One of the most important things to make your customers happy is through providing excellent customer service. In customer service, an important element is telephone etiquette. How are your employees communicating with your clients over the phone? What is the satisfaction rate? 

Despite more and more customers moving to chat boxes or emails for customer service, proper telephone etiquette still has a significant impact on any business today. This is how proper telephone etiquette can impact your business:

Helps Make a Good First Impression

For most businesses, a phone call is an initial interaction with prospective clients. That’s why it’s crucial that you know how to do it right. When answering a phone call at work, always have a formal greeting in place. It’s good to have all employees use similar greetings for consistency. Another thing to keep in mind is not to make the phone ring for too long. The longer a caller waits for someone to pick up the phone, the more likely they are to hang up. 

When answers to phone calls are similar, polite, and formal, it will create a good first impression that your company can definitely benefit from. 

Gives Better Confidentiality

Some forms of communication should be handled through a personal phone call. When you take the time to make a phone call, it carries more weight than a text message or an email. And without a two-way communication present, sensitive issues may easily be misinterpreted. So, if there are sensitive matters to be discussed, make sure to do it via phone. 

Here are some tips for proper telephone etiquette: 

• Always speak clearly – phone calls require strong communication skills, which means that you need to speak as clearly and concisely as possible. Have a strong and confident voice that will make your client trust you. 
• Listen well and take notes – be an active listener throughout the conversation. This means that you should keep your ears open and hear everything that the other person has to say. If you can take notes, do it. Notes will be helpful, especially if the person on the other line is talking about a lot of important details that you shouldn’t forget. 
• Use the right language – when on the phone with clients, always be mindful and respectful. It’s best to use formal language when you’re talking with clients over the phone. 
• Be cheerful – you never know when a client is having a bad day. It’s important to always remain positive and friendly. 
• Be honest – sometimes, you just don’t know what to answer your customer, and in cases like this, you need to be honest. It’s important to admit when you don’t know something instead of making excuses or giving solutions that you are not sure of. You can balance this out by telling them that you will try to find the answer and get back to them as soon as possible. 
• Ask questions – make sure that the customer is satisfied with the solution that you provided. You can know this by asking questions. 

Conclusion

Proper telephone etiquette is essential for all types of businesses today. That is why you need to create a standardized phone etiquette system in the office to ensure that customers will always be satisfied. Proper phone communication can leave a lasting impression for your brand, so you better make it a good one. 

Need help with phone etiquette at the workplace? Visit Skill Builder for an excellent customer service online course.