The last few words of a phone call with create the lasting impression. Leave your callers feeling they’re in safe hands. Here’s how to wrap up a call like a Pro.
Time is money, so you need to find ways to manage your phone conversations effectively. Customer service and satisfaction are extremely important. One wrong word or phrase can take a review from great to bad in an instant. Make no mistake, being on the phone can be tiring and stressful. It takes concentration and great listening skills. But with mastery you can control the direction of a call. It’s an art form that is underestimated in business.
There are a huge variety of calls to handle in a day and different types of callers. Many people will be business-like, they will get straight to the point and the call can be concluded in a straightforward wrap up of “thanks for your call, goodbye”. But not everyone gets to the point.
There are the chatterboxes. These calls are much harder to control. Try not to chatter back. Respond with a few “Oks”, “I understand” but keep the call on point with a “how can I help you today” or “what can I do to help you?” Keep the caller focussed on the reason for the call and what they want to achieve from the call. The rest is just chatter, but how you manage the chatter matters. Continue to bring the call back to point and keep it on track.
The chatterbox does not want to feel they’re talking to a robot. Empathise with them, remind them that you are there to help. Use lots of reassurance with “OK, this is what I will do for you” and “this is what happens next” statement towards the end of the call and never over-promise. Once the caller is happy with the course of action, then wrap up with a positive statement along the lines of “we’ll sort this out for you” or “leave it with me”. It’s always a good idea to give the chatterbox your name and a timescale so they know what to expect.
Complaining callers are more demanding, and they fall into 2 camps – the ranters and the prepared. The ranters are ‘full on’ emotional, often angry, certainly frustrated and they want you to know about their pain. Getting to the point can be difficult as once the ranter is in full flow you can’t stop them! Don’t try to interrupt a ranter. This is the golden opportunity to use the power of the pause to bring the rant to an end. Once they’ve had their rant, be quiet, just for a moment. Use the calming tone of your voice to summarise the points that they want to get across. Then wrap up the call with reassurance “this is what happens now”, “this is what I will to do to help you”. Take ownership of that call, be decisive, diffuse the situation and the ranter will thank you for it.
The prepared complainers use logic to get the point across. They rehearse the conversation with you in their head and they focus on the outcome of the call. These calls are much easier to control. Make sure to repeat back to the caller the important points and then wrap up the call with empathy statements like “we can sort this out for you”, “thank you for taking the time to call us to explain”, “I’m sorry that you have been disappointed”. Give them your name, in fact they will probably ask for it, and make sure they know what the next stage is in your process.
Be prepared for people to be rude. Shit happens, get over it, it’s not personal. We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve been the chatterbox or the ranter, so let the caller flex their vocal chords, give them the space to express how they feel, but use your skills to bring the call back to point and keep it on track. You are the master!
