1.

PHONE ETIQUETTE FOR BUSINESS CALLS

Telephone calls are part of daily operations in a business. You need them in order
to call out and contact vendors, business associates, and clients or customers.
Business phones are also valuable in that they open a door of communication with
customers by allowing them to contact your business at any time during your hours
of operation. As important as the phone is, it is just as important that your business
knows the difference between what is good and what is bad phone etiquette

You must understand that how you interact with clients and business associates
over the phone will either portray your company in a positive light or a negative
one. For this reason, it is important that companies properly train their employees
on good and bad phone practices.

The method that you choose to communicate should be appropriate to the

audience, situation, and nature of the message that needs to be communicated.

TELEPHONE DO'S

  #1   When answering a business phone it is important that it is not allowed to ring

more than three times. Advise employees that the second or third ring is the ideal
time to pick up the telephone. 

   #2   The phone should be answered with a positive greeting such as “Hello,”

“Good Morning,” or “Good Afternoon,” etc. Following the greeting, the person who
answers the phone should give his or her name and the name of the business or
organization that is being contacted. 

  #3   Put on a smile before placing or answering a phone call. When a person

smiles it affects the sound of his or her voice, giving it a more pleasant and friendly
tone. For clarity, the telephone should be held a distance of two fingers from the
mouth. 

  #4   Speak in a clear tone using a voice that is neither too loud nor too low. Words
should be enunciated and said slow enough that people are able to understand
what is being said to them.

   #5   If someone must be put on hold, ask for permission first, and give him or her
the option to leave a voicemail message. When taking them off of hold thank the
caller to show that their time is respected.

  #6   When a caller is speaking, listen to what he or she has to say without

interruptions.

   #7   When placing a call a person should always state his or her name before
asking for the person that the call is for.
   #8   Always return phone calls if a return call has been promised. If a time frame
was given the caller must make every attempt to return the phone call as quickly as
possible within that frame.

   #9   If it is necessary to transfer a call, inform the person on the other end before
doing so. It is also important to explain the need for the transfer.

   #10   Before transferring a call, confirm that the person to whom the call is being
transferred is available. This person’s name should be given to the party who is
being transferred.

TELEPHONE DONT'S

  #1   If a person is answering the telephone, he or she should never answer on the
first ring. Callers do not expect this and will be taken off guard.

 #2   Don’t answer the phone when eating, chewing, or drinking. If a person has
anything in his or her mouth it should be swallowed or removed before picking up
the phone to either answer it or place a call.

   #3   If you must leave the phone, never leave the line open. Instead, place the
person on hold and check back with him or her frequently – preferably every 45
seconds.

  #4   Never say the words, “I don’t know” when talking with someone on the
phone. The ideal response to a question where there is not a definite answer is to
say “I’ll check on that for you.”

   #5   When talking to a client or a customer never say anything that can be taken
as rudeness. The person who answers the phone should always talk to the caller in
the way that he or she would like someone to speak to them.

 #6   A person should never use slang when speaking to a caller. Swear words
should also never be used and may be illegal under certain circumstances,
according to Federal law.

  #7   It is never acceptable to argue with a caller.

  #8   Do not transfer a call without informing the person on the phone and asking
permission to do so.

  #9   When ending a phone call, do not hang up the phone without a positive
closure such as “Thank you for calling,” or “Have a Good Day.”
 2. THE 9 PRINCIPLES OF QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE

All else being equal, good quality customer service gives the edge over
competitors. Regardless of industry, here are the 9 key principals of good customer
service that always make business sense.
1. Attracting new customers costs more than retaining existing customers
A satisfied customer stays with a company longer, spends more and may deepen
the relationship. For example a happy credit card customer may enlist the
company’s financial services and later take travel insurance.
This is an easy “sell”, compared with direct marketing campaigns, television
advertisements and other sophisticated and expensive approaches to attract new
customers.
2. Customer service costs real money
Real costs are associated with providing customer service and companies spend in
line with a customer’s value. If you are a high value customer or have the potential
of being high value, you will be serviced more carefully.
Companies reduce the cost of customer service by using telephone voice response
systems, outsourcing call centers to cheaper locations, and self-servicing on the
internet. However, companies risk alienating customers through providing an
impersonal service.
Some internet banking companies are bucking the trend by charging customers to
contact them. In exchange, customers receive better interest rates due to reduced
overheads and are satisfied with that.

3. Understand your customers’ needs and meet them

How can you meet your customers’ needs, if you don’t know them? To understand
your customer’s needs, just listen to the “voice of the customer” and take action
accordingly.
Customer listening can be done in many ways, for example feedback forms,
mystery shopping, and satisfaction surveys. Some companies involve senior
employees in customer listening to ensure decisions benefit the customer as much
as the company.

4. Good process and product design is important

Good quality customer service is only one factor in meeting customer needs. Well
designed products and processes will meet customers’ needs more often. Quality
movements, such as Six Sigma, consider the “cost of quality” resulting from broken
processes or products. Is it better to service the customer well than to eradicate the
reason for them to contact you in the first instance?
5. Customer service must be consistent
Customers expect consistent quality of customer service; with a similar, familiar
look and feel whenever and however they contact the company.
Say you visit an expensive hairdressing salon and receive a friendly welcome, a
drink and a great haircut. You are out of town and visit the same hairdressing chain
and get no friendly welcome, no drink and a great hair-cut. Are you a satisfied
customer who will use that chain again? Probably not, as you did not receive the
same customer service – which is more than a good hair-cut.

6. Employees are customers too

The quality management movement brought the concept of internal and external
customers. Traditionally the focus was on external customers with little thought
given to how internal departments interacted. Improving relationships with internal
customers and suppliers assists delivery of better customer service to external
customers, through reduced lead-times, increased quality and better
communication.
The “Service-Profit Chain” model developed by Harvard University emphasizes the
circular relationship between employees, customers and shareholders. Under-
staffed, under-trained employees will not deliver good quality customer service,
driving customers away. Equal effort must be made in attracting, motivating and
retaining employees as is made for customers, ultimately delivering improved
shareholder returns. Better shareholder returns mean more money is available to
invest in employees and so the circle continues.

7. Open all communications channels

The customer wants to contact you in many ways – face to face, by mail, phone,
fax, and email - and will expect all of these communication channels to be open
and easily inter-mingled.
This presents a technical challenge, as it requires an integrated, streamlined
solution providing the employee with the information they need to effectively
service the customer.

8. Every customer contact is a chance to shine

If a customer contact concerns a broken process, then empowered employees will
be able to resolve the complaint swiftly, possibly enhancing the customer’s
perception of the company. Feeding back this information allows corrective action
to be made, stopping further occurrences of the error.
If you inform customers about new products or services when they contact you,
you may make a valuable sale, turning your cost centre into a profit centre. This is
only possible when you have a good relationship with your customer, where you
understand their specific needs. A targeted sales pitch will have a good chance of
success, as the customer is pre-sold on the company’s reputation.
9. People expect good customer service everywhere.
Think about an average day – you travel on a train, you buy coffee, you work. You
expect your train to be on time, clean and be a reasonable cost. You expect your
coffee to be hot and delivered quickly. You expect your work mates to work with
you, enabling you to get the job done.
People become frustrated when their expectations are not met, and increasingly
demand higher service quality in more areas of their lives.
Providing outstanding customer service at the right price is the holy grail of most
companies. It is worth remembering that we all experience customer service every
day. We can learn from these and apply them in our own line of work, whatever it
may be. The quality of customer service will make you stand out from your
competitors – make sure it’s for the right reasons!

3. HOW TO IMPLEMENT PROACTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE

WHY YOU SHOULD)

Proactive Definition

Creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than

responding to it after it has happened.

Proactive customer service occurs when representatives reach out to customers

and offer solutions without being prompted. This can include introducing new
products or services that customers may like, immediately notifying customers
about errors and glitches, or simply going out of your way to improve a customer's
experience

Customer Service Definition

The assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use
its products or services.

Characteristics of proactive clerk

1. Confidence

Being confident in the workplace enables you to be situationally proactive,

assertive and focused. ... They understand confidence is a result of taking action
and not being afraid to set their bar higher. They have a strong sense of self and
they know confidence enables them to lead powerfully.
 2. Build rapport

The point is, all people need and want to feel like you have their best interest in
mind, and establishing good rapport creates an environment where there is mutual
understanding. ... In short, rapport is important because: It builds trust. It creates
common ground

3. Always smile

Clearly, tone is important to master. Soo when dealing with a customer over

the phone, you really need to be smiling. Smiling while talking makes your voice
warmer and friendlier because the vocal cords are pulled differently than when you
are not smiling.

4. Always be friendly

Keeping loyal customers is less expensive than getting new ones. Research shows
that it costs about five times more to attract new customers than to retain existing
business. Satisfied customers become devoted buyers when a business is
trustworthy and provides good customer service

5. Give the customer to choice

Why is it important to offer alternative services/products to a customer?

Some people would argue that giving customers too many options will only hurt
sales. With this alternative perspective, it is believed that customers prefer not to
be given ultimatums. ... Instead, they enjoy the feeling of being in control of their
buying decisions.

6. Exceed the customer expectations

What does exceeding customer expectations mean?

Exceeding customer expectations means empowering your customers. The best

way to do this is to let them feel in control, as if your business is built around them.
You can tell the customer they're always right, but it's so much better to show them
they are.
 4. PERFORMANCE COACHING: FOUR STEPS TO EFFECTIVE COACHING

Being a manager is one of the most difficult jobs in any organization. Your success
is dependent on other people doing their job not necessarily what you do yourself.
Unfortunately, people are inconsistent, complicated and can be downright
stubborn!

Often times people need a lot of direction and guidance. They really do not know
how to do the job and require training or they think they know what they are doing
but do not; sometimes they think one task is more important and need direction
and so on…

There are four key steps to effective employee coaching:

 Identify the shortcomings in an employee's performance
 Determine the cause of the inefficiency and what needs to change to
improve performance
 Get commitment from difficult employees and provide the support needed
for change
 Measure employee performance results and provide feedback

As an employee coach, you will learn to identify and remove any obstacles that
might get in the way as well as communicate specific expectations. Additionally,
you will learn techniques for inspiring and mentoring employees who are already
doing well, improving their job performance by pointing out what they could be
doing better.

By encouraging positive change through coaching, managers will learn new skills
for improving employee performance.

Concurrence
the fact of two or more events or circumstances happening or existing at the same
time

Counseling
the provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or
psychological problems and difficulties, especially by a professional.

Commitment
the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.

Congratulations
words expressing praise for an achievement or good wishes on a special occasion

Continuation
The action of carrying something on over a period of time or the process of being
carried on

Training
the action of teaching a person a particular skill or type of behavior

Coaching
coaching is a process that aims to improve performance and focuses on the 'here
and now' rather than on the distant past or future. ... Coaching is unlocking a
person's potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn
rather than teaching them.

Effective coaching
Effective coaches are those who are coachable themselves – they are motivated
by the goal of improving their practices, they are willing to be observed while
working, and they will openly answer questions about their own performance.

Primary skills of an effective coach

1. Training coaching and counseling

2. The four Cs model (concurrence, counseling, commitment, congratulation
or continuation)
3. Primary skills of an effective coach
4. Two styles of connecting employee performance
5. The skills of asking effective questions
6. Four types of common questions
7. Skills of effective listening
8. Nonverbal feedback
9. Positive and negative position
10. Directive feedback
11. Non directive feedback
12. Why ask questions?

How To Avoid Mistakes At Work?

It is okay to wander off with your mind when too much is happening at work.
However, during that wander do not leave the door open for tricks to slide into your
work and make you vulnerable to making mistakes. To prevent that, follow these 8
ways to avoid mistakes and you will never have to worry again!

1. Give Full Attention To What You’re Doing

Always focus on your tasks and projects first. Make them your priority and avoid
any kind of activity that would pull you away from your work. It is also important not
to multitask as it kills your productivity. Start your work from the smallest tasks and
finish on those that are most difficult. Or the other way, begin your day with the
task that requires lots of energy and leave those unimportant ones for later.

Check out these articles to always stay on top of your work with the best tools:

⇒ Top 10 Time Tracking Software With Desktop App (automate your work and
eliminate multitasking)
⇒ Best Free Time Tracking Software for Freelancers
⇒ Top 10 Time Tracking Software for Linux

2. Avoid Distractions
Distractions make you prone to mistakes. They take away your attention and make
you jump between tasks and projects. Also, they lower your productivity. Thus,
they create confusion and your attention is split. Turn off your Facebook and
Twitter, put your phone away and stop procrastinating. It is better to spend time
intensively on one task and avoid making mistakes, instead of checking the latest
news and being pulled away from work.

3. Take Breaks
If you work too much, you harm your brain and with your brain not functioning in
the right way, you make more mistakes. Harvard Business Review writes that:
“Overwork may hasten the aging-related decline in memory and thinking skills,
according to a long-term study of British civil servants.” And here is what you can
do to keep your brain sharp and to avoid making mistakes at work:

Ease your stress response. Take a break from work and relax. Think about
something nice or go for a walk in the park. It is a great way to stop thinking about
work and withdraw from stressful situations.
Connect with family and friends. Talking to friends or family is helpful to your brain.
It makes you relaxed and keeps up your positive attitude.
Do something different. While on the break, you can focus your attention on
something else, e.g.: reading a book. And after work, find a hobby, start doing
something new to refresh the brain.

4. Ask Questions
Do not be afraid to ask your supervisors for advice or opinion. Make sure you
understand what your tasks are. It is better to ask before you begin your project
than to listen to your boss’s complaints after the project is done with multiple
mistakes. The best way to avoid any mistakes in your work is to ask. This
dissipates all doubts.

5. Create a Checklist the-action-plan

To-do list or a checklist is the easiest way to prevent mistakes from happening.
Once you have everything written down, you can follow the list and act according
to the steps. It is important to include every detail in order not to skip anything that
could cause a problem. There are many apps available to help you with the work,
such as iDoneThis or Wunderlist.

6. Be Clear About Your Role

Do you know your role at the company? It is crucial to know what your tasks and
duties include not to mess up. If you’re not sure about what your role at work is, it
may be easy to make any kind of mistake. Once you know what exactly you have
to do, things will work much easier. Talk to your boss or supervisors to determine
the scope of your duties. By that, you can be certain there will be no room for
mistakes at work.

7. Review
Review, review, and once more, review your work. Check it twice for any mistakes.
Take a break from it, few hours, or even a day or two. Come back to it with a fresh
mind. It is a great method for finding any mistakes, even those tiniest ones.

8. Learn From Your Mistakes

It is okay to make mistakes, only if you learn from them. Leaving them as they are
will not help you at work. Analyze what you did wrong, give it a thought and
remember about it next time, in order not to do the same thing. By making
mistakes you can learn what are your weaknesses and how to work on them.

Conclusion
We are all only humans and, after all, we all make mistakes. With our 8 steps, you
will improve your ability to recognize what is the cause of your mistakes. Or you will
even be able to avoid them at all. Don’t let mistakes make tricks on you and have a
happy Halloween without them!