Always answer clearly, with a positive tone and pitch. Enunciate your words and don’t over complicate.
Be friendly but remain professional at all times.
Speak with confidence
Be polite and courteous
Answering every call with:
“Good morning/afternoon/evening, venuedirectory.com, “Rosie” speaking, how may I help you?”
Ensure you note their name and company/venue – look it up on the crm
Do not be afraid to ask them to repeat it if you are unsure.
Use their first name, it creates a positive interaction and makes the caller feel at ease
Putting on Hold to check someone’s line.
“I will try their line for you, I won’t be a moment”
“I will need to pop you on hold while I try their line, I won’t keep you long”
“Bear with me while I try their line a moment”
Always tell them they are being placed on hold and assure them it won’t take long.
If the person is able to take the call, put them through.
If not:
“I’m not getting any answer on that line right now, Can I take a message for you”
“They are unavailable at the moment, can I help at all? Would you like to leave a message?”
For the more demanding:
“They are away from their desk at the moment, is there anything I can do to help?”
“They are in a meeting for the next hour(etc), can I help at all?”
Ensure you pass all messages on via email
You get stuck on a question/ don’t know the answer/just need help?
Ensure you understand what their question is; ask them to explain if unsure.
Write it all down, confirm it back to the client.
“I am just going to have to check that for you, do you mind holding while I speak with my colleague”
“I am going to need to look into this for you, could I take some contact details please and I will call you back “
Really stumped!
“I am not familiar with this particular issue. Do you mind if I pop you on hold or I can call you back, I would like to run through this with my colleague quickly?”
Run through the details of the query with the team, write down everything you are told.
“Thank you for holding. I am going to need to run through a few questions/actions with you that should help determine/resolve this issue. Are you still okay to go through this now?”
If you are still unsure on how to handle a situation, your colleague may need to take the call from you. If this happens:
“Thank you for holding, sorry to have kept you. I am going to pass you over to my colleague, “Alex”, who will be able to help you”
Tips:
If you need guidance that only a particular person can offer, tell the client you will call them back as soon as you are able.
Never offer a callback time unless you are certain you can achieve it but never leave them doubting that you will call them back and never leave them too long.
If you are out of your comfort zone with a particular query, question or issue. Be polite, remain calm and confident and you will be fine.
Negative Calls:
From time to time we all pick up a “bad” call! The key to success with these calls is to remain calm and to listen to what the problem may be.
Do not take it personally, and never let yourself react! As soon as you realise that it could be a difficult call, find them on the crm and check for past issues, start taking notes. Let them get the complaint out, try not to interrupt.
When able, confirm the issue in brief, this will ensure you are both on the same page.
Apologise, but do not go over the top, sometimes this can have a negative impact! They need to feel that you are on their side but not hiding behind the apology.
“I am so sorry that you experiencing these issues, I have been taking some notes so bear with me, I want to make sure I have understood this correctly”
“I am sorry to hear that, I want to make sure I have understood that correctly, do you mind if I just run through this with you quickly”
“I am sorry to hear that, I understand the issue, I will need to run through a few questions with you and then hopefully get this sorted for you”
System Issues
When disaster strikes and we have a system error or if the system is down, it can be very daunting when you are handling those calls coming in. Do not tell the caller we already know about the issue - be appreciative of their feedback.
Here are a few phrases that you can use when this happens. Always check if you are not sure.
Take their name, contact number and where they are calling from.
Write down the issue in detail, never assume every issue is the same.
Sorry to hear you’re experiencing issues, thank you for bringing this to our attention. I will ask our developers to investigate this for you.
“I do apologise for the inconvenience this is causing you, we will look into this now and come back to you as soon as we can”
“Thank you for your call, our developers are looking at this right now, we will come back you as soon as we have an update”
We are aware of the issue, we do apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and will come back to you as soon as we can”
Example Phone Conversation
Q: Hi, this is John from the Days Hotel Bournemouth “Can I speak with Caroline please ”
You: Hi John, Can I ask what it is regarding please?
Q: I would like to discuss my renewal.
You: “ Okay, I am just going to place you on hold while I check to see if Caroline is available. I won’t be a moment”
You – Caroline –
While you have been chatting to John, be sure to bring up the venue details or user details. – You know he wants to discuss his renewal, so check his sub dates.
You: “ Hi Caroline I have John at the Days Hotel Bournemouth on the line, he would like to discuss his renewal, I have checked the listing and it expires in March”
Caroline: “Hi, Sorry I can’t take the call, can you tell him I will call him back”
You and John
You: Hi John, Caroline isn’t available at the moment, Can I take a telephone number please so that she may call you back?”
Terminology and Slang words
It’s easy to drop into conversations slang or abbreviated words when in a conversation, try to avoid terms such as Nope, Yea, Nah, I Dunno, see ya, um, er etc.
When in a professional setting you have to be careful that you don’t slip into your “everyday language”,
You may need to learn to swap casual phrases with more courteous ones.
See the below for examples.
Phrases not to use! | What you should say |
Who is it? | May I ask who's calling please |
What company is it? | Where are you calling from please? |
I don’t know | I will have to look into that for you, or I'm not too sure at the moment, can I come back to you. |
Sorry, you can’t talk to them | They are not available to speak with at present, can I take a message for you? |
They’re not there | They are not at their desk right now |
I can’t help you or I don’t know how to do that | Let me see if there is anyone available that can help you with this. |
What did you want? | Can I ask what it is regarding please? |
What do you need? | How can I help you? Or Could you tell me what you are looking for and I will see if I can help |
Say that again | I'm sorry I didn’t quite catch that, could you repeat that please? |