Sharpen your team’s phone skills today

When we operate out of our normal businesses, dedicated staff typically receive all inbound calls. We train them how to transfer calls, how to answer customer questions and how we represent our brand over the phone.

 

src= Download this FREE guide to mastering your team’s phone skills.

 

 

Today’s work-from-home business reality demands that everyone on our team becomes even better communicators over the phone. And with a slower business environment, there’s no better time to have your team work on it than right now.

 

The MRAA published a Guide to Phone Skills that you and your team can download for free (in addition to offering several courses on MRAATraining.com that incorporate phone skills). I went through and pulled out some highlights to whet your appetite or maybe as a replace for those of you who are members of the #tldr club. 

 

  • Page 4 – Tip sheet outlines the do’s and don’ts of scripted calls. While scripted calls can be great for training and helping people get comfortable with delivering answers on calls – be careful to not have the scripts drafted in a way that doesn’t allow for natural flexibility in the conversation. They called you because they wanted to talk with a human, otherwise they would have emailed or used a chat.
  • Pages 6 & 7 – These are packed full of gems, read it and re-read it and then have staff read it. While we working remotely, this could be a great time to do phone trainings with role play. Have an experienced person call the staff with less phone experience to ask common questions and allow for time to work through the responses.
  • Page 8 – Texting, are you set up to send and receive texts with customers? If not, this is the time to figure out how you can bring text to life in your operations. (NOTE: There is a great and very timely course on Texting found at MRAATraining.com.)
  • All the courses listed in the Guide are phenomenal recommendations, check them out.

 

I spend a lot of my time at MRAA calling dealer members to talk with them about their business. Somedays, calls go off perfectly with connections made, resources delivered, new members joining and giving back to the industry. Other days, I don’t know if it is me or the people I am calling, but nothing clicks. I sit on hold for several minutes; listen to advertisements from years gone by; get hung up on; am transferred to the wrong department; or have frustrated people not representing your brand the way you’d hope … In those moments, I wonder if customers have the same experience.

 

Now’s the time to sharpen your team’s skills.