A study from Experian last May revealed people were spending 58 minutes per day on their smartphones, and 26% of the time talking on the phones. Let’s do a little math.
Every…
Day, people spend 15 minutes on the phone
Week = 1 hr 45 min
Month = 7 hr 30 min
Quarter = 22 hr 30 min
Year = 91 hr 15 min = 3 days 19 hr 15 min
If you work in customer service or sales, it’s likely you spend even more time on the phone, as I found 15 minutes per day to be a little low. As technology around our phones becomes better and better, the time spent on them will continue to increase.
With this type of evidence available, which boosts our internal hunch that we spend plenty of time on our phones to begin with, over-the-phone manners will continue to be a point of distinction for businesses. For example:
You call Bob’s Auto Body to ask if they have any time to work on your car this morning. The person on the phone is short with their responses, inattentive, and sounds like they’re eating breakfast in between answers. There is an opening, but you’re hesitant.
You also call Allen’s Auto Repair, where the employee is cheerful, quick to respond, asks your name and car’s make/model, and briefly puts you on hold to check with the manager. He gets back on the phone to say there is an opening, and makes sure you have directions to the shop.
Which do you choose?
Of course we’d choose Allen’s! If you’re like me, you’d also choose them even if there wasn’t availability until tomorrow, or if they’re a little more expensive. Does this make sense?
Definitely!
Even in a short phone conversation, we can build the necessary trust with people to turn them from inquiring calls to raving fans. To give another example, a friend of mine was looking for a plumber to fix his sink. He turned to Yelp for recommendations, and found a plumber with several 5-star reviews. Good start! He called, and the plumber answered with a cheery greeting. My friend described his issue, and the plumber said, “I can tell you how to fix that over the phone, grab a wrench!” Within 15 minutes of calling the plumber, my friend had his pipe fixed, and was a client for life. All because of the plumber’s willingness to help, and world-class etiquette skills over the phone.
You may be thinking “I’m a little removed from the customer calls at my company, they’re taken by Susan, Rob, and Kate”. If this is the case, I implore you to hang around and listen in on what a customer conversation is like. Are they bright and cheery? Do they make every effort to answer the customer’s question? Do they use basic etiquette responses like please and thank you, and you’re welcome?
If you’re in a position of leadership, it’s imperative to realize the front line of your customer response team is of the utmost importance. Potential customers may never make it all the way to your business if they feel mistreated over the phone. Current customers may leave. It has nothing to do with your phone etiquette skills, and everything to do with how you are training the staff to engage with people, over the phone and in person.
Here are five tips to pass along to your customer support staff, please contact me if you have any questions or would like to talk further about how I can help. Proper phone etiquette can be the make or break decision in where a customer takes their business. Make sure it’s yours!
- Answer the phone promptly, starting with, “Hello, this is (name) with (business name), how can I help you?”
- Listen to the question, jot down a note or two. Ask for their name, if they haven’t given it yet. Write that down too.
- Answer the question, and offer any extra advice you know would be helpful.
- If you don’t know the answer, ask them to remain on hold while you figure it out.
- If the answer will take longer, ask for their number and give them a time frame for when you will call back.
- Ask if you can help with anything else.
- Thank the customer for their call, and wish them a good day. Wait for them to hang up.
For any questions or inquiries, contact me at Patricia@PatriciaRossi.com, or click here!
