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Virtual Receptionist Tips: How to Turn a Caller's Frown Inverted

If you work with an active answering service or answer phones in your job, you will come across frustrated callers from time to time. Everyone makes mistakes and often everyone has other activities happening within their lives that leave a bad taste in their mouths. Though these calls could be tricky, they can also be an excellent chance to turn someone's day around. Taking these steps can have your clients that you simply care and you may simply make them into a loyal customer together with your thoughtfulness:

When talking by having an unhappy caller:

1. Let them explain and reiterate what you've heard. Sometimes folks just need to vent. Give them a moment to describe their situation and let them know you've understood their issue by repeating what you've heard.

2. Acknowledge their emotion. A supportive "That does sound frustrating" or "I can easily see where you're coming from" can go quite a distance. But when you don't feel it, don't say it; faking empathy can do more harm than good.

3. Offer to help. As a virtual receptionist, you may not have the ability to fit everything in your caller asks (i.e., answer their question in regards to a bill or physically track down an employee). However, almost always there is something that you can do! Use helpful phrases like "Let me" or "I could be happy to" and add a healthy dose of reassurance ("Let me have a message for John, our billing specialist. He will be the best person to talk with regarding your bill. I will make sure he has got the message immediately.").

4. Guide your caller. Always result in a question. Guiding a caller with questions keeps you in charge of the phone call and helps you gather any pertinent information. Simple questions will do, such as "May I have your telephone number?" or "What's the best time to achieve you?" Basically, anything you need or you think would be useful to obtain issue resolved quickly with very little additional effort from your caller!

A high level small company answering service employee, it could all come together such as this:

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Your whole product is down? That's terrible! Let me take down a detailed message for the support team and read it back to you to ensure everything is correct. I'll make certain they understand this immediately so we might have you up and running as soon as possible. What is the best phone number for a return call?

Bonus tip: Virtual receptionists and in-house receptionists alike might want to range from the caller's frustration within the message, so that the other party can prioritize their issue and become prepared for the return call. Something similar to, "Sheila seemed frustrated and would like a call when possible" should do the secret!

If phone answering is part of the job and you get a message from an upset caller:

1. Ring instead of reply. Even if your client sent an email or created a voicemail, when emotions are participating, a call or face-to-face conversation is the best approach to take. Conveying an optimistic tone in an email is much harder compared to your voice. When talking over the telephone, you get to add warm and kindness for your voice and diffuse the problem better.

2. Gather your key points. Before you dial their number, stop and consider what you want to discuss. For instance, if pulling up their username and passwords will help the phone call go smoother, do this before hopping on the phone.

3. Think positive thoughts. Negative thinking won't make your follow-up any easier. Instead, envision your conversation going well, as well as your colleague's concerns being assuaged. It'll relax thus making you sound well informed while you fix their problem!

Whether you're a virtual receptionist or CEO, we recommend trying these tips when a colleague, customer, or co-worker is frustrated - you'll turn their frown inverted!