How to answer the phone and gain new customers before your competitor does

[bertie40]

I always answer the phone with a slightly Jovial tone, to put the client at ease.

As for my ansaphone message, it reads as this :
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"Hi, this is Rob Gardner of Originalscan Computer services, please select from one of the following 47 options. (Small pause here)
Nah, only kidding, I'm not here at the moment, obviously, so if you would kindly leave your name, telephone number and a brief description of the problem, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Cheers, thanks very much."

-------

Most of my customers like that informal approach, and they say it makes me more approachable.

 

[pc-quebec]

"Thank you for calling COMPANY_NAME, my name is YOUR_NAME, how can I assist you today?".

I don't know with you but every time I call someplace and they answer like that, the guy don't know is job. So for me it's sound like " oh no not another salesman who don't know is stuff "

I just answer Hello ( actually allo ) and I get all the time the repair. Your read to much marketing stuff, when peoples call is because they need someone to fix their problems, it's not the first word of the call who make the sale it's all you deal with the person after. If you say to the person you will go in 2 days, he may call other place to find someone else. I start telling I can find a place tomorrow and after I come back and say "It's ok with you I can go tonight " they are always happy to know their problem will be fix the same day..... I often stretch my day until 11 pm, the next day I have less to do and I can take a rest.

Same with your shop repair, do it in 24 hours, hire a tech to work in the evening if need. It's 30 years I work like this and it work fine.

And drop right away the looser who don't want to pay. If someone told me how much I charge because he don,t have too much money to spend, I told him to bring me the PC I will do it in spare time, if it's not fine with him he just have to go elsewhere.

 

[TechLady]

Aww TL....not intended to put down those who work/worked that job, was just illustrating the "fake canned" voice that one could imagine some high volume adult continuing education center trying to teach volumes of robots.

Instead of allowing oneself to... "Be themselves".

No, no offense taken at all--I hate that fake secretary voice myself! (And just about everything else about those jobs...)

Bertie I should try that, very clever

 

[nightkingdoms]

I don't know with you but every time I call someplace and they answer like that, the guy don't know is job. So for me it's sound like " oh no not another salesman who don't know is stuff "

I've never had a problem with people thinking I didn't know what I was talking about. Between the greeting and the closing I'm pretty laid back in how I talk on the phone. Just sets the tone of the call from the start and leaves them with the same at the end, those two points are pretty much the only thing the caller is going to remember. They call someone else and they'll get a definitely worse response throughout, so if they talk to anyone else, they get a horrible experience in comparison.

As far as response times, I have a strict rule that they will be contacted within 24 hours if I didn't personally speak with them and their appointment will be scheduled within 48 hours maximum. Usually it's much sooner than that, but those are my maximums.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

I usually answer with something along the lines of "Sprinter Tech Airfire Mobile this is Chris how may I help you?"

it works, I use to just say Sprinter Technology Services this is chris, but added the Airfire part because everyone would ask "Is this Airfire?" lol

 

[jfm]

I say just call a pizzeria, and do completly the opposite of how they do


On a serious note, I noticed that the less you say the better the results.
When I start and try to be honest and realist, people don't do business with me.

Like "we might have to take the computer to the shop" is a client killer.


So many clients are actually searching for a price more than a good service.
There is a reason that "we" charge around 50$/hour, if they can't figure that out it's their loss, and I mean literally, data loss, wrong diagnostic, missed appointement, no call backs from tech, no experience and so on.

My best technique on phone is just be in a good mood, I think people feel it that you're a good person doing honest business, it shows in the sound of the voice.

I've had many clients on the first time call telling me they were happy and confident about me just by the way I sound.


So for me that's the most important poing, if you're doing honest business, your whole speech should reflect that.
Trying too hard leads to nowhere.

For those clients that you have to convince to do business with you I say let me go to Geeksquad pittyfull techs.

 

[PCX]

We have been coming up with a system for answering phones and gathering information. Every day we are tweaking it, but so far (be it a coincidence I do not know yet) most people we talk to on the phone ends up coming into the shop. Those who do not, we call back 2 days later and ask them if they were still planning on coming in or if they had any further questions. If they went somewhere else, we ask why and then we let them know that if they need anything else or have any problems to let us know and that we would take care of their needs. We have found that some people are actually not coming to our shop due to distance, so we use things like that to remind them that we also do remote support as well as cell phone repair (there are very few shops that do cell phone repair.

Anyways, as soon as I feel like we got a pretty good and solid system down, I give an update.

 

[mel]

Answer within two rings. What are everyone elses thoughts on this? How many rings is appropriate, how many is too many? Is it ever 'too quick' to answer a phone call?

We answer with 'Good morning/afternoon (business name)". I find the whole "good morning (business name) you're through to _______ how can I help you?" a bit too much and over the top.

Get rid of the voicemail! Nobody leaves messages these days and it's just not appropriate. I pay 85p a minute with alldaypa. There are loads of other businesses out there too so is there really any excuse for voicemail and missed calls in business these days? I don't think so!

 

[contrive]

phone ettiquite

I use this line based on a few hospitality service jobs i've had:

Thanks for calling (company name), this is (your name) at your service.

I tend to use "choosing" instead of "calling". Maybe a little bit "jedi" persuasive but not unethical if you genuinely have their best interest in mind.

PS: Most importantly, no matter what line you use, ALWAYS SIWAS - Say It With A Smile