Basic Business Telephone Boo-Boos
Probably the most basic mistake you have made concerning your business telephone may have
nothing to do with the kind of telephone system you happened to get. After all, getting the latest,
greatest and most feature-packed technology is only half the battle - all those extra-cool perks
are basically useless if you do not really know the way to leverage them. In other words, if you
want your phone line to really generate income for your company you need to really use your
business phone the way it was meant to be used. What that, in turn, means is that you have to
think about all the telephone functions with regards to how they are able to help you
communicate better.
So what is it that we do wrong when we use a modern business telephone?
Unclear diction
Local accents could be good if you're serving a local market or if you want to create a particular
brand that emphasizes a local identity, but there is a risk of not being understood if the accent is
too thick. Ensure that you enunciate your words whenever you are speaking to any customer.
This does not mean that you need to totally change your accent; you just need to slow down
when you speak. You are not in a race; you're in the middle of wanting to communicate with
someone. It does not do to leave listeners behind.
You will be basically telling people that they can have a conversation with you when you have a
phone number for your company. When they feel that they can't because you rely too much on
automatic greetings or make things inconvenient for them, then you are defeating the purpose
of having a company telephone.
Complete lack of awareness and listening abilities
When people call your company, they essentially want you to either provide them with pertinent
information or solve problems for them. In the event you don't even bother to concentrate on
what they're saying to figure out what they need from you, then you're just wasting everyone's
time - and most likely wasting money on a call that nobody will profit from. Be aware of what
callers are requesting, so you react accordingly: help them, or forward their call to a person who
can.
"Hello"
There is still the risk of confusing callers even if your business telephone system does its job
appropriately and sends calls to appropriate people. How? By not automatically confirming that
they've reached the correct extension, you are able to make people really feel uncomfortable.
You have to clearly state your department and identity from the get-go; saying "hello" just isn't
enough. Do not make the caller ask if they've got the correct extension.
Complicated, overextended automated greetings
As useful as the auto attendant can be, you may still find a lot of people who don't like having to
listen to it ramble for extended time periods. It does not matter how beneficial you think a
detailed greeting and dial directory greeting might be at the beginning of a conversation; at the
end of the day, most callers just want to talk to a real person when possible. So keep things
easy by limiting the greeting to a salutation, the name of your company, and an abbreviated list
of your extensions - such as a line to a live operator.