When you get into the office each morning, you probably walk into a ton of emails, but only a few missed phone calls. The large majority of businesses communicate frequently through e-mail with both coworkers and customers. Some businesses have even begun texting their customers. Many businesses are even texting customers, such as sale associates and real estate agents. It might feel as though you are not on the phone as much as you are staring at a screen, but telephone communication still serves a tremendous purpose in business and is a vital part of your business function.
Determine Urgency
If a customer is calling your business, they are likely looking for an immediate response from a human being. If a customer is call looking to speak to someone, the worst thing you can do is suggest that they send an e-mail instead. If customers care enough to call, you and your employees should care enough to answer them. Customers that are calling in are looking for a conversation on the phone which is why they chose that communication outlet to begin with. As we have discussed in previous posts, responding in a timely manner to phone calls plays a huge rule in your customer service ratings.
Immediate Responses
When we use e-mail to have a conversation, whether it be with a customer or a fellow employee, it can take a significant amount of time to complete the conversation. We typically can send several e-mails back and forth before we are even on the same page with the other person. If you call a fellow coworker about an issue or a concern, you will be able to get the issue resolved immediately. If you need to send emails to make sure there is a paper trail, call recording is the telephone version of that. With call recording you can go back and listen to old phone calls and keep them documented for a year. As a company, your communication will improve if you focus on speaking verbally with one another instead of just e-mailing.
Prove Reliability
If a customer is searching for your company and it comes up with a website but no phone number, you’ve likely lost that customer all together. If you do not have a designated phone line, customers are going to consider you to be “sketchy.” Although having a solid website platform benefit your business it is still not enough. A phone number provides a customer with some sense of legitimacy. It makes your customer feel as though you are willing to work with them and are able to communicate easily.
Personalize Your Business
Taking a phone call from a customer will let that customer know that you care enough about them to get personal with them. If you are in management, your verbal response will even more to a customer. A phone call will also give you an opportunity to understand where the customer is coming from. It makes it easier to determine how happy or unhappy they are, which can be difficult to do through e-mail exchanges. Someone can say they are “happy with the result” on e-mail, and not be genuinely pleased at all which can be heard in their voice through a phone call.
In order to make sure your business is keeping up with the customer needs, it’s important to have a well-functioning phone system. Vaspian provides innovative and reliable cloud based phone systems.
