How do you monitor and reward phone etiquette performance?

1 Define your phone etiquette standards

Defining good phone etiquette for your company is the first step in monitoring and rewarding your phone etiquette performance. Industry best practices, customer feedback, and your own values and goals can be used to create a set of standards that reflect your brand and expectations. Common phone etiquette standards include greeting the caller with a friendly and professional tone, identifying yourself and your company, asking for the caller's name and using it throughout the conversation, listening actively and empathetically to the caller's needs and concerns, asking for permission before placing the caller on hold or transferring them, providing accurate and helpful information and solutions, thanking the caller for their time and business, and ending the call with a positive and courteous note. You should document these standards in a clear and concise way, communicate them to your team, and provide examples, scripts, and tips to help them follow the standards.

2 Use phone etiquette assessment tools

To monitor and reward your phone etiquette performance, you should use phone etiquette assessment tools to evaluate how well your team is meeting the standards. These tools include call recording and monitoring, call scoring and rating, and customer surveys and reviews. Call recording and monitoring allows you to listen to or watch your team's calls and provide feedback and coaching. Call scoring and rating involves using a predefined criteria or rubric to score or rate calls based on your phone etiquette standards. Customer surveys and reviews involve asking customers to rate or review your team's phone etiquette performance after each call or periodically. You can use one or more of these tools to monitor your team's performance regularly, identify their strengths, and determine areas for improvement.

3 Provide feedback and coaching

The third step to monitor and reward your phone etiquette performance is to provide feedback and coaching to your team based on the results of the phone etiquette assessment tools. This is essential to help your team improve their phone etiquette skills and performance. You can provide feedback and coaching in various ways, such as individual sessions, group sessions, or online platforms. During individual sessions, you can discuss each team member's phone etiquette performance, highlight their achievements, address their challenges, and set goals and action plans. Group sessions involve discussing their phone etiquette performance, sharing best practices, addressing common issues, and fostering collaboration and learning. Online platforms can deliver feedback and coaching to your team in real-time or asynchronously using chatbots, gamification, or e-learning modules. Make sure to provide feedback and coaching in a timely, constructive, and supportive manner and encourage your team to ask questions, share feedback, and seek help.

4 Recognize and reward your team

The fourth step to monitor and reward your phone etiquette performance is to recognize and reward your team for their achievements and improvements. This is essential to motivate them, boost morale, and reinforce positive behaviors. Recognition and reward can take many forms, such as verbal praise, public recognition, incentives and bonuses, or career opportunities. It's important to be fair, consistent, and meaningful in your approach to recognition and reward, as well as align it with your phone etiquette standards and goals.

5 Review and revise your phone etiquette performance strategy

The final step to monitor and reward your phone etiquette performance is to review and revise your phone etiquette performance strategy periodically. You can use the data and feedback from the phone etiquette assessment tools, feedback and coaching sessions, and recognition and reward programs to evaluate the effectiveness of your phone etiquette performance strategy and identify any gaps or opportunities for improvement. You can also solicit input from your team and customers to get their perspectives and suggestions. You can then revise your phone etiquette standards, assessment tools, feedback and coaching methods, and recognition and reward systems as needed to ensure that they are relevant, realistic, and responsive to your changing needs and goals.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?