You don’t make it far in the answering service business without learning a few tricks to handle and calm angry callers. It’s a fact of customer service – some of your customers will be unhappy with your company and some will be downright irate. If you’ve ever answered the phone for a business before, you know that anger can be

Word choice and vocabulary are supremely important in customer service. Use words that are too large and uncommon and you risk alienating your customers; use words that are over-used and played out, and you risk looking unprofessional or unqualified to help. Instead of struggling through conversations with customers and keeping a thesaurus close by, try these word substitutions that make

Not all words are equal. Some words carry more weight than others and deeply effect those who hear them. Some words have the power to turn customer service interactions into pleasant, productive ventures, no matter how divisive or emotional the topic of discussion.

You pick up the phone and a caller asks to speak to someone who isn’t available right now. You let them know they’re out of the office and ask to take a brief message. They decline, explaining that they can’t leave a message with you and must speak to the person directly. Have you ever been in this situation? If

For many people, customer care is lacking. It becomes a hassle that is dreaded or even avoided. From cable companies to the DMV, many people want to avoid interacting with customer care at all costs. There are certain types of companies that seem to be renowned for providing a bad experience (Being on hold for an hour? No thanks), and

If you want to provide top-notch customer service, using proper small business phone etiquette is a must. You can’t rely on face-to-face interactions alone because many people that interact with your business do so over the phone before entering your establishment. If your business is run entirely online, the phone becomes an even more important centerpiece in your customer service

Ending a call politely should always be your goal, whether it’s a routine call, a long winded caller on the other line or an upset customer who is becoming aggressive. Ending a call politely is easy enough when it’s a routine call – once the matter is resolved, a simple “Is there anything else I can assist you with today?”

If you’re having trouble hearing someone on the phone and can’t quite make out what they’re saying, you won’t be able to offer great service or solve their problems efficiently. In order to satisfy a customer’s request, you have to first understand the request. If you ask a caller to speak up politely, chances are, they’ll adjust their volume and

When is the best time to make business calls? New research is showing us that depending on the nature of the call (sales calls, returning calls, etc.), how quickly you return a call matters much more than the time of day. That’s not to say that you’d ever want to make a business-related call at 9:00 pm or 6:00 am;

The phrase ‘customer-centric’ has been around for a while, but it’s not in common usage. From the words themselves, you can probably grasp that a business that is customer-centric is one that is centered around the customer – just as our heliocentric solar system is one that revolves around the Sun. In fact, a customer-centric business can easily be thought