It\'s all about phone etiquette: avoid jokes because you can never predict a customer\'s reaction, be kind and polite, avoid slang expressions, and use conversational adverbs in communication. For example, say, \"Sure, I understand\" instead of \"OK,\" or try \"Thank you for your patience\" instead of \"Sorry for the wait.\" Or, avoid saying something like, \"We can\'t do that,\" but try, \"Here\'s what we can do for you\" instead. 8\) Maintain a friendly and consistent tone The tone of voice is critical when it comes to how customers perceive call center agents. You can build phrases with positive language, but it means nothing if you say them with a negative tone. So do your best to maintain a friendly and consistent tone when speaking to a customer, even if he\'s angry and complaining. Keep calm, avoid sounding anxious or pushy, and kindly manage the situation. Find a balance between speaking too quiet or too loud, show empathy, and make a customer understand that your company cares about him. 9\) Smile A customer doesn\'t see your face during a phone talk, but it doesn\'t mean he doesn\'t \"feel\" your mood. Smile, literally: It makes your voice sound friendly and warm, and a customer will notice and appreciate that. However, don\'t hurry up to \"smile\" at complaining or angry customers as they can \"translate\" it as a jest about their problems. Stick to a friendly tone but \"smile\" only when you feel that the time is right. 10\) Leave them satisfied Don\'t finish a conversation bluntly so that a customer might feel you are happy to get rid of him. End your phone calls on a positive note and ask if there\'s anything else you could help a caller with. (Some customers forget or are shy to mention that they have another problem unless you ask them about it.) Make sure you leave a customer satisfied with your call. Answer any final questions, provide any information they might need, and finish a call in a friendly manner. All these details impact the overall customer experience and can transform an angry caller into a loyal one. Takeaways When it comes to customer service communication over the phone, most callers expect you to talk to them in a friendly manner. Sure enough, you have some rules and scripts for your support teams on how to speak with customers, but please don\'t encourage your agents to sound like robots in the phone conversation. Encourage agents to be active listeners, patient, and responsive. Small talks, positive language, friendly and consistent tone, smiles, calling customers by name --- all these details seem insignificant but influence customer satisfaction by far. **[Do's and don'ts of telephone etiquette]** Describe the specific actions that would indicate friendliness to the caller DO -- Smile when you talk to people. Although they might not be able to see you, a smile can be heard in your voice and the caller will be much more relaxed in their conversation with you. People love talking to happy people. DON'T -- Be distracted. Although the caller may not be able to see what you're doing, if they don't have your full attention it will be heard in your tone and responses. Distractions can be anything from responding to an email, replying to a text, scrolling through online shopping, reading a news article, or nibbling on that doughnut that has been sitting next to you calling your name. If you wouldn't do these things with the person in front of you, don't do it when you're on the phone. DO -- When you answer the phone, greet the caller warmly and advise who they are talking to. Always answer the phone with your name at the end of your greeting. You will have an upward inflection on your name which will stay in the mind of the caller. Personal calls received should also be formalized. Some ways you can answer the phone are "Hello this is (say name)" and business calls can be answered with ''Good Morning/Afternoon, (say business name), this is (say name)". DON'T -- Shout or whisper. Being overly loud or overly quiet can make a phone conversation very awkward and might mean you don't get all of the information to the person on the other end. Try and speak in a calm tone that will be easy to hear and understand. DO -- Speak clearly. You have something to say and the person at the other end wants to hear it. No one wants to repeat themselves many times during a conversation. Speak as clearly as possible to avoid this. DON'T -- Leave the caller on hold for too long. No one likes sitting on hold. If you leave your caller on hold for too long they may think they have been forgotten and may hang up. If this is a business call this could result in a lost sale or an unhappy customer. DO -- Make the caller feel welcome. Although it is a phone call, if your answers are short or you don't sound interested, the caller may leave the call feeling unwelcome and that their query hasn't been answered or problem resolved. **CLASS ACTIVITY** 1. Explain the importance of repeating details to the caller 2. Outline the procedure for transferring calls 3. State forms of appropriate assistance to be given to callers making enquiries 4. Outline the procedures for recording and forwarding requests 5. Outline guidelines for handling messages