Hallo! Who is dis? ... Handling business phone calls!Written by Rena E. Toupin
We too often take telephone for granted. I hear so many people speaking on phone in same way they would face-to-face. Then, when we want to escape from world, or a particular person, we leave answering machine on to screen calls. However, realize that most people don't like to leave a message and would rather talk to a real live human being. The telephone used to be a miracle device, and now we use it as though it were just a toaster. But, telephone is a powerful device and can be used to enhance your business in ways you may not have considered!--- Answering Calls --- As a small company, I cannot always answer all my telephone calls. This does cause problems in my mobile notary business in that client usually needs immediate service and will simply hang up on answering machine and move on to next notary. But, I do play back my messages as soon as possible and return telephone calls immediately to those who did leave messages. In fact, every time I return a telephone message customer will compliment me on my immediate call return. This tells me a large majority of people lose business because they are afraid to return a simple phone call. One important method of ensuring that you client, or potential client, leaves a message when you can't answer your phone is to call them. I call my client list regularly to let them know that I am here and available. It is important that they know that you are near phone and will return their calls as soon as possible. --- Let me speak! --- One thing I learned years ago is to let client do all talking. This, because when you and client complete phone call, they will feel good simply because they did all talking! Consider this point for just a moment. The first step is to "relax". The client is not a deity, but they do help to pay bills and enhance your reputation. Getting turned down is not as big a deal as you might think because, if anything, you were at least able to practice your script! If you appear nervous and frigid, they will be totally turned off and probably not hire your services. There are exceptions, but this situation holds true most of time.
| | Customer service, everyone say's their's is greatWritten by Vern Anderson
Customer service, everyone say's their's is great while a large percentage fail miserably. By Vern AndersonCustomer service is probably most important part of any online business, but many are dropping ball. This past week (not by design) I encountered just how great a lot of customer service problems are handled. My first dealing was after I made a product purchase and needed customer support for product. After four request's for support with no answer I gave up. Now it could be that my email never got to customer support due to filters. I only know how person needing support feels. Another web site was offering a service (45.00 per month) I thought I might need for my web sites so this time I sent an email to customer support asking about quality of their customer support and elapsed time for a reply. Three day's later I received a reply and tone of reply was, why are you bothering us when you are not a customer. I emailed another question and never received a reply at all. I located this same service at another web site (only name was different) so I tried again. After two day's I received my answer to their customer support implying, why don't you signup and find out. Now I receive autoresponder messages every couple of day's pushing their service.
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