BTSR

For most businesses, the telephone is the essential part of their sales efforts. Whether they are conducting sales from the phone, answering customer questions or taking in new business, the telephone is absolutely key to keeping new profits of the business flowing. With that importance in mind, proper telephone systems training is needed for all of your employees who talk to customers on the phone, whether they are in sales, customer service, technical assistance or any area where they come into contact with potential or existing customers.

Knowing how to respond, what to say, keeping your voice clear and concise while assisting customers is essential to generating new business either from customers who are calling for the first time or from those who have been purchasing from the company for many years. Solid telephone etiquette is needed for all of your employees who talk to customers, even if only occasionally. Here are a few simple tips that outline the parameters for those who initiate customer calls, most notably your sales force and those in customer service or technical support that are instructed to call a customer who has a question or a need.

Clarity: If you cannot be understood, then you cannot help the customer. Speak in clear, low tones and slow down if necessary to be understood. Few things are as annoying to a customer as someone that they cannot understand on the phone, so keep it your voice clear and easy to understand. For those in sales, you cannot sell your product if the person on the other end has no idea what you are saying.

Listen: At all times you want to listen to what the customer says, understand their needs and address them promptly. For those in sales, listening is the key to making new sales as you address the question that a potential customer has after they hear your pitch. By answering their questions quickly, you can then offer another benefit as to why they should buy. You can increase your sales dramatically by following that simple technique.

Be Natural: You want to sound like a human being. Yes, being courteous and speaking clearly may at first seem like you are placing an unnatural feel to your voice, but soon enough you will talk on the phone and respond to the questions customers have as naturally as you would someone talking to you face to face. By being natural you help gain the trust of your customer and show that you are placing their interests just as high as your own. Of course, remember that you are representing your company and if you in sales, then the sale is the most important matter, but you can go about it naturally and work with your customers.

Those are but a few tips in how to talk to customers on the phone that you have called, either in the process of sales, customer service or technical support. You can find far more information, in fact a complete telephone training video series on how to speak to customers when you go to our site, which provides plenty of useful information.