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16 Tips to Ensure Outstanding Call Center Etiquette

18th December 2020 Customer Service, Tips

Effective and excellent call center etiquette can go a long way in securing valuable customers and leads. However, you may have noticed that the rules are constantly changing. In this post, we detail the dos and don’ts of call center etiquette and how you can offer an outstanding call center experience. Read on to learn more!

Top Tips for Excellent Call Center Etiquette

How call center agents conduct themselves during calls can determine customer satisfaction and retention. Poor etiquette leads to bad customer service and low caller satisfaction. Call center etiquette can be divided into four different phases of the call such as:

  • Answering the call.
  • Speaking to customers and identifying issues.
  • Transferring customers to another agent or supervisor.
  • Ending the call.

In each of these phases, you must demonstrate professionalism, concern, and a desire to genuinely assist your caller. We’ll look at each of these phases individually and the different aspects to keep in mind to ensure you are providing outstanding call center etiquette. Learn more about promising customer service tips here.

When Answering the Call

The speed at which you answer the call as well as your tone can determine how the rest of the call goes. If you take too long or answer the call in a rushed manner, callers will immediately be put off. Keep these tips in mind as well:

1. Answer the Call Promptly
Customers do not like to be kept waiting when they are trying to reach customer support. Always answer the call on the second or third ring. Any longer than that, they may feel frustrated and abandon the call. Additionally, if it is too hard to reach your business time and time again, that customer will likely switch over to a competitor instead.

2. Greet with a Friendly Tone
Always greet callers with a positive attitude. Callers can sense your inflection on the phone. Smiling while you’re on a call is an old trick that conveys a friendly tone through the phone. Starting a call with a positive attitude encourages the same from the caller on the other line.

If someone is distraught about their product and in need of help, your positivity will help ease their frustrations because they will know by your tone that you are eager to help. You do not need to go overboard with this. A simple greeting like “Hello, you’ve reached (name of company) my name is ___, how can I help you today?” will suffice.

Identifying the Issue

Next up is taking the time to listen to your caller and identify the issue. This means you should key into their emotions and being empathetic while clearly understanding what the problem is. After all, if you do not know what is concerning them, you may not be able to help effectively.

3. Adopt Active Listening
Let them explain and describe the issue to you before you repeat it. Nothing frustrates a customer more than an employee that is not paying attention to them and seems in a rush to finish the call. Take time to understand where they are coming from and what the problem is. Reinforce your understanding by showing you have heard their situation and are working on a resolution.

4. Identify the Issue
Once you think you have a good handle over what the issue is, confirm it with them. Reiterate the problem as best as you understand it. Something like, “So, from what you are telling me, I understand that you are having an issue with . . .” or “. . . that you would like to . . .” This will help you ensure you have thoroughly understood the issue and will also demonstrate to the caller that you have been paying attention.

5. Be Patient and Helpful
Always be patient. Whether they are taking too long to explain the problem or are repeating themselves, your patience will determine whether this customer returns or not. When a client calls a company, it is more than likely to resolve an issue. Patiently listen to them. If you are unable to help them, transfer them to the correct department.

Transferring the Call or Placing the Caller on Hold

Most callers do not enjoy being placed on hold or transferred to another employee. Unfortunately, at times, it is necessary to transfer the call to someone who can handle it better or place them on hold so you can find the right information and help them better. Here are rules to observe when transferring a call or placing it on hold:

6. Determine Who to Transfer to
Again, listening intently to what their needs are will help you determine what department to send them to. After all, customers will only get more agitated if they need support but you sent them to sales.

7. Explain Why They Need to be Transferred
Most callers do not like to be bounced around. However, sometimes it is inevitable, especially if they reached the wrong department, to begin with. Explain to your caller why they need to be transferred to another department or employee.

8. During the Transfer
When you transfer a phone call, make sure that there is someone in that department available to take the call. Stay on the phone with your caller until someone answers and then you can introduce the caller to this new department. Do not abandon your caller till they have someone who can take care of them.

9. Ask Before Placing on Hold
Before you put someone on hold, ask them for their permission. Instead of saying “I’m going to put you on hold now” or nothing at all, say “Would it be alright if I put you on hold for a brief moment?” Then wait for an answer.

10. Use The Hold Button Appropriately
Make sure you and your teams know how to use the hold button so there is no confusion. For example, when you place someone on hold while you speak to another customer, the person on hold should not hear you speaking with the other customer or hear employees in the background. Hold music or a custom message can be played when they are on hold, instead.

11. Do Not Place Callers on Hold for Too Long
Do not leave someone on hold for a long time. If they are waiting to speak to someone in particular who is not available, inform them that they will be waiting for a certain period of time. If the wait exceeds 2-5 minutes, check in to let them know you have not forgotten about them but are taking longer to find what they need. If they do not want to stay on hold for long, encourage them to call back later or offer to call them when you have the information or person available.

call center software
Source: Stockphoto.com O#100053743383

Ending the Call

The last part of maintaining good call center etiquette focuses on how to end a call. This largely depends on how the call went. Were you able to resolve everything or is a follow-up required?

12. End The Call Politely

Always aim to end the call on a “high note.” If something needs your attention right away, offer to call the person back and let them know you will finish the conversation after you have dealt with this urgent matter.

When the conversation has come to a natural end, ask them if there is anything else you can do for them. If yes, proceed to assist. If no, thank them for their call. An example of a good way to end a phone call is, “Thank you so much for calling (company) today, I hope you enjoy your weekend.” Or, “It was a pleasure speaking with you, I’m glad that we could help you out today. Have a wonderful rest of your day.”

Additionally, if your company asks for surveys post calls, ask your caller if they would be interested in participating in a brief survey. And respect their wishes, whichever way they lean.

Do not rush them off the phone, and always wait for the customer to hang up before you hang up.

13. Offer Follow-Up Information
Alternatively, if a follow-up is required, let them know how to expect it. Will you send an email or phone call reminder? Should they call you back instead of your company contacting them? Either way, make sure that you have the information they need when the follow-up occurs.

Additional Call Center Etiquette

In addition to the above points, there are some other aspects of call center etiquette to pay attention to, such as call management and training.

14. Training Employees and Agents
So that agents know what they are supposed to do and how to best help customers, they need to be trained well. This includes:

    • Training new employees, even those that come with experience
    • Offering refresher courses and workshops to current employees periodically
    • Using call recording to record and review interactions
    • Conduct regular performance analysis
    • Provide access to seminars and training programs

15. Making a Call
Employees should be trained to make calls professionally. Be sure to introduce yourself and the reason for your call right away. Provide them with all the necessary details at the beginning of the call.

Leaving a voicemail is similar to making a call. Even with the voicemail, introduce yourself and explain the reason for your call. Also include contact details such as a phone number and, if needed, a time frame for them to call you back.

16. Forward Your Phone To Voicemail
If you are out of your office, send all incoming phone calls immediately to your voicemail so that the caller knows that you are unavailable. Having a caller sit through 20 rings before realizing that you’re not going to answer is impolite and leaves the caller with a negative feeling. Your voicemail should state who you are and when you will be back. An instant and informative voicemail saves the caller time and allows them the option of leaving a message or calling back at a more convenient time.

Offer Better Customer Service with the Right Etiquette

If you don’t try to do the best you can, chances are, you will miss the buck. To gain new customers and convert them into regulars and to treat your regulars like royalty, your call center etiquette needs to be on-point. Make the necessary changes, implement a strategy for continuous education, and watch as your business grows!

Related: 5 Surefire Ways to Improve Virtual Call Center CSAT Scores

11 Tips to Improve Your Outbound Calls Strategy

21st July 2020 Tips, VoIP

Are your outbound calls not making enough sales? You may need to rethink your strategies and implement new ones. Here are 11 tips to improve your outbound calling strategy and generate more leads.

11 Proven Tips to Improve Your Outbound Calls Strategy

Outbound calls are outgoing calls made from a company to its customers, vendors, and business partners. During outbound calls, agents or representatives call a list of promising leads or prospects and encourage them to make a purchase or sign up for a service.

Some common reasons for outbound calling are:

  • To increase brand awareness and visibility
  • Proactive approaches such as checking in with customers, setting upcoming appointments, following up on recent purchases or abandoned carts, etc.
  • Offering customer success services where you and customers or clients together work towards a goal
  • Verify or activate accounts
  • Send out reminders for upcoming payments or renewals
  • Collect feedback or conduct market research, to name a few

Outbound calls are sometimes known as cold calls, which are frequently used for sales, telemarketing, customer success, and more. However, cold calling is difficult because most customers are not prepared for your pitch.

So what can you do to grab their attention more effectively? Here are 11 useful tips to improve your outbound calling strategy.

1. Set Realistic Goals: Identify KPIs

First, it is important to set reasonable goals and share these with your teams. These goals and milestones can be modified as your business grows and new factors come into play. Make sure everyone understands what the goals are and how to achieve them. For example, are outbound calls meant to survey prospects or make a sale? How many sales should be made per month or per quarter? And so on.

Additionally, you want to identify relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can measure employee performance. Common KPIs associated with outbound and sales calls are:

  1. Average Handle Time: Length of calls in relation to the total number of calls. Longer handling times may indicate difficulty in closing, poor persuasion skills, or insufficient product knowledge.
  2. First Call Resolution: Number of calls resolved on the first call in relation to the total number of calls. High first call resolution indicates that agents are doing well and are able to sell effectively without wasting time.
  3. Conversion Rate: Number of sales in relation to the total number of calls. A low conversion rate means that not enough sales are being made and the outbound calling strategy needs more work.
  4. Occupancy Rate: Time agents are spending on calls in relation to the amount of unavailable time spent. A low rate for an agent or rep means that they are struggling with post-call work.

2. Create the Ideal Call List

This goes without saying but if you are not targeting the right audience and demographic for your business, you won’t make great sales. Therefore, creating the perfect list can impact how well your business performs. Conduct market research and allow collaboration between marketing and sales teams so that together they can work on ideal buyer personas for your product. Then, develop a promising list that agents can pursue and generate more sales with.

3. Get an Outbound Calling Service

Consider getting an outbound calling solution to support your local and international outbound calls. With a web dialer, your call center agent can quickly place calls from a computer and log important call notes.

Additionally, they can contact long-distance clients and display local area codes instead of international ones. Individuals are more likely to answer recognizable or local numbers instead of random, unknown ones.

4. Train Your Phone Sales Reps

Part of ensuring your phone sales reps are doing their jobs well is training them to do them correctly. Train and re-train agents to highlight and refresh best practices that they should imitate. Sit in on calls or record calls and review them to offer advice on proper and ineffective strategies. Refer to experts and webinars for more useful and modern sales development training tactics that outbound call center agents can use.

5. Collaborate with Marketing

Your marketing team has a good idea of how to sell to audiences. And your sales team knows who this audience is. Putting these two teams together can help you gain a bigger picture of your target audience and how to appeal to them.

6. Pay Attention to Your Prospect

Most agents dominate the call trying hard to make their pitch and sale. However, in order to gain their attention, you need to engage the prospect. Listen to them, pay attention to their needs, concerns, and issues. And adapt your pitch to make it flexible, allowing you to customize its relevance. This is much more useful as opposed to a stock script. Make them feel valued as individuals and not merely as another conquest in your sales job.

7. Study. Analyze. Optimize

Next, study your processes, responses, and agent performance. Use the KPIs and other metrics to track how your call center or business is performing. Analyze call tracking metrics to boost inside sales revenue.

8. Identify the Best Calling Times

Another factor worth paying attention to is the best time of day to call prospects. Most experts suggest that Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to call prospects. This is because they are not preoccupied with the upcoming week or getting ready for the weekend. Additionally, calling between 11 am and 1 pm or 4 pm and 5 pm is preferable instead of early morning or during the pre- or post-work commute.

9. Consider Outbound Calling Tools

As mentioned before, consider outbound calling tools such as a call center dialer, CRM, and customizable caller ID to boost your success rate. These tools make it easy and even automate processes to a certain degree which can make placing calls and closing deals faster.

10. Simplify the Process

Make it easy for prospects to understand your brand and product, find more information, and make the purchase. Only offer information that is necessary and relevant. Overstatement and technical jargon can put customers off.

11. Record and Review Interactions

It can be very helpful to see how your employees are interacting with customers. Use a call recording software to review calls and pay attention to customer preferences, behaviors, and more. This will give you insights into what aspects of your product or service are most and least successful. Based on that information, you can create better products and services and improve customer care.
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Drive Up Sales for Your E-Commerce Business with Outbound Calling

10th April 2020 Tips

Maintaining the sales growth rates can be overwhelming as businesses of different kinds go through high and low periods. But as an owner, you must ensure that your e-commerce business has the right tools to keep the rate steady, if not growing. Outbound calling is one such communication service that can help you reach and maintain the standards you set for the business.

Why Your E-Commerce Business Should Consider Outbound Calling

Outbound calling service is a virtual communication service offered by Global Call Forwarding. This service works to boost your outgoing call rate and supports your sales strategy. It enables you to call potential, recent, and recurring customers to offer customer support. Therefore, businesses that already have a large outgoing call volume or want to increase their outbound calling rate should consider this service.

If you get outbound calling alongside your virtual phone number plan from a cloud-based communications provider like Global Call Forwarding, then you will be able to route calls over the internet instead of traditional phone lines. This lets you expand your e-commerce business’ reach and connect with neighboring cities, states, and countries without having to worry about long-distance calling rates. You can interact with international customers without having to relocate.

Customize Your Caller ID

Global Call Forwarding offers this service with a customizable caller ID option. This means that you can display matching caller IDs of areas you are calling. For example, say you want to expand your business to Dubai, Mumbai, and London. If you purchase local or toll free numbers for these cities, then you can display their specific caller IDs when calling them. And so, when individuals receive your call, they will recognize a local or toll free number instead of a random international or “unknown” number.

Prospects are more likely to answer calls from numbers and calling codes they recognize. Additionally, they won’t hesitate to call back because they won’t be charged extra for calling a local number. And, they won’t be charged at all for calling a toll free one. This is how outbound calling can help you connect with new target groups, pitch your product, and generate more sales.

What Can You Achieve with this Service?

Besides merely selling to new prospects, you also want to satisfy your existing customers. Believe it or not, these are the customers that have the potential to form a fanbase for your service and recommend it to others. And, they can become recurring customers who use your service time and again because of good customer service and credibility. So, what are some ways your e-commerce business can use outbound calling to provide customer support?

  • Increase brand awareness
  • Welcome new customers
  • Generate leads through warm and cold calling
  • Verify customers and sales
  • Follow-up on purchases or inquires
  • Offer membership programs
  • Offer specials and promotions
  • Follow-up on abandoned carts or failed orders
  • Send out reminders for renewals and payments
  • Collect surveys and feedback

Get Outbound Calling

Getting outbound calling for your e-commerce business is simple. Find a provider that offers the service for a price that matches your budget. Watch for any additional features or tools that they provide as well. Global Call Forwarding offers outbound calling with call recording with each of our plans for a small additional fee.

To get the service, simply sign up for a new business number or port your existing number on our homepage. From the optional features, choose “Outbound Calling” and add it to your plan. Finalize your purchase and you can activate the service in less than a day. To learn more about our outbound calling service, call us at 1 (888) 908 6171.

Inbound Sales vs Outbound Sales: What Does Your Business Need?

11th March 2020 Learn, Tips

One of the early choices a new start-up or small business needs to make is whether to adopt an inbound sales or outbound sales model. And in order to make the right decision, business owners need to understand what the difference is between the two sales approaches.

Inbound Sales vs Outbound Sales

Businesses vary in the type of products and services they offer as well as how they make sales. Some rely on interested prospects or website visitors who reach out to the company to make a purchase. While others rely on reaching out to potential target customers to sell the product to them. This, essentially, is the key difference between inbound sales and outbound sales.

Inbound sales and outbound sales—or inbound and outbound calling—differ based on the origination of the lead. Inbound sales refer to sales made when interested customers take the first step. On the other hand, outbound sales refer to selling attempts made by the company where they reach out to potential customers.

Inbound Sales

Often referred to as “warm leads,” inbound sales occur when an interested party initiates the selling process. That is, they’ve come across your product or service through ads or your website, and have now contacted you to make an inquiry or a purchase. Sales representatives have an advantage with inbound sales because they have a general idea of the customer’s need as well as their interest. And so, inbound sales have a better conversion rate.

At the same time, it should not be assumed that every inquiry or call will convert immediately. Interested individuals want more information or are in the market to research and compare products, and may not move forward in the buying process. The way to increase inbound sales is by making it easier and convenient for interested customers to call you. Toll free business numbers give callers a free way to call while click-to-call widgets on websites let callers connect with you with fewer steps.

Outbound Sales

Inhouse and outsourced sales teams use outbound sales to reach out to a predetermined list of individuals, in an attempt to sell your product to them. This list is usually created based on market research and in collaboration with marketing and sales teams. Individuals included in the list represent the ideal customer or buyer persona for your product. And so, it prevents your employees from connecting with weak leads.

Outbound sales take longer. Reps have to engage with clients over and over again, educate them about your services and present your business as the solution they need. Outbound sales are much harder to achieve than inbound sales and so are often underrated. Outbound sales do, however, help your business and sales teams expand their network and tap into new markets. Most businesses use an outbound calling solution to boost their sales calls. Outbound calling is a cloud-based communication service that lets an organization call local and international contacts in an inexpensive way.

Which is More Suitable for Your Business?

While one may seem better than the other, the general consensus is that having both inbound and outbound sales proves more beneficial. But which do you need and when do you need to implement it? The structure of your sales approach depends on your business’ growth stage. Have you promoted your business enough? Do customers know it exists and can easily understand the products and services offered? Could they use a guiding hand?

It helps to have a variety of communication channels that support both inbound and outbound sales. To encourage inbound sales, use social media, content and email marketing, and paid ads to attract viewer attention. For outbound sales, purchase local numbers in the cities and states you plan to target. Individuals are more likely to answer calls from numbers that are familiar, as opposed to unknown, random numbers.

Communication Features with Global Call Forwarding

Boost your business’ communications with business numbers and advanced features like Outbound Calling, Call Recording, IVR, and more. For more information and to learn more about what we offer, contact us at 1 (888) 908 6171.

Improve Customer Success and Retention for Your Online Marketing Service with Outbound Calling

5th March 2020 Learn

For many businesses, customer success and service can vastly impact how well they succeed and how long they survive. You will find that your online marketing service is no different. And so, you need every tool and feature available that can support your outbound calling needs which, in turn, will increase customer retention rates. Let’s see how all these elements work together.

What is Customer Success and Retention?

Customer success and retention are business functions that focus on providing customers with the necessary tools to succeed and achieve their goals. And, thereby, convert them into a returning customer. Customer success is a proactive approach where employees or reps reach out to customers to work together and find better solutions. Some tactics include suggesting other products, offering upgrades, cross-selling, providing market research and analytics, etc.

To ensure your marketing service is offering customers the best quality of work, customer success enables you to:

  • Develop strong customer relations by understanding their needs and goals
  • Take into account metrics and analytics for improvement
  • Help them reach their long-term goals
  • Present your product or service as the solution.

Customers who find value in your service—and can track their growth and success—will come back for more. These are the customers who will further recommend your marketing service to others.

Cold and Warm Contact with Outbound Calling

Because of these reasons customer support and retention are extremely crucial for the successful running of your company. So, why do we recommend using outbound calling for marketing services? This service offers a way to reach as many customers as you want, anywhere in the world for a reasonable subscription rate.

Outbound calling supports high outgoing call volumes. Whether you are conducting market research for a client or welcoming new clients or want to stay in constant communication with customers to help them achieve their goals, outbound calling will enable steady, reliable, and high call quality.

Reach More Customers by Switching Your Caller ID

More importantly, however, outbound calling gives you the ability to reach customers, clients, and markets across the world through your phone. How can you do this? First, you buy multiple local and toll free business numbers for areas and markets you want to target. Then, through our outbound calling feature, you can override your caller ID to display one from the list of numbers purchased.

For example, say your company is based in India but you want to expand to Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, and Mauritius. You can purchase numbers from Global Call Forwarding for these countries and then when you call Morocco, you can have the caller ID on your prospect’s phone display the Morocco number. Likewise, it can be coordinated the same way for the other countries you are doing business with.

Give Customers a Reason to Trust Your Service

The benefit of using virtual numbers and outbound calling for sales and marketing services is that you don’t have to pay high international calling fees. This is because your calls are routed through the internet instead of traditional phone lines. Calling and managing global clientele has never been easier.

Additionally, prospects are more likely to answer calls from numbers they are familiar with. And they are also more likely to ignore calls from areas and country codes they don’t recognize. So it is necessary to increase customer loyalty and confidence in your brand by being there for them proactively and demonstrating that their success is valuable to you.

How Can Global Call Forwarding Help with Customer Success?

Global Call Forwarding has local, international, and toll free numbers for more than 160 countries across the world. You can purchase multiple numbers with your outbound calling plan and pay only for what you subscribe to. Sign up for a new number or call us at 1 (888) 908 6171 for more information. We are here to help you achieve your goals and satisfy your loyal customers. Take advantage of our services today!

Best Home and Business Phones for Outbound Calling

29th January 2020 Tips

Have you been in the market for the best home and business phones for outbound calling? If so, it is rather simple to find a great one. When you purchase a virtual phone number with the outbound calling feature, you can make calls from your mobile phone or a landline. The virtual number of your choice is what will appear on the call recipient’s caller ID. This allows you to streamline when it comes to equipment, allowing you to use your number at your convenience.

Professional Communication for Businesses

Business owners are commonly on-the-go. Calling business-related contacts from one’s personal cell phone isn’t the most desirable option. Not only does this appear unprofessional, but it also leaves the business owner’s personal number on business contacts’ caller IDs. With a virtual phone number, a business owner can make calls from their mobile device and have their designated business number show up on the recipient’s caller ID. This is much more professional than having a personal mobile phone number used for communication.

Flexibility with Outbound Calling

Life is busy. Whether you are looking for the best home phone option or the best business phone option, virtual numbers allow for the highest level of flexibility. Entrepreneurs often use their cell phones to call clients using one virtual number and then have another virtual number for home use. This offers significant cost savings and eliminates the need to have more than one physical phone. A virtual number owner can use a customized ringtone feature, like those offered by Global Call Forwarding, to distinguish between calls coming into the same device for home and business phones.

Customized Greetings

When using virtual phone numbers for home and business phones, not only can you set up customized ringtones for incoming calls, but you can also set up customized greetings in case you miss a call. This allows you to set up a professional greeting for calls coming in through your business number. You can also then set up a personal greeting for calls coming in through the home phone number.

Boost Professionalism

When you know a business-related phone call is coming in, you can appropriately answer the call. Whether it is in the choice of words you use to answer the call or the tone, the details translate the same way. Above all, it is necessary that you sound professional. Being able to make outgoing calls and receive calls on a single number allows you to be mobile, while staying connected to your business. A business owner selects features such as extensions to get calls routed to individual departments more quickly. All of these things add up to boost professionalism and positively impact the growth of the business.

How Do I Purchase a Virtual Number?

Getting virtual numbers set up with the best home and business phones for outbound calling is easy and quick. There is no need for hardware installation. Virtual numbers are cloud-based. A user manages the communication system via an online control panel. With Global Call Forwarding, the process is seamless and the steps for signup are simple. Simply head to the website at www.GlobalCallForwarding.com, view the drop-down boxes at the center of the home page, and enter the relevant information for purchase. After purchase, activation will occur shortly.

In Closing

Making outbound calls using one device with multiple virtual phone numbers beats making calls from business landline devices and home landline devices. Virtual phone numbers help a business owner maintain a professional image while managing other things outside of the office. Virtual phone numbers can be local or toll free, offering telecommunication solutions for all types of needs, worldwide. Contact Global Call Forwarding today for the best home and business phones for outbound calling.