Telephone Skills for Business & Personal Excellence

Written by Lizzie Learn On 31st Aug 2017

ll businesses rely on customers. In our current age where nearly everyone has a smartphone, businesses have the ability to connect with their customers, and vice versa, like never before. But just because the potential for greater communication is there, doesn’t mean that these channels are being used effectively. Speaking on the phone is sometimes a customer’s only dealings with a company, and one bad experience is enough for them to take their business elsewhere. Here we explore the benefits of proper telephone skills for both business and personal excellence.

Positive Contact

Do you recognise the value of excellent customer service delivered on the phone? In many cases, communicating with customers over the phone is the most convenient and direct form of communication.

Call centres continue to be one of the quickest growing areas of businesses in the UK. However, all too often the staff do not receive adequate training, which can have devastating ramifications for the customers on the receiving end of phone calls with these untrained employees.

Call centre agents or any employee of a business who communicates with customers using the phone needs to represent the company with clarity, efficiency, professionalism and friendliness. Otherwise, improperly trained telephone staff could be costing your business dearly, in both profit and customers.

Business Benefits of Improved Telephone Communication Skills

All interactions we have with other people involve communication, on one level or another. Communication is the glue that holds people together, or when it is misused or abused, is what divides people. The same is as true for personal relationships as it is for business connections. What follows are some of the incredible benefits you can expect to gain from learning telephone communication skills.

Customer Retention

An excellent customer service experience over the phone is likely to deliver you more custom in future, and increase brand loyalty. When your customers get treated with respect and consideration, they’re much more likely to stick with you in the future. What’s more, word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising, and your customers who have positive telephone interactions with your staff are more likely to tell a friend about you.

Increased Profits

Effectively dealing with customers over the phone creates trust between you and the customer. Such positive human interactions are invaluable, yet they also increase the likelihood that these customers will buy other products from you in the future because they will be more receptive to your offers.

Represent Your Company in a Positive Light

In many cases telephone interactions are a customer’s first, and sometimes only, interaction with a company. Setting a good first impression is essential for business. Solving problems over the phone lets your customers know that your company cares about the experience they have with you. Even if they’re calling to complain, herein lies the opportunity: with the correct approach of your telephone staff, to become even more favourable in their eyes when you solve their problem.

Personal Benefits of Improved Telephone Communication Skills

Your phone interactions with customers shouldn’t just be about benefitting them; you can also gain a lot of personal fulfilment and confidence from these interactions. It stands to reason that the more you practise something, the better at it you become. One advantage of working in a job where you speak to strangers every day is it allows you to develop your communication skills, if you know how.

Gain Interpersonal Skills

Improving communication over the phone is a transferable skill you can apply to real life. This can be advantageous in overcoming shyness, or if you struggle to spark up conversations with strangers. Gaining phone communication skills is also a great help in making new friends.

Avoid the Misunderstandings of Text Messages & Email

The written word only accounts for 10% of the meaning that is communicated in any message. The rest of it is pretty much half body language (which you obviously can’t read when you’re not physically with someone) and the tone of your voice.

Becoming better at communicating over the phone is for many a preferred medium, as you can get that deeper element of communication that text messages and emails can’t, and avoid the many conflicts and misunderstandings that arise from people making false assumptions and projecting their wrong ideas onto the written word.

There’s much more space for asking for clarification when speaking to someone as opposed to exchanging messages, and the information can be communicated much faster.

Have More Honest Interactions

Speaking to someone over the phone encourages a deeper, more authentic interaction. People can express themselves much more and this fosters a more profound connection. In comparison, communicating through other mediums like text and email completely remove the human element, the energy behind the words that gives them their true meaning, emotion and complexity.

Take Your Phone Game to the Next Level

Improving your phone communication skills will do wonders for both your business and your personal life. It’s a potent way to increase customer retention, increase profits, and create a favourable image for your company. It’s also a potent way to improve your interpersonal interactions and your communication with others, as well as having more honest, rewarding relationships. The phone is a powerful tool in the right hands, coupled with the right knowledge.