Where I work, 90% of all customer interactions are on the phone. Whether they’re looking to quote, buy, sell, return, or get some help, it happens on a phone call. And while phone etiquette and expectations seem pretty common sense, you’d be surprised the impact even the smallest thing makes. Like the greeting.
I and a varied group of my colleagues known for in-depth phone call reflections were brought together in the form of a committee to review, analyze, and improve the phone calls we were all a part of every day in our job. We started by focusing on the greeting because not only was it simply at the beginning, but could set the tone for the entire conversation.
But even with the amount of time I had spent listening to recordings of colleague’s greetings, it never occurred to me that a bad greeting could actually cost someone business… that is until a couple weekends ago. I got a call from my buddy, Kyle. He had a flat and his wife was out of town. He called to see if I could occupy his one year old son while he put the spare tire on his Jeep. Once I got there, we discovered the situation was worse than he thought as someone had actually stolen the spare tire from under his Jeep. Not the end of the world, there’s always a plan B. So he did what most would do. He took out his phone and typed in tow truck to Google and called the first number that came up.
“Hello,” the man on the other end answered.
“Um… Hi. Google has this number listed as a towing company?” Kyle responded, questioningly.
“Uh-huh.”
“Ok, um… this doesn’t sound like a real business.”
“What kind of car?”
Then Kyle hung up.
Kyle had decided he wasn’t willing to give these guys his business based only on the poor greeting that he received. The hello wasn’t the end-all for him either – he had given him a chance to rebound and instead of getting “Yes! We are a towing company! How can I help?” or “Sorry, it’s my cell phone that’s listed on Google, yes, we are a towing company,” or “Absolutely, do you need a tow?” or …. really anything else, he got “Uh-huh,” and moved on to the next one.
The next guy answered the phone “Speedy Peedy Towing, how can I help?” and they got the job.
The greeting is not the most informed, complex, or arguably most important part of most phone interactions, but our peer-based committee determined a great greeting that includes:
and,
can do more to foster a productive and positive phone call than, well, the alternative.
For all the time I had spent reviewing call greetings this real life application reminded me just how important they are. When you pick up your phone remember this might be a new customer’s first impression of you, and you don’t always get a chance to make a second impression. In fact, the first guy tried to make a second impression and kept calling Kyle back, but it was too late.
While most phone calls do start with a, “Hello,” how you answer the phone at your business could be the difference between a sale and so-long. Share your thoughts below or email Eric directly.
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