Terrific Trading

Put me through to your manager, NOW!

By Jurek Leon

Bosses please don’t read this.  Pass it on to your frontline staff.  It’s for them.  It will help them to feel better...and to educate you.

You see I’ve just been running another ‘Service Excellence Over The Telephone’ course and again this has proven to be a major frustration for your frontline team.

When you are in the frontline, callers can attempt to bully you into giving them what they want and at times take their frustrations out on you.  Unfortunately to some people, you are an easy target. 

When they don’t get their way, they often demand to speak to your manager.  You locate your manager, quickly let him or her know that this could be a delicate situation and transfer the call.

You then sit there for a moment feeling drained.  But that is NOTHING compared to how you feel when a few minutes later your manager comes out and says, “I don’t know why you were getting so hot and bothered about that call.  I had no trouble handling him.  He was a pussycat!”

You are too shocked to respond.  You clearly replay in your mind the snide or sarcastic comments the customer had made; the rude things they said; the way they talked down to you.  Inside you are churned up, perhaps even seething, and at that moment aren’t sure who you dislike the most – the unpleasant customer or your boss.

Does any of this sound familiar?  It is one of the most frequent frustrations that receptionists and frontline staff share with me on telephone techniques courses.

Mobile Phone Etiquette

by Jurek Leon

These days most businesses have in place telephone standards for the way calls are answered and transferred.  This ensures that the professionalism of the company is maintained.  However, very few companies have a telephone protocol and standards for mobile phones (in some countries such as New Zealand, Singapore and in North America better known as cell phones).  As a result, the telephone habits many people have when using mobile phones for work are often most unprofessional.

We’ve been exploring this topic with clients on our ‘Telephone Techniques’ courses.  Here are some guidelines for you and your team to consider.

1. The Greeting
Introduce yourself and let the caller know they have reached the right person.  For example, “Hi, this is Charnie.”
This is briefer than your landline greeting yet appropriate because it is your personal phone.

2. Switch off in meetings.  Anything else is disrespectful to the people you are with.