Top 5 Telephone Answering Secrets to Keep Customers Happy

Happy customers are the key to a successful business, but you could be risking your customers’ happiness if you aren’t answering the phones in the right way. Here are five top telephone answering secrets to keep your customers happy.

Customers prefer live people

Once your customers actually get their call answered, don’t leave them in the hands of a machine. Automated phone systems are frustrating and inefficient. By the time your customer actually gets through to a real person, they are probably not very happy at all. Skip the machines, and use real people to answer the phones.

Consistency counts

Once you have real, live people answering the phones, make sure they are all doing it the same way. Have a friendly greeting that simply identifies your company and your customer service representative, and have them offer to help in a friendly tone. Once your customers know what to expect, they’ll be more comfortable calling you for their needs, and it will help build customer loyalty.

Smile

Encourage your customer service representatives to smile when they answer the telephone. Smiling has been shown to improve the mood and attitude of customer service representatives, and it can actually encourage customers to be cheerful, too.

Really listen (and understand)

There is an art to listening. Make sure your customer service representatives understand how to really listen to your customers’ problems so they can understand any underlying problems that the customer may have. Patience, understanding, and empathy can go a long way towards making your customers as happy as can be.

Don’t keep them waiting

No one likes to be kept waiting, and your customers are no different. Answer their calls quickly to keep them happy, and if you can’t, consider hiring extra staff that can. You could also use a customer call center to make sure that you don’t keep your customers waiting any longer than necessary.