Making An Impact
By: Brie (3+ years of answering service experience)
First impressions can be tricky, nerve-wracking experiences – I know a lot of people who rely heavily on first impressions to give them a sense of who a person is, how they operate and what to expect from them in the future. We spend a lot of thought, time and energy on first impressions. Now that I think of it, humans spend a lot of time just thinking about first impressions and worrying about how first impressions will impact their relationships with others.
In this business it is important to make a good impression on every call you take and surprisingly, most people won’t recognize your voice even if they’re a repeat caller. I’ve had cases where I had taken a call for someone and get them on the line again on a different account for the exact same type of message. They don’t recognize that I had just been speaking with them. I see this as another opportunity to change their day.
Whenever I have someone on the line I think about how I am impacting their day. This really helps me keep things in perspective. Time really matters in this situation – I try to improve the callers day in the short time that I’m speaking with them. If I’m only going to be on the phone with this person for 1 – 2 minutes I really have to be attentive to make an impact. One of the most important parts of my process is focus– I strive to give my callers my full attention. People can tell when you are multi-tasking (even over the phone) or if you are distracted and unfocused. So many callers are appreciative when you gather and confirm details they’ve mentioned that are important to them.
Manners are extremely important to me in my personal and professional life. Working in a call center environment has changed my life for the better. I always try to use my manners and I have had compliments on my manners in my personal life. For me, it’s all about consistency – everything we do is a practice. I’ve made manners my practice – both at work and at home. A genuine thank you impacts every day interactions on a very large scale.