denver property management customer service

How to Deal Effectively with Customers by Telephone

Customer service is the key component to every business. It is vital that businesses keep this in mind as they progress in their success. One of the main reasons that businesses start to fail is that the customers are unhappy and the position of the customer is undermined.

As a Denver Property Management Company, we advise you to understand the basics of customer service and the core quality in every aspect of your enterprise. Exceptional customer service should be the primary goal and function of your position.

In this article, I will be reviewing some basic components to ensuring customer service in a property management capacity.

Whether you are dealing with calls coming in from the customers, or you are making calls out to customers, you should apply some basic rules of thumb to each conversation. Many people fail to realize that a lot can be heard over that telephone line.

It is vital to your business and job that you make sure that you send the customer that you are speaking to nothing but positive things. Anything else can sink the professionalism of the business. It may even lead to the complete failure of your business.

When speaking on the telephone to customers, it is very important to display only a positive attitude. You must treat each customer they speak to as if they are the single most important customer to your business.

You should also act as if the customer you are speaking to is the only customer that you have and the future of your business depends on the successfully dealing with that one customer. This will place a completely new perspective on all of your calls.

A customer can experience outstanding customer service on every call, but they will only remember the one call that they did not receive the customer service that they expected.

Do not allow yourself to be the one call that ruined the image that customer had of the company that you represent.

I am sure that many people who deal with customers on the phone have heard the saying “smile when you speak”. As weird as it may sound, the customer can see a smile from the other end of the receiver. It is very important to be positive, motivated, and to smile when dealing with customers over the phone.

If the customer calls in due to an issue, it is important that you verbally express empathy. Let the customer know that you do understand how this issue can be difficult for them and follow it up with the fact that you can help them with their issue.

Even if you know that the issue is something that someone else in your company is more capable of handling, let them know that you can help them. Telling the customer that you will help them with their issue displays a willingness to assist and helps them to understand that what they are dealing with is very important to you.

When you are dealing with a customer on the phone, try to avoid placing the customer on hold. If you must place the customer on hold, do not use phrases like “I am going to place you on hold”, instead, ask their permission.

Explain the reason up front on why you need to place them on hold, ask their permission to be placed on hold, and follow-up with a time frame not to exceed three minutes.

You may even choose to mix those steps up a little, with something like “May I please place you on hold for approximately three minutes while I research this issue for you?”

It is also very good manners to use the person’s name and/or title when requesting if you may place them on hold. Many companies have background music when a customer is placed on hold, so this may help the time to go by a little faster. If the customer gives you permission to place them hold, ensure that this is what you do.

If you place the customer on mute, many times, there will be dead air and this can lead to frustration on the behalf of the customer. Additionally, if you find that you will be on hold for longer than the customer agreed be, check back with them and explain what is happening.

Some other things that you will want to consider doing when speaking to a customer over the phone is to use their name frequently, and avoid speaking to other people at your business where the customer can hear you. You also want to ensure that you are addressing each of the customer’s questions and concerns.

It is also important that there is not a lot of dead air on the call. Try to fill in possible dead air on each call with questions and comments regarding your customers concerns. If you follow these simple strategies, you will find that your Denver real estate business reaps many rewards.

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