Telephone Etiquette @ Customer Service

Talking is an art, by communicating you can either make an impression or you can drag people to depression. So effective spoken ability is the only one thing which can make a person successful . But when it comes to speaking on a telephone, where there is no direct visual . One should understand how to communicate. A long gap of thought burst might end up the caller on hold feel ignored. So proper telephone etiquette is important.  Here are the major telephone etiquette which will take customer service to a different level . Let's see one after the other

Clear throat on the call

It's always necessary to clear your throat before taking call. Chewing , crunching and choked Voice may make the other person feel distracted. One should never eat or chew anything when on a call . It happens that you might be getting sneezing , always mute the call and then apologize and continue with the call.

Sign Posting

While phoning a customer one should always keep the customer know what your doing . It will keep the customer aware that you are working on the customer's issue. Some times signposting is mis interpreted by telling each and everything to the customer . Like "Sir, I am drinking water" etc. Which is not at all necessary. Proper sign posting only needed to inform the customer that we are working on your query

Hold Protocol

This is the most important bit of the entire call. This may either Nourish or perish your customer service.  Think like this , you have called a company and we're on long wait and finally you reach someone who can address your query and suddenly without a notice a highly unpleasant tone stucks your ears "You call is placed on hold, sorry to keep you waiting". Thats the impact of not using hold protocol. When ever you place a call on inform the customer why you are placing the call on hold, what will you be doing in the hold time , how long will it take and if it's take long what will you do .
Here is a sample statement for hold

"While I look up for the required information , I do need two to three minutes. So may I place your call on hold for two to three quick minute while I check for the required information. If it's taking longer time I will keep you posted"

Transfer protocol

It's again a big thing . Usually , if we work on a level one or level two businesses zone we have to transfer calls among the teams . It's always recommend to warm trasfer. That means when you transfer the call you will call the team , speak the the other person on the call inform them the query the customer has, and then connected the call introducing both the caller and the level 2 agents with there names. While we do this, we need to inform both the parties about why we are transferring and what you have done on the call . A example of ideal transfer protocol will be like

"Thank you for being with me, I have my colleague Mr X from the  Sales department, ............and Mr X I have  Mr customer on the line with me regarding his laptop , he want to buy new one so I transfered would you be able to check ................ Thank you for both of you have a great day"

Dead Air

When talking to customer we should always ensure that we don't leave them with dead air (pausing in between two to three minutes while busy with something else). Dead air gives an impression of ambiguity to the customer. Always ensure customer is  connected with conversation. If you have to take a dead air appolozise for being silence. This sentence can be used for apologizing for dead air

"I am sorry for the silence.  I am checking with the information so kindly ignore the silence"

So following telephone etiquette will make you a support specialist with 10/10 in customer service

Power Words @Call Center Agent Should Use

It's always said that what you listen most of the time is what you speak .Medical science also shows emphasis saying that a deaf child usual become dumb only because he is not able to hear , even they still have ability to speak. What you speak is something which comes back to you. Similarly usages of words a Call Center Guy put to a custom will get it back from the customer as a response . So The best practice every Call center guy should do is to use power booster and positivity booster words .

So here is what I found when I asked  our customers serving agent to use  words like Fabulous, Wonderful, Awsome, Fantastic, Extraordinary  in there conversation with the customer as many times as they can . Upon each call we sent a survey immediately to the customers asking them how was there experience on the call with the agent. We saw that 82% of the results were exactly the same word which the agent has used . This is called the Parroting Technique.

So to give a good experience to our customers . Usage of power booster are really important.Here are some examples how can we uses powerful words
You – Write as though you’re speaking to the customer and about the customer, not about yourself.

Because – Give customers a reason why they need to take action.
Free – “Because” we all like free things, right?
Value – This implies customers are getting something versus losing something (i.e. money when you say “cost” or “price”).
Guaranteed – Give customers a guarantee to minimize risk perception, so they feel they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Amazing – Customers will respond to something that is incredible.
Easy – Make it simple for customers to take the next step in the purchasing process, and let them know how much easier life will be with your product or service.
Discover – This implies there is something new and unknown to the customer, something that has supreme benefits and gives them an edge.
Act now – Motivate an immediate response with a limited-time offer.
New – Your product or service is the cutting edge in your industry.
Proven – Remind customers that your product, service or business is tried-and-true.
Safe and effective – “Proven” to minimize risk perception for health and monetary loss.
Powerful – Let customers know that your business, product or service is robust
Real results/guaranteed results – Your customers want results, after all
Instant –Instant access or downloads are more appealing than waiting.
How to – Start off with a solution so customers read the rest of your copy.
Elite –Your customers are among the best in the world. Invite newbies to join a highly desirable club
No obligation – Create a win-win situation for your customers.
Definitely/Surely/Absolutely/Certainly- gives ownership of the issues
Fantastic-appreciate the customer for cooperating
Delighted - overwhelming
Happy/Yes/Fabulous/splendid/wonderful/ awesome/cheers - mood indicators

Using these words will make the conversation really positive and also bring the customer with positive attitude for feedback . After all what goes around comes around . So let's share positivity

Absence Noticeable @Call Centers

 I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.      – Jerome K. Jerome, English writer and humorist

How important You and your time is? How important to be Present in office and be on time? How your time effect the productivity of overall call center?

As being out of work for a day really makes a big difference in providing service. On an average , if one person is absent the average time that a customer need to wait in queue increases. The effect is too large in small service group , however it equally impact the productivity of  the company. Delivering good customer service depends on each agent

Call center jobs are the job of  team work, If you quit your part, you give more work to your coworkers.Your part of work may increase more working hours to your coworkers and you are responsible for your work, and you should be on time

If an agent is not at a place where he suppose to be, then not only the customers who suffer but also the team mates.As with more number of agents ,the breather the agents get between one call and the other will be more. So its would not be a rigorous effort for the agents.

But when it comes to the a situation where one of the person is missing from the team the occupancy rate increases , which led to decrease the call to call time. Hence effecting the productivity and increasing the stress levels of the other agents

So workforce schedule are so designed to give comfort to the agents as well as the customer And turning late to the office not only felt by the customers ,also immediately by the co-workers

 

 

Modernizing call centers@India

if you want to get a horse up to its limit, You need to graze it  heavy too - Panchatantra

As there is notion that in India Call center jobs are easy, Low paid and stressful work. But  all of them are wrong. Not everyone is fit for all jobs and the best only ever survive.

Indian call center doesn't provide much exposure to all of the customers nor  the employees. How can you forget that until you provide happiness and satisfaction to your employees how will you satisfy your customers . its just like searching for a thing in a dark room without light. to make your customer satisfaction better start with your employee and know that Charity begins at home.

As a continuous research of mine I gone through some of the employee complain that this industry never gives leaves for daily purpose, nor a good growth and at the most no respect. As a customer representative, a person end up getting abused first by customers for not helping, then by the supervisors for not reaching the  targets, and at last by family for not getting more payee. serving a customer is an art and  a representative is not a doll for listening your retentions. So that why this industry has highest attention rates .

To over come all this and give a Agent with good scope to perform well and be the voice of your company , providing a environment to enrich and survive is essential. Companies  need to believe that to give a human touch to the customers you too need to treat your employee's as humans

Most technological companies come with a unique ways to uplift the quality of this business and give the employee a good way to help and be the best of there work with respect to which the provide high range of customer satisfaction also. cutting down the stress levels and a professionalizing the companies atmosphere to curtail ill behavior of the supervisors and higher team to its extend. Zero patients is given to tolerate even a negative word towards the peer .

So Being in Support industry its all deals with the human interactions and feeling . dealing every personals of respect and priority people will tend to give a good productivity

 

The Voice of your company is Customer Agent , If you Raise Your Voice ,Your Business Goes Low

Role models of Customer support are  Nancy Friedman, Says if your customers are abusive , you need to take initiative to safeguard yourself like this

I Can Handel your issue and get resolution to it, However I Cannot Handel your Abuse , Please help me with  your concern further.

As these type of responses need to be validated in Indian Support Companies  to save the values and provide world class Customer Service. Its a best Industry, Only few thing are needed to be in place

So lets make it easy, friendly and deliver best Customer Support

10 Home remedies @Customer service agents should know

Customer service agents work really hard . Sitting on a chair and talking calls for long long hours make our back pain , Over time work make our eyes strained , continuous calls makes our voice choked , Improper height of the chair might lead to toe ace and if you are wearing a headset , then ear pains . But despite of all these things we need to make our productivity high . so to cope up with the pain and also to get productive here are some home remedies for all the above problems

Back Pain ? Just try these stretches 

Back pain is a common scenario for a call center guy. sitting on chair for a long long hours makes it really worse . the best way to start the back up for back pain is by doing some stretches . this stretch is something which will ignite the entire skeleton system and push you back to your productivity

Sore Feet? the Bottle trick

Sitting in a really tall office chair for long time makes the feet sore. it really aces and makes the work day really worse . the best trick to get rid of it is the bottle technique. fill a bottle with Luke warm water and press it on the floor with you feet on it and roll until the hotness touches the feet .

Eyes pain? the spoon trick

Sitting in-front of the computers for a long time makes the eyes pain and also makes it tiered . the best way to nurture your eyes is , take two steel spoons , place it in the deep freezer and after an hour or two take both of them and put it above your eye lid facing the hemisphere . this will induce the cooling air into you eyes and relaxes the pupil .

Choked Voice ? Crew the Cardamoms 

Speaking to customers long long hours makes the vocal cords really giggle and toned . to over come the choked voice , just chewing the cardamoms can help your voice back on track and it also helps in releasing stress. this can be a best replacement for chew gums in office

Ear Pains ? Use cotton plugs

Yes , if your work involves long hours on  headphones . then you need to minimize the volume to avoid strains . and also using a layer of cotton ear plugs make it more safe. cotton plugs need to be made of soft cotton and also only one layer of cotton needs to be used 

Use these tips to get ready and productive and help your customers and change the world.

6 Powerful Statements for powerful Customer Service

Customer service is a kind of job that need us to be more human and less mechanic. Apart from that we also need to provide a great customer satisfaction . But all the time we wont have the chance to help the customer and get the customer satisfaction especially if there need to be an escalation to a different team. But ensuring we are able to help the customer , we can use some powerful statements to identify what the customer needs, how he feels and how you can help. lets quickly look at the power statements .

1.How may I address you today?

the first question we need to ask the customer in-order to call them with there name ,  we need to call them with there name because calling with customers name will personalize the call. However at times , people mispronounce the name of the customer or call the first name as last name which might make the customer uncomfortable . So always ask the customer how he would like to be called

2.How are you doing today?

Yes , this question is important and it will make us know how is the mood of the customer . Is he in a good mood or a bad mood . By asking this you might get two response, one where the answer will be one liner which implies that the customer is dull, not in a happy mood to talk. secondly you get a prolonged answer it means the customer is happy and you can start building Rapport .

3.How may i help you?

This is the common statement which all the customer service agents use . yes at the end of the day we are here to help customers and knowing how we can help the customer will give us a great idea with how to help them. 

4.Is there anything else I may help you today?

this is called the "Further help statement". where we do check what all the customer need to get . this is usually put after we help the customer with the current query and then asking him extended service so that he may not need to call us back today again.

5.Do you foresee any future needs in calling us back?

 This is called "First Response statement". this will help you in understanding when and why the customer will call back  or  this statement is really helpful to reduce the high end call volume and also enables that there is a good first call resolution when comes to the customer service matrix 

6.Is there anything better i could do on today's call?

this is a instant Customer satisfaction question. here the agents will know the instant feed back and also end up in getting great compliment and also add value to the conversation . feedback are always essential for better up our quality .

So these are the statements , to ensure we help our customers better.

Coffee Habitant

Over second and third cups flow matters of high finance, high state, common gossip and low comedy. [Coffee] is a social binder, a warmer of tongues, a soberer of minds, a stimulant of wit, a foiler of sleep if you want it so. From roadside mugs to the classic demi-taste, it is the perfect democrat. ~Author Unknown

Recent studies have generally found no connection between coffee and an increased risk of cancer or heart disease. In fact, most studies find an association between coffee consumption and decreased overall mortality and possibly cardiovascular mortality, although this may not be true in younger people who drink large amounts of coffee.

Why the apparent reversal in the thinking about coffee? Earlier studies didn't always take into account that known high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee drinkers at that time.

Studies have shown that coffee may have health benefits, including protecting against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and liver disease, including liver cancer. It also appears to improve cognitive function and decrease the risk of depression.

However, the research appears to bear out some risks. High consumption of unfiltered coffee (boiled or espresso) has been associated with mild elevations in cholesterol levels. And some studies found that two or more cups of coffee a day can increase the risk of heart disease in people with a specific — and fairly common — genetic mutation that slows the breakdown of caffeine in the body. So, how quickly you metabolize coffee may affect your health risk.

Although coffee may have fewer risks compared with benefits, keep in mind that other beverages, such as milk and some fruit juices, contain nutrients that coffee does not. Also, adding cream and sugar to your coffee adds more fat and calories. Some coffee drinks contain more than 500 calories.

Proven Health Benefits of Coffee

•  Coffee Can Improve Energy Levels and Make You Smarter
•  Coffee Can Help You Burn Fat
• Coffee May Lower Your Risk of Type II Diabetes
•  Coffee May Protect You From Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
• Coffee Drinkers Have a Lower Risk of Some Types of Cancer
•  Coffee Does Not Cause Heart Disease and May Lower The Risk of Stroke
•  Coffee May Help You Live Longer
•  The Caffeine Can Drastically Improve Physical Performance
•  There Are Essential Nutrients in Coffee
•  Caffeine May Lower The Risk of Parkinson’s
•  Coffee Appears to Have Protective Effects on The Liver
•  Coffee Can Fight Depression and Make You Happier
•  Coffee is The Biggest Source of Antioxidants in The Western Diet

Ways to Make Your Coffee Super Healthy

• No Caffeine After 2PM
• Add Some Cocoa to Your Coffee
• Choose a Quality Brand, Preferably Organic
• Add Some Cinnamon to Your Coffee
• Do NOT Load Your Coffee With Sugar
• Brew Your Coffee Using a Paper Filter 
• Avoid Low-Fat and Artificial Creamers

Customer Service "Your Job Role "

Customer service is a Bread and butter to all industries . without which its impossible to service once profits and needs.Lets check what roles all industries have for customer service professional

Health Care - Customer service in the healthcare industry is an idea whose time has come and it deserves serious attention. Given the impending changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act, the patient experience is going to likely be more important to hospitals than ever before. Unfortunately, patients are already so disillusioned with the hospital system that they believe they shouldn’t expect the same superior customer service there that so many other companies proudly proclaim. But nothing could be further from the truth

Banking care - Customer service is an important, but broad concept in the banking industry. In essence, banks are service-based businesses, so most of their activities involve elements of service. While they do sell banking and financial products, there is often little tangible product variation among their offerings. Customer service managers generally deal directly with service issues, but several other common banking jobs involve service.

IT Recruiting -An Information Technology (IT) recruiter specializes in hiring individuals to fill information technology positions in a variety of industries. The recruiter may fill permanent positions or temporary, project-based jobs. These recruiters will go after candidates based on their skills, such as programming skills or technical expertise. 

Technical support - tech support refers to a plethora of services by which enterprises provide assistance to users of technology products such as mobile phones, televisions, computers, software products or other electronic or mechanical goods. In general, technical support services attempt to help the user solve specific problems with a product rather than providing training, customization, or other support services. Most companies offer technical support for the products they sell, either freely available or for a fee. Technical support may be delivered over by e-mail, live support software on a website

Sales Representative – a sales rep does provide Services to existing accounts, obtains orders, and establishes new accounts by planning and organizing daily work schedule to call on existing or potential sales outlets and other trade factors. Adjusts content of sales presentations by studying the type of sales outlet or trade factor. Focuses sales efforts by studying existing and potential volume of dealers. Submits orders by referring to price lists and product literature. Keeps management informed by submitting activity and results reports, such as daily call reports, weekly work plans, and monthly and annual territory analyses.

Non Profit - Adjusting the lens on this adage for the social sector, it’s the donor who funds your mission. But unlike for-profits, which serve a customer who receives a product or service in exchange for dollars, donors who fund nonprofit programs likely do not directly experience the services they’re paying for. This makes it vital for nonprofits to fill the product-service satisfaction void with the simplest donor retentiontip of all time: effective communication.Research has shown that around 53% of donors who failed to support an organization more than once did so because the nonprofit lacked effective communication.

Automotive Support services- Drivers expect their brand to support them anytime, anywhere. And whether drivers choose to reach out through social media, your engagement center, owners portal, their mobile device or connected car, Customer service allows to leverage legacy investments to stay connected with them, be more relevant, service better, and sell better.