As Director of the Client Account Managers, I fully appreciate how vital it is to nurture and maintain long term relationships when building and developing a business. We interact with our clients – doctors – colleagues each and every day in a variety of forms, whether this is via email or during face to face meetings. One of our main points of contact however will always be the phone and it can occasionally be trickier to form a bond when you can’t use non-verbal messages such as body language and facial expressions.
Get this important area of rapport-building right with my top advice…
1) Listening- is key to all communication, without the ability to listen effectively information can easily be misunderstood and communication breaks down.
2) Check the tone of your voice – Since you can’t see the client, your voice alone has to convey exactly what you are aiming to express, so take note of your tone, inflection, pace and volume to ensure what you say and how you say it matches up.
3) Don’t be impersonal – Start by introducing yourself, and always use the person’s name during the course of the conversation. At the end of the call, invite the client to continue using you as their point of contact by giving them your direct number or mobile so you can always be contactable.
4) Be genuine – It takes time to get to know people, so make sure you put the time in to get to know a bit more about your clients or doctors.
5) Acknowledge emotions – Your client or doctor may be phoning you because they are flustered, stressed or worried so it is important that you reassure them, and let them know you are there to help.
6) End phone calls with a summary – Sometimes you can be on the phone for a while and discuss a lot of options and solutions. It is important to end the call by providing a brief summary of the decisions that have been made and what the next steps in the process are, so that both of you are clear on what is going to happen.
7) Add humour – To create a more natural conversation, try injecting some humour. It’s a key signal of being genuine and will allow clients or doctors to open up.
Remember – people buy people, so if they warm to you they are more likely to contact you in the future.
[testimonial name=”Julie Smith” who=”Director of Account Management” imagelinks=”https://totalassist.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Julie-4-e1407848336160.jpeg” vertical=”no”]”With over 15 years experience in the medical recruitment industry, I am an empowering and ambitious hands on Director, heading up the Client Account Managers at Total Assist Group. I have a high focus on quality customer service and delivering results.”[/testimonial]
