Basic Business Telephone Boo-Boos
Probably the most basic mistake you have made concerning your business telephone might have nothing to do with the type of phone system you happened to get. After all, getting the newest, greatest and most feature-packed technology is only half the battle – all those extra-cool perks are basically useless if you do not really know the best way to leverage them. In other words, you have to actually use your business telephone the way it was meant to be used if you want your phone line to really generate earnings for your business. What that, in turn, means is that you have to think about all the telephone features with regards to how they are able to help you communicate better.
So what is it that we do wrong when we use a modern business telephone?
Unclear diction
Local accents might be good if you are serving a local industry or if you would like to create a particular brand that emphasizes a local identity, but if the accent is too thick, there is a risk of not being understood. Ensure that you enunciate your words whenever you are speaking to any customer. This doesn’t mean that you have to completely change your accent; you just need to slow down once you speak. You’re not in a race; you are in the middle of wanting to communicate with someone. It doesn’t do to leave listeners behind.
You will be basically telling people that they are able to have a conversation with you whenever you have a phone number for your business. When they really feel that they can’t simply because you rely too much on automatic greetings or make things inconvenient for them, then you will be defeating the purpose of having a company telephone.
Complete lack of awareness and listening skills
They generally want you either to offer them with pertinent details or solve problems for them, when people call your business. If you do not even bother to concentrate on what they’re saying to figure out what they want from you, then you’re just wasting everyone’s time – and almost certainly wasting money on a call that nobody will profit from. Be aware of what callers are looking for, so you react accordingly: assist them, or forward their call to a person who can.
“Hello”
There is still the risk of confusing callers even if your business phone system does its job correctly and sends calls to appropriate people. How? By not automatically confirming that they’ve reached the correct extension, you’ll be able to make people really feel uncomfortable. You need to clearly state your department and identity from the get-go; saying “hello” just isn’t enough. Don’t make the caller ask if they’ve got the right extension.
Complicated, overextended automated greetings
As useful as the auto attendant can be, you may still find a lot of people who don’t like having to listen to it ramble for extended periods of time. It doesn’t matter how beneficial you think a detailed greeting and dial directory greeting might be at the beginning of a conversation; at the end of the day, most callers just want to talk to a real person as soon as possible. So keep things simple by limiting the greeting to a salutation, the name of your company, and an abbreviated list of your extensions – such as a line to a live operator.
Find out more about Business Telephone articles and other valuable facts on our website. Our Business Telephone system offers many conversation reasons why you are your business. It’s always best to know them and compare which phone system supplier that operates better to suit your company needs.
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