Course Description

This comprehensive course equips participants with essential telephone skills, enabling them to handle calls professionally, address customer inquiries effectively, and manage objections or complaints with confidence and expertise. Attendees will learn proven techniques to enhance their communication and customer service abilities over the phone.

Target Student

This course is designed for:

• Customer service representatives who handle phone inquiries
• Receptionists and front desk personnel responsible for answering calls
• Sales professionals who conduct business over the phone
• Administrative staff who regularly communicate with clients via telephone
• Any employee looking to improve their telephone communication skills
• New hires in roles that involve extensive phone interactions

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for attending this course.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this training course, the participants will be able to:

• Answer and make telephone calls in a professional manner
• Use techniques to efficiently respond to a customer call
• Build rapport with the customer and satisfy their needs quickly
• Handle a customer's concern or complaint, with empathy and understanding

Course Content

Welcome and Introductions

• Course objectives and outline for the day
• Domestic arrangements and style of Programme

Importance of professional telephone skills

• Importance and benefits of professional telephone skills to the business
• Assertiveness and handling different behaviours

Challenges of telephone communication

• Communication what it is and how it works
• Importance of non verbal communication
• Creating first impressions

Telephone etiquette

• Telephone guidelines, standards of service when handling a call
• Positive and negative words
• The verbal handshake
• Putting callers on hold, transferring callers, closing call

Acquiring Information/establishing customer needs

• Effective listening
• Questioning techniques
• Building rapport and gathering information
• Recording information

Responding to customer requests

• Using positive language and taking ownership of call

Appreciating different communication styles

• Main characteristics of communication styles
• Recognising your own communication preferences
• Adjusting to other communication styles

Handling difficult calls

• Responding to customers' most frequent concerns and objections
• Handling emotional responses
• Responding to and escalating a customer complaint

Reviewing the learning and next steps

• Review of learning and action planning
• Course feedback