All of us need to give more thought to our outbound voicemail message. Why? Because for our clients, customers, donors and prospects our voicemail is our receptionist. It is vital that this “receptionist” welcome our callers and contain our desire to be of service.
In a workshop this past week I was asked “How can we make sure we create the best message for our voicemail?” It was the first time I’d been asked this question ...
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cold calling,
customer service,
follow up calls,
Oxford Learning,
phone etiquette,
phone sales,
phone work,
Porter Airlines,
procrastination,
prospecting,
reluctant callers,
sales,
telephone etiquette,
telephone sales,
telephone work
“What’s the best time to call?” is one of the questions I get asked frequently and earlier this week I posted my answer to The Lunch Pack’s Burst of Learning group on LinkedIn. (It takes less than a minute to read and can be found here: http://lnkd.in/__b3NS)
While writing that post, I began to think about the frequency of other comments on phonework. Then during my time at Oxford Learning’s Niagara Falls conference http://www.oxfordlearning.com/ this past week, I ...
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by The Phone Lady
on Mar 24, 2013
- 1 Comment
This is an inspired blog … inspired by Brookes Diamond to be exact. I had the pleasure of running into him on Barrington Street on Tuesday – looking very dapper I might add. (Brookes and Fiona Diamond are amazing entrepreneurs, currently creating heritage entertainment for Canada and the international market. Find out more here: http://kanatashow.com/).
We were both on the move to other appointments but there was time for a hug and a brief conversation. He’d ...
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This week I bring you someone else’s thoughts on phone communication, courtesy of colleague Andrew Scollick of Falconer Group http://www.falconergroup.ca/. Andrew is indeed a voracious reader and I send him my thanks for connecting me with this Harvard Business Review Blog by Dan Pallotta (http://www.danpallotta.com/)
Just Call Someone Already
You won’t believe this. There’s a technological marvel that, instead of forcing you to communicate with others in writing, actually allows you to hear other people’s voices and ...
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Perhaps like many of you, I carry a curiosity about meditation. I’ve heard so many positive reviews of the practice not only in the media, but also from close and trusted friends. So in late October when I discovered an opportunity to experience guided mediation free for 21 days I – and one of my closest and dearest friends – made the commitment.
This was an internet-based program delivered by none other than Deepak Chopra. If ...
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cold calling,
customer service,
entrepreneurs,
phone communication,
phone fear,
phone phobia,
phone sales,
practice,
prospecting,
selling,
service,
telephone communication,
telephone sales
When we pick up the phone to call a customer or a potential customer, our objective should be to inspire conversation.
With our customers, we want to learn more about them, find out how we can provide more or better service. After all, they are the ones that really know why they’ll stay with us for the long term.
And when we are prospecting, we want to confirm we have reached our target market. One thing I ...
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cold call training,
cold calling,
customer service,
effective communication,
etiquette,
phone communication,
phone etiquette,
phone fear,
phone phobia,
phone sales,
phone skills,
phonework,
prospecting,
telephone communication,
telephone etiquette,
telephone sales
This past week I immersed myself in phonework for three solid days – a rare occurrence that I welcomed with excitement. (I know, I know, many of you think that is completely bonkers!) But dialing the phone to accomplish a specific goal is the foundation of The Phone Lady. Without my enjoyment of – and curiosity about – this specific task, my workshops and talks would have flat-lined years ago.
My calls focused on Toronto (more ...
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No matter why we pick up a phone – to close a sale, book a meeting, connect with a customer or resolve a service issue – being able to inspire a conversation holds tremendous value. It is through conversation that we can:
*hear opinions, thoughts and feelings;
*encourage participation;
*establish rapport and build relationship;
*stimulate discussion; and
*create equality.
Open-ended questions inspire conversation. Using the words who, what, when, where, how or why at the beginning of every question jumpstarts a ...
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Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed a peaceful holiday season and that 2013 holds not only prosperity but a few dreams come true for each of us.
This quote has been following me around the past few weeks:
“I like good strong words that mean something.” Louisa May Alcott
This is such a great truth in my life. I have understood the power of words, both spoken and written, since I was a very little girl. My ...
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I’ll admit that this particular bit of advice sounds quite silly. For some of us, it evokes memories of delicious teenage telephone conversations that we couldn’t bear to have come to an end, so we fell into a game of “you hang up first – no, you hang up first – no, you hang up first.”
But when you have a customer or potential client on the phone, it’s the ultimate in telephone etiquette to allow ...
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