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Call Management

Press Release: Inbound Phone Score Study Provides OEMs and Dealers Insight in Customer Experience

November 5, 2019 by Cassie Ciopryna Leave a Comment

Toyota & Acura Rank Highest Across Luxury and Mass Market Brands for Inbound Phone Experience Released by CallSource

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA: 5 Nov 2019: CallSource, the leader in automotive call tracking and analytics, released their first annual Inbound Phone Experience Study analyzing OEMs to determine how each brand’s inbound phone calls impact customer experience.

“For years, everyone has known there is a direct correlation between car shoppers’ dealership experience and their likelihood to purchase. The phone is a key element of customer satisfaction within a car buying journey. We wanted to use our data to find the right combination of behaviors that will have the quickest impact on customer experience for dealers and OEMs,” stated Pogo Parr, President of Automotive.

In this study, CallSource focused on three key areas of the inbound phone call: answer rate, connectivity score, and appointment set rate. CallSource identified these key areas as easy opportunities for dealers to immediately improve their customers’ phone experience. According to the study across all brands and categories, both luxury and mass-market, the average answer rate in dealerships is 95%, with only 83% of shoppers being connected to a live person in the correct department. The biggest dealership challenge is getting in-market shoppers to commit to a dealership visit, which only occurs 19% of the time.

“Awareness is key. By listening to and analyzing thousands of calls, it is obvious the phone process is broken in the dealership. With dealership visits declining as more shoppers research online, securing appointments to increase showroom visits is more important than ever. This study sheds light on the process of the phone that is broken within each brand and what OEMs and dealerships need to pay attention to, right now, to improve the overall consumer experience,” says Pogo Parr.

Other key findings from the study:

  • Toyota and VW rank highest in phone experience in mass-market brands.
  • Acura and Audi rank highest in phone experience for the luxury brands. Luxury brands, in general, have the lowest phone experience scores.
  • Kia (90.3%) & GM (88.5%) have the highest connectivity scores in the mass-market while Acura (87.2%) and Audi (86.7%) rank highest in the luxury category.
  • Toyota (27.9%) and Hyundai (24.5%) set the most sales appointments in the mass-market category while Acura (27.3%) and Alfa Romeo (25.2%) rank highest in the luxury category.

Inbound Phone Score Study

How Does Your Brand Rank?

For the full report and findings of this study, contact us at marketing@callsource.info or 888-340-0123.

About CallSource’s Phone Experience Study:

CallSource reviewed over 50,000 dealership phone calls across 23 brands between May and July 2019. The calls were scored by live analysts to determine the overall brands’ answer rate, connectivity score and the average number of hard-appointments set by in-market car shoppers.*

About CallSource

CallSource is fully committed to the quality and value of our data. As the inventor of call tracking and over 25 years’ experience, CallSource is the only company that has listened to and analyzed over a billion phone calls, and delivers targeted solutions for OEMs and dealers to improve customer experience and internal processes. We provide call tracking, call processing, coaching, and data analysis to the largest OEMs and industry providers in the automotive space.

* Hard-appointment defined as an appointment offered including specific time and date.

Filed Under: CallTrack, LeadMetrix + DealSaver, Call Coaching, Digital Management Tagged With: Call Management, Announcements & Events

Would You Leave a Customer in Your Showroom? 5 Great Phone Skills to Rock Sales

November 4, 2019 by Cassie Ciopryna Leave a Comment

A great phone strategy doesn’t only help your dealership earn a good reputation; it will lead to getting more people into your dealership so you can sell more cars.

You wouldn’t ignore someone who walks into your showroom, right? So why would you ignore a ringing phone?

Dealers need to start paying attention to phone leads and ensuring a stellar phone performance, all the way from answering quickly, to getting the caller to set an appointment – and everything in between. Let’s review what makes a great phone call and how this should go down at your dealership.

1. Pick up the phone

While this seems obvious, it is a necessary step that doesn’t always happen. Phone answering should be a top priority in your dealership, and no calls should go unanswered. CallSource data finds that 95% of dealership calls are getting answered—either by an IVR or a real person. This is great news…. the next step is connecting that call to the right person the first time!

Just because your IVR is picking up the call, doesn’t mean you are delivering a great customer experience. We find that call routing (although an easy solve) is often ignored; this is super frustrating from the customer’s point-of-view.

Have you ever called your dealership to see what a customer’s phone experience is like? Evaluate your call data and look for details like callers hanging up after being stuck in the IVR (either from too robust of an IVR, or a salesperson taking too long to answer the phone), or if they are getting transferred to phone lines where no one is able to answer.

Get our free Automotive Phone Tips sheet to keep at your desk!

2. Direct calls appropriately

Answering the phone is not enough –make sure callers are reaching the right person. Transferring calls to lines that keep ringing and ringing does a disservice to the customer and your dealership. Letting callers end up in a voicemail gives the caller the opportunity to hang up and call your competitor. All calls need to be handled by a live person who can help the caller, right then. Customers are used to a seamless digital experience—you need to make your phone experience equal or better than their online search.

3. Be helpful and informative

Callers want to speak to a knowledgeable and informed salesperson who can answer their questions and seems trustworthy. Since purchasing a vehicle is the second-largest purchase for most people (behind purchasing a house), they must feel that you are the right person to help them with this big decision.1

Buyers spend less time researching and shopping for a vehicle than ever before, and over 60% of their time spent vehicle shopping is online.2 Once they finally call your dealership, you don’t want to blow the call and lose the business of a shopper who is already far down the purchasing funnel.

4. Overcome caller objections

While we’ve touched on how to overcome caller objections at your dealership in-depth before, it is worth noting again as one of your most important phone skills to enable more sales for your store.

CallSource automotive data based on over 100 million phone calls over 4 years shows that only 20% of viable sales leads result in an appointment set. Why aren’t these calls ending in a commitment to come in? Call handlers need to learn how to overcome caller objections and sell the appointment.

Although it is true that consumers are further down the purchasing funnel by the time they reach out to speak to you, just because someone calls your dealership does not mean that you are guaranteed to be the dealership they ultimately choose to purchase from.3

Callers can have a variety of reasons to object to setting a firm appointment with your dealership, such as scheduling availability, wanting to do more research, and other excuses. If you can successfully demonstrate the value of your dealership and convince them that they are making the right decision, you can overcome objections and book the appointment.

Discover how to overcome common caller objections at your dealership with this free tip sheet.

5. Ask for the appointment

The ultimate goal of any inbound phone lead is to set the appointment so they walk into the showroom and you can make the sale. The sooner the time from the call you can get a possible customer to commit to, the better. Same-day appointments are a great way to ensure that urgency is created and the consumer doesn’t have as much time to flip-flop or possibly cancel or no-show. But remember to “sell” the appointment, use time scarcity so they give you the “Yes.”

A sales call that ends without asking for an appointment is a failed call. Use all the great phone skills outlined, and get the commitment to make sure that they walk into your dealership.

Let us help you improve your phone skills

CallSource has industry-expert call coaches to help your dealership hone in on phone skills and keep employees accountable to follow-through with their learned skills to set more appointments.

Stop using those old and outdated phone scripts. CallSource’s Own-Set-Close program teaches the skills and talk-tracks that salespeople need to set more appointments on the phone. Set up a time to learn more about Own-Set-Close today.

Start improving your inbound call skills and setting more appointments.

Get Own-Set-Close.

I want to talk to someone about improving calls to sell more cars at my dealership.

References:
1. https://www.strategy-business.com/article/03302?gko=32b46
2. https://d2n8sg27e5659d.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-Cox-Automotive-Car-Buyer-Journey-Study-Media-Deck.pdf
3. https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/jd-power-new-autoshopper-study

Filed Under: Call Coaching, Telephone Performance Analysis Tagged With: Call Management

Why Appointment Setting Matters for Your Dealership

October 16, 2019 by Cassie Ciopryna Leave a Comment

Getting commitment from callers can be the difference between them choosing you or your competition.

Setting real appointments gets buyers through your doors and into the car they are looking for.

According to CallSource’s 2019 automotive inbound call data insights, 80% of inbound phone sales opportunities do not result in an appointment.

It is not enough to rely on walk-ins alone. Your phone is a lead-generator, you need to get serious about selling the appointment to sell the car.

Transferring calls to voicemail or answering a caller’s questions doesn’t get the appointment- every time a potential buyer hangs up the phone without the appointment, you’re losing income.

Why appointment setting matters for your dealership:

1. Gains a commitment from the caller to see you

If you are answering a caller’s questions without getting a firm, in-person commitment, you are creating a missed opportunity. You need to set a hard appointment, every time.

Since the average buyer will typically keep researching and calling until they are actually inside a dealership, you want them to give a commitment to your dealership before they have the opportunity to keep shopping around elsewhere.

The time-frame for this appointment matters, too. The sooner date and time that a call handler can set an appointment with the caller (for example, same-day appointments vs. next day), the more likely it is that your appointment will show and keep your dealership as their number one option. Otherwise, you are leaving the consumer to their own timeline, which may end up not including you in it at all.

2. Creates a sense of urgency for the consumer to come in

If you simply say “come in whenever you are ready,” you are inviting the caller to call your competitor. By setting a firm date and time, they are more likely to show up.

In today’s digital age, consumers can and will keep researching until they show up at your dealership.

Cox Automotive’s 2019 Car Buyer Journey shows that most of car-buyer’s time spent vehicle shopping is online (61%) – compared to 14% of their time at competitive dealers and only 20% of time spend at their purchase dealer. They also show that the average number of dealerships visited is now only 2.3.

Consumers don’t need to walk into a lot of dealerships to compare and shop around – they can do it right from their computer or mobile phone. Once they step foot into a dealership, it is most likely the one they are going to buy from, so get their commitment to make sure it is yours.

Overcoming caller objections at your dealership shows you are the best dealership to choose.

Learn 4 ways to improve call management at your dealership.

3. Gives a professional impression of your dealership

Callers want someone who is knowledgeable and an expert in the industry to speak to, so they know they called the right dealership. Buying a car is a big personal investment; by putting caller at ease they will want to do business with your dealership.

You aren’t just selling cars; you are selling yourself and your dealership over the phone.

J.D. Power shows that over half (59%) of consumers prefer to set an appointment over the phone; if you don’t provide a good experience or opportunity for them to do so, they can move on to your competition.

Download our free Automotive Phone Tips sheet to keep at your desk!

Set more appointments, NOW

Need help on the phone to start booking your warm inbound leads into real sales?

CallSource’s Own-Set-Close is a phrases and skills program that books more appointments and closes more deals. With Own-Set-Close, sales and call handlers get immediate proven results (based off of your own CRM data). CallSource is a top choice for automotive dealers to improve internal processes and sell more cars.

“I’m seeing an immediate impact. . .I’m very happy with [Own-Set-Close]. Thank you CallSource!”
– Jeremy Kilo, GM of New Smyrna Beach Chevrolet

Subscribe to our blog for more insights like these to aid your dealership in increasing its ROI and improving internal processes.

Start improving your inbound call skills and
setting more appointments.

Get Own-Set-Close.

I want to talk to someone about improving calls to sell
more cars at my dealership.

Filed Under: CallTrack, LeadMetrix + DealSaver, Call Coaching, Telephone Performance Analysis Tagged With: Call Management, Performance Management, Digital Management

4 Ways Your Call Handlers Are Ruining Your Dental Office’s Reputation

October 7, 2019 by Cassie Ciopryna Leave a Comment

Read on for phone tips for your front office staff to improve call to conversion rates to win new patients.

At your dental office, your front office staff is the first impression of your practice. Before someone even has a chance to meet their dentist, they speak with someone in the front office – most likely over the phone. This impression that new patients receive determines if they will choose your office, and also if they will be leaving a positive or negative review about your practice online. One bad experience can lead to a negative review – which you don’t want for your business’s reputation.

This is why ensuring that your front office staff is equipped with the right type of skills is very important for a successful practice. If potential patients don’t have a good experience with your office from the get-go, they may end up with a poor impression of your business before even having the chance to become a patient.

How are employees failing to ensure that your practice receives a stellar impression and good online reputation right from the beginning? Below are four ways that your front office employees are potentially ruining your dental office’s reputation.

Mistake #1: They aren’t answering the phone

When someone is deciding on a new dentist to go to, they will most likely call your office to learn more and set up an appointment. If there aren’t enough employees to answer phones, phone lines are too busy, or front office staff are busy doing other tasks that they sometimes miss phone calls, this is an issue.

Do you know if you are missing calls, and when the most calls are missed? Take a look at your call tracking data to determine when missed calls are happening, and make sure you are staffed efficiently during those time periods. Make sure that front office staff know that answering the phone is a top priority so that they do not let calls go to voicemail, potentially missing an opportunity to win over a new patient for the office.

Discover how call tracking can help your dental practice – in under 30 minutes a week!

Mistake #2: They aren’t building a relationship with patients

To get a caller to book an appointment with your office, they must feel like they will get good service and like the people who work there. This starts when they first speak to one of your front office staff.

If employees aren’t working to build relationships on the phone and have real conversations with callers that aren’t feeling rushed or with a poor tone, they aren’t making callers want to choose your practice for their dental needs.

Building rapport leads to a good relationship and earns trust from your callers. When people feel comfortable and welcome, they will want to do business with you and keep coming back.

The same also goes for in-person experiences. Warm, inviting, friendly front office staff ensures that your patients feel comfortable and happy with their experience at your office. Make sure employees are taking the time to give a personalized experience to everyone who walks through your door.

Mistake #3: They aren’t presenting enough value about your office

When a potential patient has questions about your dental office or isn’t sure if they want to choose you to make an appointment with, they can be convinced that your practice is the best choice when value is presented effectively.

If employees feel rushed or aren’t including enough details about why patients should choose your practice over another’s and presenting that information to callers, then they could easily choose another local office over yours.

Make sure your phone handlers are using value statements to let callers know what sets your office apart from others in the area, and provide this information to callers so that they choose you.

Download our free 10-Point Call Handler Audit to ensure your front office staff are having successful phone calls.

Mistake #4: They aren’t overcoming objections

Callers could have many objections that prohibit them from stepping foot into your office. Wanting to know exact pricing for a procedure, having a difficult time scheduling, amongst other various reasons are potential objections that callers may be having on the phone.

Even if staff cannot fully handle or accommodate some of these objections, they can skillfully overcome them. For example, by explaining value about your practice first, and if they can successfully explain a procedure or the reasoning that the patient would come into the office and be seen for more specific pricing, they can ensure that they get those potential patients into the office and leave them with a good impression.

Don’t let your front office staff ruin your reputation

To get new patients and earn a positive online reputation, your front office staff must provide a great experience, sometimes even before someone becomes a patient of your dental office. We’ve put together the ultimate guide on reputation management for dentists here if you’d like to learn more.

If you need extra help for your front office staff to improve their phone skills, CallSource can help with our custom call scorecards and call coaching programs.

Improve your call handlers appointment setting techniques.

Get employee Report Cards and Call Coaching

I want to talk to learn more about improving my
call handlers’ phone skills

Filed Under: Call Coaching, Telephone Performance Analysis Tagged With: Call Management, Performance Management, Reputation Management

The Ultimate Guide to Vanity Phone Numbers

September 20, 2019 by Cassie Ciopryna Leave a Comment

Learn all about what a vanity number is, why and how to get a vanity number, and all things vanity phone numbers.

Vanity numbers are great for branding your businesses by providing easy-to-remember phone numbers for your customers.

What exactly is a vanity number, and how is it useful for your business?

Want more information to determine if a vanity number is the right solution? Look no further than this vanity phone number guide.

This guide will show you how a vanity number will help your business, and how to choose the perfect vanity number.

What is a vanity phone number?

A vanity phone number is an easy-to-remember phone number that either spells a word or phrase or has an easy repeating number frequency.

Types of Vanity Phone Numbers

In short, a vanity phone number is a custom phone number that you can choose for your business with an easy-to-remember numeric sequence.

What is a toll-free number?

A toll-free number is a free number to call from any area code. The business incurs any charges instead of the caller. Toll-free numbers can work in specific areas only such as local numbers, or work from a number dialed anywhere nationwide.

Vanity 800 numbers

CallSource offers toll-free vanity numbers. This means that the numbers start with a toll-free prefix. The current available prefixes for toll-free vanity numbers are:

  • 800
  • 888
  • 877
  • 866
  • 855
  • 844
  • 833

Learn the benefits of an 833 vanity number for your business here.

Local vanity numbers

Some businesses may want a local vanity number for their business rather than toll-free. Though CallSource does not offer local vanity numbers, as one of the biggest phone carriers in the United States, local call tracking numbers are still available. If there is a specific local number that you want for your business, it is possible that we have that number available.

Vanity numbers are eaasier to remember.

Why get a vanity phone number?

Vanity phone numbers are a great option for businesses looking to brand their business and have an easy-to-remember phone number for specific ads such as TV, billboards, radio ads, and more.

Vanity numbers are not only easy to remember, they also stand out amongst other regular numeric numbers, and are great for branding to match your number to your business or website domain.

Consumers won’t forget you when your business branding matches across all mediums.

Having a memorable, recognizable phone number helps your brand seem more established and can generate more leads.

Where to advertise with vanity numbers

Some of the most popular ads to use a vanity phone number in include radio ads, podcasts, TV ads, billboards, and business trucks. Anywhere that a consumer would see a phone number in passing, or only hear it is a great use case for a vanity phone number. An easy-to-remember number will stay in someone’s mind much easier than a random sequence of numbers in these instances when someone cannot write a number down.

Learn more about how you can use a vanity number in radio, podcast, and TV ads.

The allure of vanity numbersVanity numbers do not need to be used only in these types of ads. Depending on your goals, you may want to place it in other ads, too. Having a vanity number on other types of ads or in places such as your website also helps for branding purposes, so that when viewers see or hear that number anywhere, they can emotionally connect it to your business.

Vanity number features

There are additional features that come along with your number.

All of CallSource’s vanity numbers come equipped with call tracking, which has several features to help prove not only the performance of your ad but the true ROI of your custom phone number. Below are some of the features that you will gain with a CallSource vanity number.

Caller Information

CallSource can achieve caller demographics by using the most recent census data by zip code to help you target specific markets and see who is calling into your vanity phone number.

Total Calls and Missed Calls

When consumers dial your vanity phone number, your call tracking reporting will show how many total calls your number receives in a certain time period, as well as how many missed calls happened. This way, you can make sure that you are answering all calls and not missing out on any opportunities.

Total calls vs. missed calls with a vanity number.

Call Recordings

Listen to conversations that happen with incoming calls to your vanity phone number. All calls are recorded so that you can listen and make sure you are getting the right types of callers and productive conversations happening on people calling into your vanity number.

Conversations that happen with incoming calls to your vanity phone number are recorded.

Call Volume

With reports showing call volume, you can determine which times of day and days of the week you get the most dials into your vanity number. If you know that your commercial or ad only runs on certain days of the week or times of day, pay attention to any spikes in incoming calls.

Calls by day of the week.

These are just a few of the features included with your vanity number.

More robust reporting, such as how well your vanity number converts leads into prospects and missed opportunity alerts for when call handlers do not convert a vanity lead for your business are available as well.

Vanity number coverage options

Although CallSource vanity numbers are all toll-free, since they are shared-use numbers, you can choose coverage for your custom phone number based on the area that you want coverage for.

CallSource has vanity numbers with coverage in the United States and Canada. Below is a breakdown of the coverage options available for vanity numbers.

Statewide Coverage

A vanity number can be licensed with coverage only for a specific state. Keep in mind that only phone numbers with a local state area code will be able to dial the number with this coverage.

Multi-State and Regional Coverage

Similarly to statewide coverage, you may choose to have coverage only in a few states or a region. This is a better option for businesses in a tri-state area where people may overlap or travel state-to-state often.

Nationwide Coverage

Nationwide coverage is the most full coverage option available and ensures that your vanity phone number will work across all states.

If your business has multiple locations across the country, nationwide coverage (and nationwide coverage with geo-routing) is a great option. Nationwide coverage is also recommended for businesses that want to ensure they are the only one who gets to use this number in the country, or for businesses in a state with a lot of transplants.

Canada Coverage

Since CallSource works in the U.S. and Canada, you can get a vanity number with Canada coverage as well.

How to get a vanity phone number

To obtain a vanity phone number is quite simple. CallSource has a straight-forward vanity number search tool to aid in your vanity searching needs. You can also contact us anytime via phone at 855-GOT-VANITY or email to check on vanity number availability.

Vanity number search

CallSource’s vanity number search tool is the best way to find your perfect vanity number.

Vanity Search Tool

In the tool, you can search for keywords, specific toll-free prefixes, and more filters to narrow down your vanity number search.

Once you choose a few options that you are interested in, you can request a quote and expect to hear back from our vanity specialists within 24 hours (but usually much sooner).

For an in-depth walkthrough of how to acquire a vanity number, check out our article How to Get Your Own Custom Vanity Phone Number.

Buy vanity numbers

Because of FCC regulations, CallSource cannot sell vanity numbers. Rather, we license the use of our vanity numbers on a monthly basis. Vanity numbers can be leased month-to-month. You can choose to end your contract at any time or keep the number as long as you’d like.

Cheap vanity numbers

While a number of factors play into the cost of obtaining a vanity number, there are some options that make certain vanity numbers more cost-effective than others.

Repeater vanity numbers, which have an easy-to-remember repeating number sequence, are usually quite cheaper than their vanity number counterparts that spell a specific word or phrase. Another factor that plays into cost is the coverage for your vanity number. Having a vanity number for only one state versus nationwide coverage, for example, makes a difference in price.

Keep in mind the options that you want your vanity number to have and have a budget in mind so that CallSource can help you find the best vanity number options for your needs and within your price range.

Vanity ads outperform generic numbers by thirty-three percent.

Where to get a vanity phone number

While there are many options to get a vanity number, we, of course, recommend CallSource for your vanity number needs.
Talk to a vanity specialist immediately at 855-GOT-VANITY, or contact us via email now.

We’ll help you find a great vanity number that suits your needs and drives more leads to your business.

Drive new customers to your business with an easy-to-remember phone number.

Choose a Vanity Number.

I want to talk to someone about available vanity numbers for my business.

 

References:
https://www.ringboost.com/blog/6-stats-that-show-the-competitive-advantage-of-vanity-numbers/
http://www.mountainmg.com/800_power_stats.php
https://www.marketingcharts.com/television-3204

Filed Under: CallTrack Tagged With: Call Management

5 Ways to Build Rapport Over the Phone with Your Caller

September 16, 2019 by Cassie Ciopryna Leave a Comment

Learn how to build rapport with customers with rapport building questions and great phone skills.

The call handler’s role at your business is one of the most important positions. It is a job that takes both people skills and sales skills. Call handlers are talking to people daily, using aspects of psychology to interact with callers, and ultimately getting the person on the other end of the phone to have a great impression of your business and to choose it for their needs.

This is why it is important to build rapport and connect with the person on the other side of the phone. People need to like and trust the person they are talking to immediately.

It isn’t quite so simple and natural for some people to interact in a meaningful way with callers as it is for others. A call handler doesn’t need to be a social butterfly or very outgoing to be successful in their job, but there are some specific skills that need to be employed.

Building Rapport with Customers

One specific skill that aids in a successful sales call is to build rapport over the phone. Building rapport is an essential part of building relationships, which is one of the Core Four Principles of a phone call, and one of the most important stages proven to boost appointment-setting.

Core Four Principles of a phone call

Merriam-Webster defines rapport as “a friendly, harmonious relationship, especially a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy.”

Why is rapport-building important in sales calls?

Simply put, people buy from people they like. By building rapport with a potential customer or lead, you are ensuring that they have a positive impression of you and your company. Call handlers are the first impression of your business, so by making sure they are building rapport, you can ensure that the first impression is a good one.

How to Build Rapport with Customers

Read on for five ways to build rapport with customers. Using these tips, you can make sure that your phone skills are top-notch for setting the appointment on that next inbound call.

How to Build Rapport #1: Use Their Name

Personalization is one of the best practices for inbound phone handling. Personalization goes hand in hand with building rapport with a potential customer.

One of the first questions asked after answering the phone with a warm greeting is to ask for the caller’s name.

In How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie, he says, “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” How else to start a friendly, harmonious relationship than knowing someone’s name, and using it when speaking to them?

After asking for the caller’s name, it is also vital to use their name when speaking to them throughout the call – in a natural way. Overusing someone’s name could make you sound disingenuous. Every call is different, and every caller has their own personality. Treat them this way.

How to Build Rapport #2: Say it With a Smile

Sad day for Eeyore“Service with a smile” isn’t only a good slogan for the food industry. The whole mopey, drawn-out voice may be cute and work on Eeyore, but it doesn’t work in rapport building! A humdrum voice won’t get the caller to like you—put some pep in your step!

Act as if you are talking to someone in person – would you be monotone and show no expression? Don’t do that on the phone, either! You want to sound like you are actually interested in speaking to this person, and not disingenuous. By smiling on the phone, your tone will change and make you more likable and trustworthy.

How to Build Rapport #3: Be Personable

While a call handler speaking to a potential lead on the phone won’t get as personable as you would with a friend at a party, it is still important to be personable enough to be pleasant to speak to. No one wants to talk to a robot, so simply reading questions off of a call script or checking off boxes won’t cut it to truly build rapport with a caller and get them to want to choose your business.

Ask the caller how they’re doing and how you can help them. Remember, it’s a conversation, and there is a real person on the other end of the phone.

Download our free 10-point call handler checklist to start improving your calls now!

How to Build Rapport #4: Ask Rapport-Building Questions

People like others who ask questions about them and are good listeners.

In a series of experiments by Harvard Business School students, participants had to ask people fewer than four questions, or a minimum of nine questions, while in conversation. Not surprisingly, people ended up liking those who asked at least nine questions better. They also found that not only asking questions when chatting but asking follow-up questions makes a big difference. This shows that you are interested, that you are truly listening, and also want to learn more about the other person.

As the call handler, you should be in control of the conversation; you still want to make sure you find time to pause and listen to the caller’s issue or needs. Repeat back to make sure you correctly understand what it is they are looking for, so they know that you are hearing them.

How to Build Rapport #5: Show Empathy

After actively listening to the caller’s problem or need, you should show empathy. If someone is calling saying that their air conditioning broke and it’s a hot day, you don’t want to just ask for their address or whatever is in your protocol next.

First, take a moment and show empathy—phrases such as “I’m so sorry to hear that” or “we can definitely help you with that” work and make the caller feel like they are not just any other person calling into your business. An empathic person is more likely to earn rapport from the other person, because understanding needs is an important part of the phone conversation, and could help you to overcome any objections the caller may have later in the call.

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Filed Under: Call Coaching, Telephone Performance Analysis Tagged With: Call Management, Performance Management

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