Customer Service Level 2 Deal with Incoming Calls from Customers Depending on your role, receiving customer telephone calls may be a major part of your job. Even it is not, telephone communication is a key skill expected by every employer. The skills you need to know are: how to use the equipment the standard terms and phrases to use during a business call how to receive a call according to your organisation’s guidelines how to record and interpret the information you are given accurately how to build rapport with the customer and give a good impression of yourself and the organisation. The type of telephone equipment is likely to vary widely between organisations and you will need to familiarise yourself with how to carry out basic operations on your own equipment. You will need to know how to: put a call on hold so that the caller cannot hear what you are saying – retrieve a call on hold transfer a call between extensions make a call there is usually a number to be dialled to access external calls, eg – ‘9’. Features of a modern telephone system may also include: redirect to automatically redirect calls to a different number if you are going to – be away from your desk secrecy button so that the caller cannot hear what you are saying. – caller number display automatic redial to redial the last number you called – speed dialling when you assign a short number to frequently called numbers – conference calling allowing three or more callers to be linked into the same call – speaker allowing you replace the handset and hear the call through a – speaker ring back automatically rings back an engaged number and then rings you to let – you connect call barring to prevent calls to destinations such as overseas – ‘expensive’ voicemail to callers to leave a message when you cannot take the call. – When receiving calls, you will need to know your organisation’s standard greeting. If you are working in a specific department, such as Customer Service, then an example could be: Service Department, Sian McGovern speaking. How can I help you?’ ‘Customer During the call, try to be aware of informal and slang expressions you may be tempted to use and need to avoid, such as on’, etc. Avoiding the use of can be ‘OK’, ‘hang ‘OK’ difficult at first, but it is worth persevering.
Customer Service Level 2 Deal with Incoming Calls from Customers Depending on your role, receiving customer telephone calls may be a major part of your job. Even it is not, telephone communication is a key skill expected by every employer. The skills you need to know are: how to use the equipment the standard terms and phrases to use during a business call how to receive a call according to your organisation’s guidelines how to record and interpret the information you are given accurately how to build rapport with the customer and give a good impression of yourself and the organisation. The type of telephone equipment is likely to vary widely between organisations and you will need to familiarise yourself with how to carry out basic operations on your own equipment. You will need to know how to: put a call on hold – so that the caller cannot hear what you are saying retrieve a call on hold transfer a call between extensions make a call – there is usually a number to be dialled to access external calls, eg ‘9’. Features of a modern telephone system may also include: redirect – to automatically redirect calls to a different number if you are going to be away from your desk secrecy button – so that the caller cannot hear what you are saying. caller number display automatic redial – to redial the last number you called speed dialling – when you assign a short number to frequently called numbers conference calling – allowing three or more callers to be linked into the same call speaker – allowing you replace the handset and hear the call through a speaker ring back – automatically rings back an engaged number and then rings you to let you connect call barring – to prevent calls to ‘expensive’ destinations such as overseas voicemail – to callers to leave a message when you cannot take the call. When receiving calls, you will need to know your organisation’s standard greeting. If you are working in a specific department, such as Customer Service, then an example could be: ‘Customer Service Department, Sian McGovern speaking. How can I help you?’ During the call, try to be aware of informal and slang expressions you may be tempted to use and need to avoid, such as ‘OK’, ‘hang on’, etc. Avoiding the use of ‘OK’ can be difficult at first, but it is worth persevering.
Deal-with-Incoming-Calls-from-customers.docx