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How Telephone Technique Can Win

Guest post by: James Yuille

Article Overview: Let’s talk about telephone technique. Having run five workshops on this subject over the last three weeks, the key points are on my mind so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

How Telephone Technique Can Win

Let’s talk about telephone technique. Having run five workshops on this subject over the last three weeks, the key points are on my mind so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

I'm constantly listening to what people say on the phone because it reflects the level of interest and energy they have for their job or business. To many, the phone is just an interruption to whatever else they're doing. The slogan "This would be a great place to work if it weren't for the customers" rings true in too many organizations.

It's time that all of us, as consumers, responded to telephone stupidity. Let's all tell them what we think when we hear stupid statements like these...

"This is Lorraine speaking"

Oh, so your surname's Speaking is it?

"Who was calling?"

The same person as when you answered.

"What was your name?"

The same as it was yesterday.

"What was it about?"

It is about...

or better still...

"To what was is pertaining?"

Huh?

"Press 2, 3 or 4 or wait for an operator"

Well, I wanted to speak to a person so I'll wait.

"Your call may be recorded for training purposes"

So you didn't train them right to start with so you're doing it at my expense?

"I'll have to put you on hold"

Is that painful?

"She's on lunch right now"

On lunch? How can anyone be ON lunch?

"I didn't catch your name"

I didn't throw it.

There's an old saying that goes like this "Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer'

I prefer "Communication is the response you get"

When you learn to ask better questions, you'll advance your communication skills and get better responses.

Think about what you say when you answer the phone. Be in the zone; focused and expectant. If you sell executive services, don't answer the phone sounding like a motor mechanic. The incoming phone call is the lifeblood of your business. Don't waste your advertising budget by destroying your image with inane, thoughtless phone communications.

Work out a phone script that's consistent. Identify your most wanted response from an incoming call; be it a name and address or a meeting and structure your questioning to get the result you want. By controlling the conversation with questions, you'll get the result you want more often.

That alone will help you increase your conversion rate and get you More Clients With Less Effort.

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Related Forum Posts
JW Site redesign - I agree the Font is a little small. Also on the homepage I believe it will be effective for you to display an offer to sample your services - I believe you had one in your previous site. This is only constructive feedback.... I'm not sure about the length of the "quote" page - possibly too many questions. I wouldn't fill it out after seeing it but would pick up the phone to call you and deliver my thoughts over the phone. Maybe if you reduce the questions down to three/five questions without me having to explain in detail what I am looking for - I would complete it. One of your final questions would be: what's the best time to contact you? You can call the prospect then to get more details and you would record it during that session. I did this when I ran my webdesign company and it worked really well. my questions were: Name? Telephone? Email? Briefly describe your ideal website? Best day and time to call? I captured the details during the call-back.


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