WIth so much of the world turning to the internet and social networks for pretty much everything to do with customer service, its important to realize that how you act on the phone towards your customers still matters. I call this your ‘phone voice’. Its the personality you take on when on the phone with customers.
Too many employees are curt, uninterested or just rude when it comes to talking with customers on the phone. They think that the loss of their time while on the phone is not worth what the customer sees, or they just have no concept of what a customer thinks of when they call in. This is terrible branding, and I’m sure we’ve all experienced it.
On a positive note, I called in to a local take-out restaurant a few days ago to order dinner. The man answering the phone was happy, polite and very patient as I tried to remember what I wanted to order while looking through a really detailed menu. He offered assistance when I couldn’t find the item I wanted, suggested a dish and happily acknowledged the time that I said I needed it by. He made my experience great. For those 2 minutes on the phone, he branded the company as a happy place to be. I’ve known them to be this way for the past couple years since we’ve been going there, and it always impresses me.
In the babbling brook of online customer service where your voice doesn’t matter, remember that when you are actually talking to customers your phone voice shows sarcasm, boredom or happiness that can’t be expressed in 140 characters.
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This post was inspired by a challenge with @paisley_girl73 who challanged me to use “In the babbling brook” in a blog post while I had her use “Fear the elephant” in one of hers. Her creation was: “It’s Big, It’s Grey… and It’s Yours”