In the duration of a phone call, there’s ample room for error, such as starting the conversation with price instead of the card message or placing a customer on hold without permission. (Find dozens of examples in Tim Huckabee’s monthly column in Floral Management.)
But plenty of sales people make blunders right off the bat, said Ben Landers, president of Blue Corona, an online marketing company that has tracked, recorded and analyzed more than one million marketing phone calls over the past seven years. His general assessment: “most small businesses do a lousy job handling their phone calls.”
In a recent article for American Express’ Open Forum, Landers offers three simple rules to tackle what he calls “a pervasive problem.”
1. Be Friendly or Be Gone
Your opening line, which sets the tone of the call, is critically important. “Everyone answering your phone should be friendly, engaging, and upbeat,” Landers said. He acknowledges that this advice sounds downright obvious, but maintains that many companies get it wrong, even when they have a script.
Employees can utter the right, polite words, but if they deliver their lines without enthusiasm, they’re making a poor impression. By the salesperson’s tone of voice, your customers can detect if he or she is grimacing or grinning.
Try this:
Smile from ear to ear and try to sound angry. It’s a struggle, Landers said.
Stick a mirror by your phone so your employees can see their expressions as they talk to customers.
Record every call and play the bad ones back for your staff. “Letting people hear how they actually sound can be a powerful teaching tool,” Landers said.
2. Get the Customer’s Information Quickly
“Dropped calls are a fact of smartphone life,” Landers said. Businesses that handle calls with ease always take down the customer’s name and callback number early. “This way, if the call drops, the ball is in your court.” For all you know, your customer is calling you on his commute to work, his only downtime of the day, and can’t safely redial right away.
3. Use Voicemail as the Absolute Last Resort
Pick up, pick up, pick up! “In today’s digitally connected world, your competitors are only a quick click away,” said Landers. As evidence, he cited one of Blue Corona’s long-time clients that hung up without leaving a message on more than half of the calls that went to voicemail.
Such is the norm, Landers said. Customers are wont to leave a message, and they’re certainly not going to call a second time. “They’re calling one of your competitors,” he said.
The only time voicemail is acceptable is when a customer already has a particular contact at the shop and that person is legitimately tied up or out of the office.
If your volume is so great that voicemail seems a necessity, you need extra people on staff, Landers said. “When they have downtime, have them write blog posts for your website or follow up with former clients to get an online review or testimonial.”
