Addressing and overcoming potential strategic risks is important in any business and answering the telephone can affect a caller’s first and lasting impression. Zoom Answer Call has initiated a white paper to review the statistics and research the impact that telephone skills can have on organisations.

The paper supports the view that the possible business a caller may be placing hinges on the initial impression. It is therefore essential to make a perfect first impression and ensure opportunities are not lost.

A culture needs to be developed that involves training any person answering the telephone and making them aware of their responsibilities. Alternatively, a professional call answering telephone support company can be engaged to be the ‘gatekeeper’ to the organisation, so that a perfect first impression is created.

Research has been undertaken into the four key areas that impact telephone skills and the white paper provides statistics and further details.

Diction
Found to be hugely important in a telephone call, as diction is the only way to judge personality and subsequently the ‘culture’ of the organisation. For example Zooms operators are always smiling, confident and match the callers approach.

Information retention
On average only 60% of information is retained on a call and taking the correct information is essential. Not focussing on a call may result in a lost business opportunity. Since Zooms business is answering the telephone operators are always prepared for incoming calls and it is their sole task to focus on those calls.

Voice Mail
There is a strong view on the perceived usefulness of Voice Mail to record and take messages, but a company relying on this may be putting itself at risk of losing customers if not set up and used correctly. The research demonstrates that 34 % of written messages are inaccurate or unreadable and this can support the importance of engaging call answering companies.

Call Answering
Answering calls on the first ring can be too effective as customers may not be ready and have been found to hang up. Conversely, potential customers hang up in frustration after an average of 24 seconds. At Zoom calls are answered within 2 to 6 rings.

Creating a culture that generates effective call answering is vital in any organisation and the research detailed in the white paper shows that telephony skills can be a strategic risk in any organisation. At Zoom we have a happy, dynamic team who understand their responsibilities and are highly trained by internal and external sources. Our customers provide effective feedback and we really do smile when we answer the phone.