Unit 210: Deal with Incoming Telephone Calls from Customers (A11)

Unit 210: Deal with incoming telephone calls from customers (A11)

Handout 2: Dealing with customer calls

When communicating on the telephone, you will need to be aware of the language you use and your tone in order to be sure that you create a polite and professional impression. Your language should be clear, avoiding the use of slang expressions or jargon. You should also be aware of how you pronounce your words – leaving off the endings or not pronouncing Ts can sound very lazy – and you should avoid the use of regional expressions that may not be understood by others. You should aim to appear confident, helpful and friendly, but not over-familiar: even regular customers will not appreciate being called ‘mate’ or ‘my love’!

While it is always necessary to communicate in a clear and polite way, it is also necessary to adapt your communication to accommodate any language difficulties, for example those with language difficulties, health issues, different age groups, cultural differences, those with learning difficulties or where English is not the first language, which may require that the service deliverer talk more slowly, clearly and without the use of jargon. The service deliverer should treat the customer with respect at all times and work with the individual to meet their needs.

Customer calls broadly fall into the following categories:

• orders
• queries
• complaints/problems
• notifying changes in circumstances.

In order to establish the reason for your customer’s call, you will need to use questioning techniques. Your organisation may have guidelines for identifying the customer, eg asking for a reference or customer number, in order that their records may be found. When dealing with existing customers it is important to have access to their records during the call in order to see actions that have taken place previously and therefore reduce the amount of information you need to ask the customer to supply. It is very annoying for customers to have to repeat a history of details leading up to their call. Equally, it is therefore important to update the customer file each time with a brief account of their call – the reason for the call and the actions taken.

It is important to build a rapport with the customer to make them feel that you really care about them as an individual. This will mean using and adapting your communication skills to establish and deal with their individual needs. Use the customer’s name and information from their records, such as the date of their last call, to personalise the service. For example, ‘We haven’t heard from you in a while, Mr Harrison. What can I do for you today?” In this way, you will build a rapport with the customer and make life easier for both of you: your customer will feel valued, is more likely to repeat business with you and, in the case of a future difficulty, will trust you to resolve it for them.

You should establish a rapport with your customer by:

• listening to them
• establishing their needs
• recognising any concerns or doubts they may have
• handling those concerns or doubts by turning the negative to the positive
• meeting the customer’s needs
• ensuring the customer is satisfied with the outcome.

The use of the correct questioning techniques is vital when establishing customers´ needs. The use of closed questioning is unlikely to elicit much in the way of a response so it is important to learn to use open and probing questions to establish needs and confirm these needs with closed questions.

• Open questions begin with who, what, where, when, why and encourage a response giving a lot of information.
• Closed questions are likely to get the response of either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
• Probing questions are used when you need specific information.

When dealing directly with customers you must always make the customer feel important. Ensure any conversation with customers is two-way, with you asking questions and allowing time for the customer to answer. Listening to the customer’s response is also important as it may offer more information that allows further probing questioning.

Careful listening means you are focused on what the customer is saying and not what you want to say next – if you listen carefully you will learn more in a shorter timescale as you are likely to get the information you need quicker.What our customers tell us can help establish needs without too much questioning and careful listening when customers are complaining can reduce the questions we ask and so assist in keeping the situation calm.

It is likely that many of your incoming calls will be customers with questions to be answered or problems to be solved. Problem solving requires that communication is clear. It requires that those involved in the process understand what the problem is and then consider a solution. In finding a solution you should always check the facts of the problem and make sure you have all the information to hand. Problem solving often requires that you have a number of solutions that need to be considered with the possible suitability of each evaluated.

In a customer service business it is likely that the problems will relate to, for example, late delivery, poor service, mistakes, faulty goods. Essentially, finding solutions to problems in customer service requires that you know the policies and procedures of the organisation relating to customer service standards and handling of complaints. Handling a complaint must be dealt with in a consistent manner and according to organisational policy.

Handling customer complaints can be stressful: the customer may be angry and wound up. It is important to remember that usually the anger is not directed at you personally. As a customer service deliverer it is your job to be the interface between the customer and the organisation and to this end you are on the receiving end of complaints. To ensure that you handle customer complaints or difficult situations efficiently you should ensure you always stay calm. If a customer feels you are nervous they are likely to feel they are in control. Equally, you shouldn’t get upset or react to their anger by arguing – if you get upset the customer is likely to feel they have won and arguing back is only likely to aggravate the situation. Always let the customer have their say and listen very carefully – you could obtain key information that could help to achieve or influence the final outcome. Check your understanding of the problem with the person complaining by asking questions in order to get all the facts as people get very annoyed if the incorrect information has been passed on and they have to repeat the complaint again to someone else.

If you cannot handle the situation yourself, you should know who has the authority to do so. Keep the customer informed of your actions and, if you state you will get back to them within a certain timescale, ensure you keep to that timescale even if you are just contacting them to let them know there is no result as yet. Nothing aggravates a complaint more than when a promise is made that is not kept. You should always follow organisational guidelines and not be tempted to make a decision unless it is within your responsibility, even if you feel under pressure from the customer.

A useful way of remembering the guidelines for dealing with customer complaints is by taking the HEAT:

• Hear
• Empathise
• Apologise
• Take ownership.

Factors to be considered when finding a solution to a customer service problem include:

• picking the best solution within the organisation’s guidelines to resolve the problem
• the cost to the organisation
• trying to meet the customer’s needs and expectations
• the time it takes to find the solution.

Pick the best solution to resolve the problem by identifying the options and working with others to identify and confirm the options to resolve the customer service problem within the organisational guidelines. This means you may need to put the customer on hold while you speak to colleagues or transfer the call to someone more able to solve the problem. You need to make sure that you keep the customer informed at all times of the actions you are taking.Always try to go that extra mile with the customer but remember that you must satisfy customers within organisational guidelines and the level of your responsibility.