by Nancy Friedman –  The Telephone Doctor

There are many costly mistakes in business. With this challenging environment; don’t make these mistakes. We’re only listing five right now; more to come.

MISTAKE 1: NOT SMILING

Insanely simplistic. On the phone or in person, we need to understand a smile works. In person yes, you can see it…and on the phone, yes, you can hear a smile. Don’t feel like smiling? Well, smile anyway. The customer doesn’t care if you feel like smiling or not. It’s better to have the customer think your office is closed than to have the phone answered or greet someone in person without a smile and in a negative mood.

MISTAKE 2: NOT ACKNOWLEDGING A CUSTOMER’S REQUEST OR PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY.

Requests and problems need to be handled sooner than later. Delaying a request or at least not immediately acknowledging it can cause more problems than the original request. Delaying handling a problem makes the problem bigger. Use Telephone Doctors’ Rapid Response mentality.

MISTAKE 3: IMMEDIATE REJECTION OF A REQUEST

Be a “double-checker.” It’s easy to tell people, “We don’t have it”, “Sorry, it’s past the deadline” or “We ran out of that.” Instead, use a soft rejection: Something like: “The last time I checked it wasn’t available, let me double-check for you.” This simple statement immediately defuses some of the tension of not being able to fulfill a request. And often when we do double-check, we find a way to get what the person wanted after all. Be a double checker.

MISTAKE 4. GIVING A PRICE WHEN THEY CALL or WALK IN.

“Hi, how much is a widget”? Answer: $10.75. “Ok, thanks, bye”. DANGEROUS! Try not to ever give a price at the top of the conversation. Consider: “We have several types of widgets. Which were you interested in hearing about?’ Or, ‘Our widgets come in a variety of shapes and colors. Tell me what you’re looking for”. Or “how many did you need? There’s a nice discount with 3”. Anything but giving the price right out at the top of the conversation- if you can help it.

MISTAKE 5. FORGETTING WHAT MOM TAUGHT YOU.

You’re right. Not using Please, thank you and you’re welcome will lose business for you in a hurry. No matter how much or how little money someone has, they all need and want to be appreciated and treated well. Those three little phrases are critically important to today’s business world. See, I told you “mom was right”. Thanks Mom.