Customer Service Agents: How to Have Great Calls

I have been working as a customer service agent for the past 7 years and would like to share some knowledge on proper phone etiquette and how to have great calls. The opening of your call should give a good first impression and will set the tone for the rest of the call. When you greet a customer, try to sound enthusiastic and gain their confidence with your friendly tone. Even though this may be the 100^th call of the day, try to avoid sounding robotic or bored. A typical greeting might be, "Hello this is Rebecca with XYZ Industries, how may I help you today?" or "Thank you for calling XYZ Industries, this is Rebecca, how may I help you today?" When the customer responds, listen to what they have to say and respond appropriately. If they are calling with a complaint you might respond with, "I can certainly see how that would be frustrating, let me see what I can do to help." Then request their personal information so that you can find their account. If a customer needs to make an order or has a question you might respond with, "Certainly, I would be happy to help you with that." Then request their personal information so that you can find their account.

At this point, you are basically just finding a satisfactory solution for your customer. They may want to place an order, have a question, file a complaint or set up an appointment. Your goal is to satisfy your customer while working within the constraints of what your company will allow you to do. For example, lets say we are setting up an appointment to go out to the customer's home and the timeframe is 8-5. The customer may say that an 8-5 timeframe is unacceptable, and that is where your negotiating skills must come into play. Try to stay positive and focused on what you can do. An inappropriate response might be, "Sorry we only have 8-5" or "That's our policy, it has to be 8-5." A better response would be, "Mrs. Smith I understand your time is valuable and can see how this would be inconvenient, but unfortunately I only have an 8-5 timeframe." Or "What I can do Mrs. Smith, is have our technician call you on your cell phone 30 minutes before arrival so that you won't have to wait at home all day." At least that type of response will make the customer feel as though you have listened to them and attempted to be helpful. Once you have come up with the appropriate solution or answer check with the customer for acceptance or satisfaction. You might say something like, how will that work for you, Mrs. Smith?"

When concluding the call, be sure to reconfirm the solution arrangements. In addition, you should ask if there is anything else they need and thank them for calling. For example you might say, "Mrs. Smith, I have you down for Tuesday the 9^th between 8-5 and the technician will call you on your cell 30 minutes before arrival, is their anything else I can help you with today?" If not then say, "O.K. well thank you for calling XYZ Industries and have a great day!" I hope this article will be helpful to beginners in the customer service field. The most important piece of advice I would give is just try to be nice, customers will forgive a lot as long as you treat them with respect and courtesy.