Contents of the free course 
Introduction
Telephones: Problems and Opportunities
Have you also considered these aspects of the course?
- Communicating on the Telephone
- Telephone Skills
- Reception Skills
- Does and Don’ts on the Telephone
- Handling Problems and Objections
- Controlling Anger
- Dealing with Criticism
- Handling Complaints
Increase your earnings! Take the full course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information
AIMS
The aims of this course are to enable people who use the telephone in business situations to improve their skills and deliver better customer care through telephone contact.
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course you will be able to:
improve customer self esteem
. describe and use techniques for good telephone communication
• employ good practice in complaint handling and problem solving
• handle criticism constructively and control anger
• promote improved customer relations
Introduction
Telephone contact with customers and potential customers is an increasingly important part of business life. With the advent of call centres, we all now regularly deal with organisations exclusively by telephone and whether your business is a small enterprise or a multi-national organisation, customers expect to do business on the phone.
Every telephone call to any business is an opportunity to create the right impression whether the caller wants to place an order, enquire about your services, complain or simply speak to a colleague. Unfortunately, all too often, the potential to make a good impression is lost, either because of a poor telephone manner, failure to understand the caller’s needs or simply a misunderstanding.
When speaking on the telephone we all have to rely on the words we hear, and the manner in which they are spoken. Without the visual contact there is plenty of scope for good intentions to be misunderstood. If you call someone and they sound as though they are too busy, bored or disinterested, no matter what words we hear we will interpret those against the impression we have. So not only is it essential to understand the effect of non-verbal telephone behaviour, we all need to be able to practice skills in telephone technique which positively create the right impression. Don’t forget, whatever else you may be doing when the phone rings the caller will expect your full attention and will know whether you are giving it.
In this course we will look at a series of techniques for handling calls in different situations and using telephone opportunities to create good customer care each time.
Don’t forget, every call is an opportunity to create a good impression.
Increase your earnings! Take the full course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information
Telephones: Problems and Opportunities
In face-to-face meetings we communicate in three simple ways:
. What we perceive is happening - SEEN
. How we are spoken to - HEARD
. What is being achieved - DONE
We see what is going on around us and begin to build a picture of how things are going, we listen to what is being said and the questions we are asked and we see whether people take notice of what we say. Through our seeing and hearing we begin to ascertain what will be done for us.
Now consider the telephone. It is perhaps the most important communication tool we have, but when using the telephone we are deprived of our major sense device, sight.
Therefore our ability to make callers believe that we understand, we care and that something will be done to help them is all heard.
In a face-to-face meeting, whether it be in an office, in reception or in a shop, pauses and silences are filled by activity and we are usually content to wait a few moments provided we know what is happening and are satisfied that the pause is necessary. On the phone there is no such feedback and so as a communication medium we need to be very conscious of our reliance on hearing.
Consequently in telephone conversations we need to make sure that we compensate for the lack of visual feedback by explaining what we are doing. However, because people can’t see you, the telephone has its problems: 
Problem (1)
They can’t see your smiling face
Problem (2)
They can’t see that you are ready and willing to help
Problem (3)
They will assume that it is convenient and that you have nothing else to do
Problem (4)
They can’t see whether you are listening and understand their problem
Problem (5)
They assume that you can hear, and do not like to repeat themselves
Not being able to see what is happening seems quite negative and there are some problems which can occur, but it also gives you opportunities which can be beneficial:
Opportunity (1) In many cases you can get straight through to the person you wish to speak with. This would be far more difficult if you went to visit them.
Opportunity (2) On the telephone you can sound efficient and organised even if all around you is chaos.
Opportunity (3) On the telephone you can be a large company even if there are only 2 or 3 of you
Opportunity (4) Whoever answers the telephone can sound important
So, every phone call presents us with potential problems but also opportunities. During later stages of the course we will examine methods of ensuring that we can seize opportunities whilst avoiding the pitfalls and the problems which are apparent with telephone communication.
Increase your earnings! Take the full course and receive nationally recognised qualification or call us free at 08000-75-8000 for further information |
