“Let me transfer your call.” What goes through your mind when you hear those words? Do you have visions of being placed on hold, waiting for someone else to come on the line, repeating what you just said, and then hearing one more time, “Let me transfer your call?” Feelings of frustration set in and your confidence in the company you dialed begins to diminish. It’s a game of musical phones played to a tune that no one enjoys.
If you don’t like being transferred from person to person over the phone, your customers don’t care for it either. There are a number of ways to transfer callers without creating more problems along the way.
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<b> 1. Greet the customer enthusiastically. </b> Put a smile on your face and energy in your voice. Intentionally sound fun, interesting, friendly, and conversational. When you do these simple things, you will find that you are quickly establishing rapport with callers and that customers enjoy speaking with you.
<b> 2. Listen without interrupting. </b>It can be tempting to interrupt a rambler or storyteller, but try not to do so within the first few seconds. Listen patiently and let the customer tell you what is on her mind. Of course, you can’t let a long-winded caller get out of hand.
<b> 3. Respond with appropriate emotions.</b> Be natural with your customers. When they are happy and the situation calls for more energy, express this energy. If the situation calls for empathy, don’t sit there like a stone, express empathy. When I was in car rental and a customer would complain about a breakdown in one of our rental cars, I’d quickly make an expression of empathy like: “I realize how frustrating this whole thing must be for you.”
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Last week I made an early morning trip to a seminar/book promo breakfast to promote my web site. After putting out flyers all over the place I took a moment to step in to the facility and caught a few moments of a morning with Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE.
As I stepped through the door, a question and answer session was in progress. A woman stepped up to the microphone and asked “Is the customer always right?”
Jack smiled and said, “You might not think so, and they may believe so, but if you don’t make it so, you’re dead!”
Jack, that is a pretty strong consequence. Dead. But let’s face it. Who will come to do business with you again after you argue with them about their dissatisfaction? I think most people will just go somewhere else.
Isn’t is just common sense that we let our customer complain and then make it right? Well for the business owner, we usually just grin and say ” what would it take to make you happy today?” but what about our employees?
If we have not taken the time to train our employees how to deal with an unhappy customer, how will they react when one attacks them with ” the food was cold and tasted like crap!” or “I only had it for three days and the wheel fell off!”
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Just imagine. You have walked out of a shop or put down the phone after purchasing something and your immediate reaction is “Wow!” How do you feel? Excited; satisfied; fulfilled … eager to return and buy again?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could get your customers to feel the same way about dealing with you?
Lots of small business owners (and not so small!) seem to think that the customer is merely an interference. But how can you get your customers all pumped up and ready to do business with you again?
I’ll share some tips on exactly how you can get a ‘Wow!” response and show how it can positively impact your bottom line.
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