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If you are required to provide a lot of your customer services over the phone, it is essential that you pay
attention to your telephone manner. If you are receiving a call, this will mean responding promptly, and
making your opening greeting courteous and warm. Rather than simply saying “Hello?” or saying the
name of your company, you should state the name of the company, your name, and ask how you can
help. No matter how many times you have done this, do not race through it and make it sound robotic –
it may be commonplace to you, but to the customer this is an important matter.
The fact that the customer cannot see you when you are on the phone does not mean that you can do
whatever you like while you are speaking to them. If you are reading something or waving to a friend
while on the telephone, it will be clear from your voice that your full attention is not on the call. If, for
any reason, you have to speak to someone in the office, first ask the customer to bear with you, and
then place them on hold. It is insulting to leave the customer hanging as though they are less important
than what you are doing, and this is compounded by leaving them to hear what you are saying to
someone else – the impression given is “it doesn’t matter, it’s only a customer”. Because the customer
cannot see what you are doing, it is important to keep them posted on what you are doing. If you do
not, they will become agitated.