4 phone mistakes businesses should avoid

Closing sales over the phone is one of the hardest things you’d have to do as an entrepreneur. Without the visual aspect, all you have is your voice to capture the caller’s attention and show what your brand is all about. Therefore, it’s vital to avoid making mistakes over the phone that could hurt your relationship with customers. Here’s a quick guide to the 4 things you must avoid during sales calls.

Not getting a 1300 number

What does using a personal mobile or landline number instead of a 1300 number say about your business? Customers may think you’re too small, or unable to provide the level of service they expect from a business. It can also limit your operations to your local area. Interested clients can be deterred by the simple fact that you have a residential number which may imply that you’re cutting corners in order to save a few dollars.

Using your private numbers is not just unprofessional, but poses a security risk as well. Handing out your own mobile or home landline number to strangers means they can reach you anytime whether you want to or not. This also makes you vulnerable to prank calls or telemarketers. These small things add up into a big distraction for you and your staff.

Having a bad IVR menu

Nothing is more frustrating that being on the phone with a voice prompt for more than a few seconds. Your Call Forwarding IVR menu should empower your callers, not confuse them. Make sure that all best practices are followed in creating your IVR menu.

Keep the language simple but firm. Make sure that options are 3 levels deep at most, and instructions are short. Lastly, remember to always provide the option to talk to a real person.

Giving a weak business intro

‘Hey’ or ‘Jones Residence, who is this?’ is not exactly the best first impression you want to leave with your customers. How calls are answered drives the conversation, and may mean the difference between making and losing a sale.

A professionally recorded Business Intro Service guarantees that all of your business calls are answered the same way, every single time. It shows callers that they’re dealing with a reliable business which can deliver the kind of service they expect.

Missing calls

Never underestimate your customers. Chances are, they’ve already looked up your website before calling you. That most likely means they’re at the tail-end of making their buying decision and need a final human touch to reaffirm their decision. That’s why it’s important that you’re able to capture all sales leads over the phone. But what if you’re in a meeting, or just really can’t pick up your phone?

The answer is a Live Phone Answering service that will take messages for you whenever you can’t. A professional answering service gives the caller the human touch, and shows that you care about their query enough to have a real person answer. That’s 75% more sales leads that would’ve otherwise hung up, never called again, or worse—called your competitor.

Made any of the mistakes above? Don’t fret, it isn’t too late. Give us a call at 1300 ALLTEL or visit us at ALLTEL ,and we’ll get you started in the right direction today!