The Voice Of Reason: Communicating With A Customer Efficiently And Effectively
Having the right skills in business is more than just being able to know what customer to sell to. When it comes to selling products, you need to establish a relationship with them. And how is this done? There are many factors, body language is a big factor in how you communicate yourself to people. But if you are running an ecommerce business or a company where you deal with people over the phone, there are many more obstacles to overcome. As you are not able to be face to face with the customer, you have to rely on their voice only. Also, a phone line that is faulty or bad reception can cause frustration from the customer, which is not helpful if they were extremely frustrated in the first place! When you are speaking with a client or customer over the phone, there are certain skills that are an asset to how you build a relationship with your customer.
Communication
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This skill means many things. It could cover the words you choose to say or the tone of voice you are putting on for the conversation. While in person, it helps to alleviate a customer’s negative opinion by using open body language, over the phone, we don’t have that luxury. One thing to be wary of is the use of words that can be perceived to be negative. For example, saying “no problem” after a customer has thanked you could very easily set off alarm bells in their head because of the word “problem.” It implies that there may be some sort of issue. So, learning to put a positive spin on negative actions, like saying “what I can do is…” instead of “I can’t do that” will be a good approach to establishing a positive customer relationship.
Time Management
Time is money etc. We’ve heard it all before. But you do have a time limit, and it’s the one from the start of trading to the closing at the end of the day. As a customer service advisor, you need to be making use of that time as best as you can. You need to be able to get through to a customer within a quick time frame, if you don’t make that impact, then you have lost them forever. You need to not just sell the product, but you need to sell the business to the customer, and if you have spent a long time with someone and you’re not making headway, you need to know when to walk away and either get another colleague or a manager. Likewise, when you are in the wrong, being stubborn will not go in your favor. Learn the practice of compensating someone for your mistake, you could write cheap business checks for a decent sum, or use gift vouchers, or sometimes an apology is enough.
Patience
In your time you will encounter people that are confused, or frustrated with the service. Making sure that you are calm and patient will help you in many ways. As customers would rather you deliver great service rather than speedy service, don’t frustrate the customer more than is already possible!
