Who is the most important person in your Company?

It’s a question that I often get asked and my answer is often laughed at.

It’s not the CEO (although they will tell you they are), it’s not the Marketing People and it’s certainly not the Accounts or Compliance departments!

In fact, if you are a Company that sells or markets anything, then it’s somebody you may not think of.

It’s the person who answers your phone.

Now that may seem surprising, but, from my experience, it’s true.

The person who answers your phone may be ill-prepared for the role and most likely undertrained and undervalued.

In some companies, the phones bounce around the office until somebody answers it.?Recipe for disaster…

But in any case, most Companies don’t realise the strategic importance and the specialisation that such a role entails.

Imagine a scenario : you’ve launched a new service, you have spent a fortune on the marketing and advertising.?A prospective client/ partner phones up to get more information or ask about your product. ?Your client is genuinely curious and wants to scope you out. I mean, they have taken the effort to pick up the phone to talk to somebody. ?They get through to the person who has been placed on phone answering duties as nobody knows what else to do with them.?Or the person from accounts who was expecting a different call answers the phone.?In any case, neither of them are prepared for the conversation that they are about to have. ?

They feel uncomfortable and give factual answers, but it is not a smooth running conversation.?What impression has that given?

They would be perfectly within their rights to hang up and move on to the next company.?I know I probably would.

And all of that effort has come to nothing.?All that expense wasted.

Just because nobody knows how to answer the phone!

I was recently recruiting for a Telephony person at Xcel Health and had a list of good candidates.

Having tried a few of the candidates, I got through to one who was quite rude when they answered the phone. Maybe it wasn't the right time to talk. Maybe they were having a bad day. Maybe they were at the school picking up their children. There could be a million reasons why they didn't feel like talking to me. However, this made such a bad impression on me, there was no coming back from it. Instead of starting the conversation and asking if they wanted to come for interview, I excused myself and said I had the wrong number.

Maybe harsh, but if that is the way they answer the phone, then I think I had a lucky escape.

Here are my tips for getting the best out of every inbound telephone call:

1.??????Have a standard greeting

I find that this really helps.?It takes away the stress for the person answering the phone.?

It sounds professional and creates a good first impression.

It’s better to introduce yourself as well – it is so much harder to be rude or difficult to somebody on the phone when you know their name.

‘Good Morning, Xcel Health, Toby speaking, how can I help?’

2.??????Have a telephone voice

If you have ever been to see a play or musical?(I’ve seen many and if I had had the talent I would be on the stage in the West End), then you would know that they perform their particular show often.?Sometimes as many as 10 times in the same week.

However, when you go to see the show, the cast are high energy and 100% commitment.?Some of them have performed the show hundreds, maybe even thousands of times.?But you wouldn’t know it.

Answering the telephone follows exactly the same principle. Whether it is the first call of the day or the 50th, you still need to be able to project a positive friendly manner.?You still need to make that person feel like they are the only person that you want to talk to on that day.?The person who is calling doesn’t care whether you are having a bad day or if your children are playing up.

You have to make the positive first impression count and the best way to do this is to have a telephone voice.?It takes a bit of practice, but it does pay dividends.?Research has shown that the tone of the voice is more important than the words you actually use.

3.??????Don’t talk jargon

I recently had a problem with my mobile telephone and had to ring up to get it fixed.?The person who I was talking to didn’t realise that I have absolutely no technical knowledge.

They might as well have been speaking High Valyrian for the amount I understood.

And when we answer the phone, it’s so important that we speak so the person on the other end can understand us.?When we feel uncomfortable, we often revert to type.

In your company it might be normal to talk about interfaces, widgets and the like.?But that means nothing to your customer.?They don’t care about how things are done in your Company.?They’re only interested in the end result.

When I am talking to a person on the phone and they start doing this, it signals to me that they are feeling uncomfortable.?It means they feel that they want to retake control of the conversation and ?are trying to bamboozle me with technical stuff.

It’s why a lot of people never call back after the initial call.?They just didn’t understand what happened in the conversation that they just had and more importantly, you didn’t make a sufficiently good impression that they would even want to.

4.??????Engage

Introduce yourself and find out who you are talking to.

If you use their name (and make sure that you do this on the right level, I don’t like to be called Mr Barker – that’s my Dad!), then the person with whom you are speaking will be more engaged in the conversation.

If you work in a Company that sells services or products, find out about why they called you in the first place.

If you ask them questions about why they rang and they tell you what they need, it’s so much easier to get a positive outcome.

The more you talk to them about them, the higher the likelihood of success.

5.??????Open up the conversation

If somebody phones up to ask you for a price and you give it to them immediately, there is no need for them to continue the conversation.?I mean, why would you??You have the information that you wanted.

If you ask closed questions, you’ll get direct (and short) answers.

When I am asked if we do Physiotherapy, I always answer ‘yes, we do. Why don’t you tell me about the problem that has made you call us today.’?

I find it makes the conversation flow really well and the chances of success are far higher.

6.??????Build rapport

If you are able to build a relationship while you are on the phone then the conversation will go so much better.

Sometimes it is understanding the reason why they have called and being a good ear to listen.

Other times it might be giving them the information in a way that they can understand.

But it is always easier if you let them talk!

This also helps if somebody is ringing you in a negative mindset.?If you let them talk, it will calm them down.?Once they have calmed down and the emotions have cooled a little, you will be able to have a much more reasonable conversation.?

7.??????Don’t go into salesperson mode

This is a big no- no.

There is nothing that turns a warm lead to a cold lead quicker than an aggressive sales pitch.

If you have done all of the above steps properly, you won’t need to do much selling as you will be able to match up the different benefits of your product or service with their needs.

Because you asked and they already told you what they are looking for.?You’ll hopefully get the same result, but the effort will be so much less and the experience far more pleasant.

So, if you have spent a lot of time and effort (and probably money) on your marketing to attract new clients, just consider this :

When the phone starts ringing, who is going to answer it?