The Importance of Listening: A Live Operator Answering Service Approach

Posted September 18, 2012 in live operator answering service, live telephone answering by admin

One of the primary causes of lost business is miscommunication. Whether it is a good prospect that chose another provider over you, or a client you’ve had for years that suddenly decides to discontinue your relationship, there is a good chance miscommunication was involved. In today’s fast-paced business environment, most of us focus heavily on multi-tasking all the priorities of the day. When a client or prospect does call in with a question, we often start thinking through our response before we’ve heard all of their questions or concerns. Even good listeners can experience this challenge because of the ever-growing demands of our daily responsibilities.

How Focused Are You?

As a provider of live operator answering services, we’ve always had a strong interest in the tips and techniques to improve listening and phone communication skills. You’ve likely heard some of the more basic ones before: (smile when you answer the phone, keep your work area well organized, minimize your e-mail window to avoid distraction, etc…). However, the main goal you should have when a client or prospect calls is to be 100% focused on that caller. Sounds simple, right? But the fact is most business executives admit to being distracted while on the phone on a regular basis, even on calls with important clients.

People Know When You’re Not 100%

Are you annoyed when you get a sales call and it is obvious the person is simply reading you a script? Let’s put it another way – do you think your clients or prospects can’t tell when you’re reading an e-mail or performing some other task while you are on the phone with them? People can sense a lot more than you think through a simple phone conversation. If you’re not 100% focused on them, they can tell, and worse yet, this is often the starting point of miscommunication that can lead to loss of business.

Speaking From Experience

Our live operators answer a significant number of calls each day and we have invested heavily over the years to ensure all our staff are good listeners who develop the skills to focus 100% on each caller. Although overlooked by many companies, there are best practices for business phone answering that have proven to greatly reduce miscommunication and enhance client satisfaction. If you are looking for ways to improve your business, it might make sense to take a detailed look at how you and your staff are handling inbound phone calls. There are many ways to enhance your business efforts, but one of the easiest ways is to better understand the importance of listening.

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