Talking properly over the telephone is a great endeavor. Being able to communicate effectively over the PBX, or PABX phone is an extremely valuable skill. Use your business phone systems to improve communication and bring optimum outcomes.
Business phone systems
It is a kind of effort to develop the manner. By this, you equip yourself with making telephone calls. It is in fact the first impression of you. Statistics have shown that 80% of business is conducted over business phone systems. 71% of clients will end a business relationship because of poor phone etiquette. And, 69% of customers say they chose not to do business with a company because of their lack of phone skills.
Phone interactions should be appropriate whether for greetings or for business purposes. Most importantly, the conversation should be conducted just as you would be doing a face-to-face interaction. Business phone systems make a business successful.
55% of the communication process involves body language. This means that we lose over 50% of our ability to communicate when on the telephone. Therefore, it is very important to cover this gap with other factors associated with the tone, approach, time, voice, mood, and approach.
1. Humbleness
The opposite party cannot see you and converse with you over a phone call. It is important to make your language and tone as humble as you can. There are many words that can help you to bring the best outcome in the business phone systems.
2. Use handy words, such as:
Please
Good morning
Good evening
Thank you
May I request
May I talk
Excuse me
I am sorry
I am glad
It is my honor
May I help you
May I ask you a favor
3. Accents
The receiver can’t see you on the phone. Face-to-face talk is far more different than talking over the phone. So, we need to make the best use of other factors like tone, voice, and accents that reflect your personality, your identity.
4. Voice
Voice is, how we make a sound. The active voice is well enough. Voice should be clean, bold, and persuasive. Show your confidence. Make it direct. Use your business telephone systems to improve communication.
5. Tone
The tone is the variation of voice based on the voice and medium of our communication. Over the phone, we will use a confident and professional tone that will reflect our welcome mentality.
The tone should be impulsive, straightforward, and clear. Keep your tone upbeat and positive as much as you can. Make the tone ‘can do’ type. Focus on the person you are talking to. Age, gender, the situation need to consider.
6. Listen
Speak less, listen more. It is common etiquette. Please rethink, the listener may not like to listen to you much. Because you have called to make him a solution, for her interest.
7. Show curiosity
So, hear her requirements. Let her speak out. Don’t interrupt. Listen actively. Show your interest and curiosity with words like, ok, then, I see, wow, etc.
8. Focus
Make your talk to the point. Telephone conversation should be short. Never digress. Repeat your reason for calling several times, but too much. Use your business phone systems to improve communication.
9. Politeness
You have to keep in mind to be polite when making a phone call. It is a two-way differentiation: as a receiver, and as a caller.
10. Relationship building
Think, you are a receiver while taking a phone call, you may say- This is X, may I know whom I am talking to?
With this attitude, you can make a good impression on the other side. The caller will be able to find out a way to talk further.
11. Friend or acquaintance
It is sure, when someone reaches your personal phone number, she is likely to be a friend or acquaintance. Yet, it is important to deal with them with respect.
12. Introduction
You will keep in mind that dealing with the phone is in fact dealing with the network. If you are answering the phone at work, say, the company name, your name, and offer to assist the caller in the business telephone systems. See the following example-
XYX company, this is A speaking. How may I help you?
13. First impression
Remember, your voice and attitude are the first impression of you, as well as your company. Maybe this is the first and last conversation between you.
14. Win the deal
Or, maybe you are talking to them would be the most consistent client. So, your call is very vital. It has a lot of value. Finally, your success over the phone may have the greatest impact. And you will not leave any opportunity in any situation.
Therefore, as we discussed, it is extremely important to be as polite and professional as you can. So, when you answer the phone with a positive tone, the caller will instantly feel more comfortable and the cheese. Be humble. And most importantly, close the deal successfully.
15. Reflection
The telephone has great stuff to deal with your target effectively. It saves time, effort, and money. A successful conversation may reflect well on your company. A long term relationship is a great strength of an organization
16. Call in the morning
Make the phone call in the morning. It is courteous. Not to call anyone before 9 am. You can say this is the unwritten code of conduct. It is a practiced custom.
However, subject to your own personal judgment, many businesses are open much earlier than nine in the morning. So, it is usually okay to call such places whenever they have officially working hours.
Calling close friends and family can also be done in the first hour of the day. And when you are sure, the person you are calling, would not be offended.
17. Call in the noon
It is not wise to call during lunchtime. Also, avoid calling during prayer time, usually.
18. Call in the evening
Like the 9 rules, there is also a 9 PM rule unless, you know, for sure that it would not be a big deal. Do not make any phone calls after 9 PM. The evening is the most personal and family time for people. It is more or less the same in every country.
Calling later than 9 pm is disrespectful of people’s private time. It should cause a negative impression unless the receiver has not permitted you to do so.
19. Calling just before the closing
Similarly, if you are making an evening business call, try not to call, right before the end of the business day. For example, you know, a business that ends their workday at 6 PM doesn’t call that 550PM. Wait until the next morning to make your call for a better outcome. You don’t want to close your opportunities before the closing of that office, do you?
20. Holding phone call
Before you put someone on hold, please ask them. If they mind being put on hold for a minute before you make a phone call, reconsider the purpose of your call and be prepared.
21. Voicemail
Leave a concise but informative voicemail in case, your call is not answered. And you call anyone, whether it be a business acquaintance, or a personal friend be considerate.
22. Important calls only
According to business phone systems, while calling during another person’s time, try not to stray too much from the primary purpose of your call. Your receiver may not have that much time. And most importantly, the telephone is for important calls only.
23. Receiving a call
Try to pick a phone with 3 rings
Give your identity
Ask the name of the other party. Address them by a proper name.
Send a voice mail option if you are away for a long time.
Forward the call by your own responsibility in case of the wrong number
24. Placing a call
- Greet
- Introduce yourself first
- Seek permission to continue
- Be sure you are talking to the right person
- Address with proper name and identity
- Stay bold and confident
- Rehearse well before you are going to talk
- Understand another person’s situation
- Clarify the purpose
- Stay focused on your objective
- Say sorry if any miscommunication takes place
- Don’t keep the opposite person waiting for a long
- Follow up
- Handle negative people
- Show your can-do mentality
- Be positive
- Show hope
- Make a solution
- Resolve problem
- Stay cool
- Try to pacify
- Converse in line with her talk
- Understand
- Be firm
- Give time
- Listen attentively
- Have your patience
- Don’t aggravate the situation
- Prioritize her problem
- Make him feel that you are with her
- Think from her point of view
- Refer them to the right channel
Tips to automate Your Phone System
1. Make a Business Directory
Even if you simply have a few employees, a company directory helps you to properly guide callers to the appropriate person as soon as possible.
They don’t need to talk to a representative before being transferred to the proper person since you may eliminate that step by allowing them to connect to that individual on their own with a directory.
Without ever speaking to a real agent, a caller can simply phone the extension that belongs to the relevant person or department. So, for each of your workers or departments, you install extensions that are linked to the appropriate forwarding phones.
Then record an audio message including the entire list and connect it to the menu item of your choosing. When a caller dials “#1,” for example (or whatever number you provide), they will hear the company directory audio message you recorded. They may phone the extension that corresponds to the individual they need at any moment once they hear it.
When you have a large number of workers, you may even develop a dial-by-name directory to help callers identify the right individual.
2. Using a Call Menu, provide options to callers
A call menu (also known as an auto attendant or phone tree) is and has long been one of the most important tools for automation. If you haven’t employed this technology for your company yet, you’re losing out on one of the most effective methods to handle and route your calls.
A common fallacy is that call menus are intended for large organizations with a high frequency of calls; nevertheless, no firm is too small to benefit from them.
A call menu may save you time and money no matter what size business you have, and it instantly makes you sound more professional when consumers call.
Essentially, it’s a virtual receptionist; as a result, you can utilize the menu to substitute a real person who answers all of your calls since it will handle the majority of the work for you.
The automated menu can greet the caller, lead them to the appropriate person or department, or even allow them to pick an option to just hear information, such as travel directions, hours, or other pertinent details. The nicest part is that the menu panels summon you without the need to speak to a live person in many circumstances.
3. Create a Voicemail-Only menu option
While utilizing a call menu, you may add a menu option for the caller to choose to be directed to a voice mailbox. Menu choices, of course, are flexible and may be used to direct callers to any destination you desire, including voicemail.
This is a useful addition to your menu since it avoids the need to accept a call from someone who only wants to go to a certain person’s inbox. Also, because they can just dial a number and be connected to voicemail right away, the caller does not have to wait for the phone to ring before being routed to voicemail.
You may even establish additional menu selections that send to separate mailboxes that relate to different employees if necessary.
4. Menu Options for Forwarding to Specific Phones
The ability to transfer calls to whatever phone(s) you desire is pretty much a typical feature of a call menu when someone picks a particular option. You may choose which of your menu selections transmits to which phones, and not all options must ring all of your phones when a caller picks them.
For example, if your call menu has selections 1 through 3, you just select which phones will ring when a caller dials one of those numbers on their dial pad. It will only ring the phones you have set for each choice after that. As an example, it may look like this:
“Press #1 for sales”: Rings the sales agents’ phones.
“Press #2 for sales” only calls the forwarding phones of tech people.
“Press #3 to place an order” only rings the phones of the people who need to know.
5. Forwarding on a Schedule
Scheduled forwarding is a very handy way for enterprises to arrange bespoke call management schedule. This capability is unique to Talkroute’s virtual phone service, and no other virtual provider offers automation as sophisticated as this.
You can simply design individual call forwarding schedules for each of your phones to ensure that the proper people are on the call schedule at the right time and that no overlap occurs.
This is useful for automating shift changes at work or accommodating workers who work on different days of the week. When you create a forwarding schedule for a phone, that phone will only ring during the hours and days of the week that you choose.
6. Message Notifications by Email
“I already have enough alerts in my life…” you might say, but these are notifications for your business that you’ll desire. Because you might not have a minute to check your messages at any given time, or if you happen to miss a message on your phone, email alerts for business communications are essential.
These email alerts are mostly used for voicemail. Set up your account to send new voicemail messages to a specified email address, choose any email address (not only the account holder’s), and receive a ping from your email when a customer leaves you a voicemail.
You may also create numerous mailboxes for various employees on your account, with each mailbox routing to that person’s email. You can also be alerted when a new text message from a customer arrives (if you use business text messaging) in addition to voicemail.
Set just one email address to receive new text notifications, or many email addresses if necessary, to ensure that someone from your staff responds.
7. Hours of Service
When utilizing a virtual phone system, it’s a good idea to arrange business hours so that your phones don’t ring at odd hours. Calls will only ring your forwarding phones during those hours if you set your business hours to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., for example.
That way, any forwarding phones won’t ring at all hours of the night, unless you wish to be open 24 hours a day, of course. Compare business hours for any store in a brick-and-mortar structure to see how your hours of operation might operate with a virtual phone system.
The hours of operation function with your virtual system operates in the same manner that a physical business locks its doors and stops answering the phone at a specific hour.
You may record an after-hours audio message and provide customers the option of leaving a voicemail when they phone your business after usual business hours.
You may have been running your business with only a mobile phone, a landline, or a pair of desk phones, and although that might work when you’re a small business, adding some automation with a virtual phone system can help you become more professional.
Take away
Business phone systems are a great platform for communication. 80% of business is conducted over the phone. So, you understand how important it is to handle it with pure professionalism. There are a lot of ingredients to improve perfection. There is no limit to improvement.
It may not be required to include all of these capabilities in your phone system, but automating your call handling even a bit would provide your callers with a lot better experience. And that’s the whole point of these automations: to improve both the experience of consumers seeking to contact you and your own experience managing such calls.
It is also true that you can attain this skill easily. You just need to follow professional tricks to enhance your telephone etiquette skill with attention. And you also need continuous practice. You may also make trials among your friends, team, and network through a mock demo. Best of luck to you!
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