Answering Services: Professionalism in Customer Service

If you’ve ever worked in customer service, you know that customers can be difficult to work with. They can be rude, confrontational, and impatient. Yet, it’s imperative for customer service professionals to remain calm, cool, and collected.

How a customer is treated during a phone call impacts brand perception and can influence buying decisions. 

Here are a few ways to help your business maintain a high standard of professionalism for your customer service team. 

Looking to enhance your business’s professionalism in customer service? Hire an answering service on Clutch. 

What is Professionalism in Customer Service? 

Professionalism in customer service is about integrity, being respectful, and portraying a professional image whenever working with customers. 

Customers call customer service when they are experiencing a problem — maybe they’ve been billed incorrectly, they can’t log on to your site, or they can’t figure out how to work a product. Regardless, the experience a customer has when interacting with a company representative can make a huge difference in how they perceive the business and their product.

Providing excellent customer support is an essential part of building customer relations. By creating a customer service strategy that focuses on the importance of professionalism, they can provide higher quality service.

The Importance of Professionalism in Customer Service 

By displaying work-appropriate attitudes and behaviors, customer service representatives are able to deescalate tense situations, help customers resolve issues they’re having, and portray a professional brand image. 

By providing good customer service and addressing customer needs, they can increase customer satisfaction.

As a result, companies with great customer service are more likely to retain loyal customers or see repeat buyers. It also sets some businesses apart from their competition. In fact, 90% of Americans say that customer service is a major factor when deciding to do business with a company.

How Does Hiring An Answering Service Improve Your Customer Service? 

1. They have professional training
2. Enhance branding and messaging
3. Easy to scale teams
4. Reduce wait times
5. Extend hours

They Have Professional Training 

As discussed above, maintaining a professional attitude can be challenging. Some companies may struggle to hire receptionists, customer service reps, and other call-center professionals that have the necessary skills. At the same time, training can take time and be costly.  

However, many voice service providers provide training for their employees which equips them to deal with customers in a professional manner. 

A great customer service rep often does more than just answer the telephone, they also have customer service skills such as emotional intelligence, communication, problem-solving skills: 

While many call center workers possess some of these skills, such as language skills, others, such as how to troubleshoot computer problems or how to deal with difficult customers, can be taught through training.  

With proper training, call center professionals can improve the quality of customer interactions, resulting in better outcomes. 

Enhance Branding and Messaging 

The language and tone used during customer interactions can have a big impact on the brand’s perception. 

It’s important to remember that the messaging used in customer communication and customer service interactions is just as valuable as ad content or marketing materials.

Companies can create consistency in the brand and messaging by creating scripts for the answering service to follow. This includes what language to use in certain situations, how they want to greet customers when answering the phone, and more. 

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Even something as insignificant as how a customer service representative greets the phone can leave a lasting first impression.

In addition to enhancing the company’s brand, this creates consistency for callers. When a customer calls, they may speak to any number of representatives. This can cause frustration and confusion each time they call. 

By creating a consistent experience, companies can improve the quality of their customer service and make their business seem more professional. 

Easy to Scale Teams 

Rather than going through the hassle to hire an in-house team, an answering service can do it for you. 

They take care of recruiting potential hires, screening them, providing them with training, and onboarding them. As a result, it is easier to scale the team up and down as needed. 

Expecting more customer service calls during the holidays? Bring a few more team members can reduce hold times and provide better customer experience. 

Reduce Wait Times 

Nothing is worse than sitting on hold for hours on end. By hiring an answering service, companies can reduce hold times and resolve customer complaints significantly faster. 
Immediately, customers can be connected to a customer service representative that will be able to help resolve any issues they have in a professional manner. 
As a result, this improves customers’ perception of a company. This, in turn, can impact product or company review ratings, overall satisfaction, and more. 

Extend Hours 

By hiring an answering service, companies can extend their hours of operation. Many call centers and virtual receptionists are able to provide 24/7 support because they have teams in other parts of the world or they have staff with staggered schedules. 
 
This improves the perceived professionalism of the business because they’re accessible. It may make the business seem larger and more organized. They’re also able to respond faster, showing customers that the business respects their time. 

How to be Professional in Customer Service Roles

1. Maintain a positive attitude
2. Respond promptly
3. Provide context
4. Be authentic
5. Anticipate questions to streamline the process
6. Follow Up

Maintain a Positive Attitude 

Whether you’re having a bad day or the caller is particularly irate, it’s important for customer service representatives to maintain a helpful and positive attitude throughout the interaction. 

It’s easy to get defensive, stressed, and frustrated when dealing with a difficult situation. However, customer service reps must remember they’re there to provide support and find a solution. 

Remaining calm, speaking clearly, and controlling their own emotions is key to being professional in customer service. 

Additional reading, ‘5 Ways Your Answering Service Can Practice Emotional Intelligence When Interacting With Customers.’

Respond Promptly 

Timeliness shows customers that the company respects their time. Whether it’s by answering a phone quickly, responding to emails within a few hours, or setting up a chat bot, prompt responses are very appreciated. 

Provide Context

Being honest and forthcoming can go a long way in a conversation with a customer. By providing context about why an issue occurred or how to prevent it from happening again in the future can prevent frustrations. 

Be Authentic

Being authentic is about being your true self. Customer service reps can be authentic and professional at the same time. One way to do this is to be present. When answering calls all day, it’s easy to fall into habits. By actually listening to customers’ complaints, call center operatives can provide better customer service. 

Anticipate Questions to Streamline the Process 

Answering services help companies appear more professional because they will have a list of FAQs and solutions to common issues in order to make the process faster. Customers, in turn, will appreciate the quick solution. 

Follow Up 

Finally, customer service teams should always follow up a call. By sending an email or SMS message asking about the quality of the service, companies show their dedication to providing the best customer service possible. 

In addition to being an invaluable source of data and customer feedback, these surveys also demonstrate the business’s commitment to continuous improvement. 

Professional Customer Service Reps Increase Retention

Professionalism in customer service is an important part of maintaining a business’s brand image and reputation. Customer service professionals that work with integrity, speak to customers with respect and empathy, and provide solutions are the type of people businesses want to represent their brand. 

Hiring a professional answering service can enhance a company’s professionalism by shortening wait times, extending hours, and providing trained customer service representatives. 

In doing so, they can improve the business’s customer service, resulting in more loyal customers and repeat buyers. 
 

About the Author

Hannah Hicklen Content Marketing Manager at Clutch

Hannah Hicklen is a content marketing manager who focuses on creating newsworthy content around tech services, such as software and web development, AI, and cybersecurity. With a background in SEO and editorial content, she now specializes in creating multi-channel marketing strategies that drive engagement, build brand authority, and generate high-quality leads. Hannah leverages data-driven insights and industry trends to craft compelling narratives that resonate with technical and non-technical audiences alike. 

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