Honeywell Process Solutions

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Telephone Skills
Telephone Skills & Tactics

1. Ten Essential Telephone Skills

2. Six Cardinal Rules of Customer Service
3. Five Forbidden Phrases
4. How to Deal with the Foreign Accent
5. The Six Steps to Service Recovery: Solve the Problem,
Manage Their Feelings
6. Customer Experience 101 – How to properly manage a
Technical Assistance Request

Source:

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Ten Essential Telephone Skills - 1

# 1: Answering a Business Call

Use the three-part greeting.
a. Begin with a pleasant buffer. Example: “Thank you for calling…”
b. Follow with the name of the organization or department.
Example: “…Honeywell HPS Customer Care…”
c. End with your name. Example: “…this is Daniel.”
d. Substitute your department or group for organization name. Example:
”Thank you for holding. Customer Care, this is William.”

# 2: Putting a Caller on Hold

Effective replacement phrases for “Hang on a second.”
a. Let callers know why you need to put them on hold.
b. Ask, “Are you able to hold?” Wait for a response.
c. When callers are not able to hold, handle their needs by offering options.
 

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Ten Essential Telephone Skills - 2

# 3: Thanking the Caller for Holding

Effectively reconnect with callers after placing them on hold.
a. Reduce frustration of being placed on hold.
b. Ease the conversation back on a positive path.
c. Put HPS head and shoulders above average.
 
#4: Monogramming the Call
Use your caller’s name to build rapport.
a. If you know your caller’s name, use it!
b. Spell and pronounce each caller’s name correctly; ask if you need help.
c. Reintroduce yourself to the caller and build a relationship.
 
 

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Ten Essential Telephone Skills - 3

# 5: Avoiding Excuses
Excuses deter callers.
a. Callers want solutions, not excuses.
b. Take responsibility for the call and express desire to assist.
c. Let the caller know how you CAN help, not how you can’t help.
d. Don’t blame others
 
# 6: Giving Spoken Feedback Signals
Let your callers know you are listening.
a. Give spoken feedback.
b. Mix your responses to avoid sounding mechanical and insincere.
c. Mirror back or rephrase the caller’s words to confirm understanding.
 
 

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Ten Essential Telephone Skills - 4

# 7: Being Prepared
Take notes!
a. Keep pen and paper near the telephone at all times.
b. Take telephone messages word-for-word; read message back to caller.
c. Be sure the message includes caller’s name, message, date, time and your name.
 
# 8: Controlling the Conversation
Redirect callers who wander off-topic.
a. If a caller gets off subject, take control.
b. Use the “Back-on-Track” approach. Ask a question related to the purpose of the call.
c. Use a subtle buffer to soften your approach to get the caller back-on-track.

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Ten Essential Telephone Skills - 5

# 9: Avoiding Mouth Noises

Mouth noises annoy and alienate callers.
a. The telephone mouthpiece or headset is a microphone.
b. While on a call, don’t eat, drink, hum or chew gum.
c. Don’t annoy callers with unpleasant mouth noises.
 
# 10: Leaving a Positive Last Impression.
Leave your customers feeling great about your organization.
a. A positive last impression counts every bit as much as a good first
impression.
b. Make every caller feel important to you and HPS.
c. End your conversation on a positive note. Let callers know you are glad
they called.

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10 Essential Telephone Skills Quiz

PROPERTIES

On passing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

On failing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

Allow user to leave quiz: After user has completed quiz

User may view slides after quiz: At any time

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Six Cardinal Rules of Customer Service

1. People Before Paperwork

– Give the customer your complete attention.
– Remember—the customer always comes before paperwork or any other task.
 
2. Don’t Rush Customers
– Learn to redirect calls.
– Take time to get all the information.
– Avoid rushing your customers and coworkers.
 
3. Be Friendly BEFORE You Know Who It Is
– Treat all customers equally.
– Use your personality.
– Customers mirror the way they’re treated.

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Six Cardinal Rules of Customer Service

4. Don’t Be Too Busy To Be Nice

– Don’t give short, one-word answers.
– Don’t be abrupt.
– Keep your sense of humor.

 5. Don’t Use Military Language on Civilians

– Use understandable words.
– Avoid using company jargon.
– Explain unfamiliar terms.

 6. Be Personally Accountable – Don’t Pass the Buck

– Take ownership; be accountable and responsible.
– Remember your ABCs – don’t accuse, blame or complain.
– Seek solutions and don’t be afraid to accept responsibility.

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Five Forbidden Phrases

1. “I Don’t Know.”
  - Replace with: “That’s a great question. Let me check and find out.”
  
2. “We Can’t Do That.”
  - Replace with: “Here’s what we can do.”
- Offer a positive alternative.
  
3. “You’ll HAVE To…”
- Replace with: “You’ll NEED to...”
- Take orders rather than give them.

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Five Forbidden Phrases

4. “Just a Second.”
-  Replace with: “Are you able to hold?”
- Wait for a response.
 
 5. “No” at the Start of a Sentence.
  - Think before you answer.
- Eliminate the ‘”NO” and begin with the next word.
Example: Have you ever been to China?
Old – No, I haven’t.
New – I haven’t.

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Forbidden Phrases

PROPERTIES

On passing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

On failing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

Allow user to leave quiz: After user has completed quiz

User may view slides after quiz: At any time

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How to Deal with the Foreign Accent- 1

1. Don’t Pretend To Understand

 
a) Let customers know you want to help.
b) Acknowledge that you’re having trouble understanding.
c) Gently ask the customer to slow down.
d) Ask the customer to repeat if the message.
e) Clarify your understanding.
 
 
2. Don’t Rush The Customer

f) Encourage customer to take his/her time.

g)  Allow time for the customer to process extra steps.
 

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How to Deal with the Foreign Accent- 2

3. Don’t Shout
a) Speak clearly without raising your voice. 
b) Remember this is a communication barrier not a hearing problem. 
c) Try a different approach.
 
4. Don’t Be Rude
d) What you do affects how the customer feels about our organization.
e) Always be willing to help.
f) It’s NEVER okay to be rude to a customer.
 
5. Learn From Experience 
g) Anticipate special needs. 
h) Be prepared at all times.

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Foreign Accents

PROPERTIES

On passing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

On failing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

Allow user to leave quiz: After user has completed quiz

User may view slides after quiz: At any time

Show in menu as: Multiple items

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The Six Steps to Service Recovery - 1
Solve the Problem, Manage Their Feelings
Step 1: Respond Rapidly.
1. Respond rapidly. Instantaneously, if possible.
2. Delay irritates a customer even more.
3. An upset customer is easier to work with if you smooth the problem over right away.
4. Any delay and the customer’s sense of importance is affected negatively.
5. Customers want justice NOW.
6. Management needs to know about repetitive problems.
  
Step 2: Take Ownership
1. The ideal situation is for only one person to handle any questionable situation.
2. The more often a customer tells the story, the angrier he/she will get.
3. Immediate and sincere response often encourage future business.
4. End your service recovery by reminding your customer: “We value your business and want you to
continue to be our customer”.

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The Six Steps to Service Recovery - 2
Solve the Problem, Manage Their Feelings
Step 3: Apologize Sincerely
1. A critical step to service recovery.
2. “Sorry ‘bout that” is perceived as an insincere apology.
3. Apologies must be sincere and with understanding of how the problem affected the customer.
4. You may have to apologize several times a day, but it’s always the first time your customer has heard it
5. The slightest bit of insincerity or boredom and service recovery suffers.
 

Step 4: Solve the Problem

1. Customers are not interested in your correcting them with company jargon.
2. When solving a problem, customers are interested in their schedules, not the company’s.
3. Substituting one problem for another is not service recovery.
4. Customers want to see you as confident and empowered to solve the problem.
5. Customers will perceive you as solving the problem by going the extra mile and double-checking all
options.
 

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The Six Steps to Service Recovery - 3
Solve the Problem, Manage Their Feelings
Step 5: Managing the Feelings
1. Managing the feelings of the customer is the heart of service recovery.
2. After solving the problem, you need to work on the feelings involved.
3. Don’t tell a customer you know exactly how they feel.
4. The customer is looking for something extra for their time and inconvenience.
5. The extra doesn’t need to be expensive, but it does need to be something the customer values.
 
  
Step 6: Verify Satisfaction
1. To know if you’ve really solved the problem, ask.
2. Use a scale for your customer to gauge where your service recovery is.
3. Probe to determine what needs to be done to achieve maximum satisfaction.
4. It is often a small, overlooked detail that stops the customer from being completely satisfied. Ask and
you’ll find out.

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HONEYWELL - CONFIDENTIAL
Telephone Skills & Tactics

1. Ten Essential Telephone Skills

2. Six Cardinal Rules of Customer Service
3. Five Forbidden Phrases
4. How to Deal with the Foreign Accent
5. The Six Steps to Service Recovery: Solve the Problem,
Manage Their Feelings
6. Customer Experience 101 – How to properly manage a
Technical Assistance Request

Source:

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 How to properly manage a Technical Assistance Request – Conversation #1

• Agent: Hello, how can I direct your call?

• Caller: Hello, this is Joe Smith from Shell in Vallejo, CA and my Experion C300 controller experienced a major electrical failure
and I’m unable bring the system up online. We are in the process of shutting down the entire factory as a result.
• Agent: Can you confirm your name and phone number.
• Caller: Joe Smith 480-455-5000
• Agent: Do you have a contract with Honeywell?
• Caller: I don’t know, I just joined the company 3 days ago.
• Agent: How would you classify the priority of your call?
• Caller: Urgent! We are in shut-down protocol.
• Agent: Do you have an asset number of the system that is giving you problems?
• Caller: Please send me to TAC immediately, I need help now!
• Agent: Ok, I’ll put you on hold, verify your account information and when someone is available I will put you thru to them, not
sure how long its going to take. Please hold.
• Caller: No! please don’t put me on…..

•Unfriendly and unprofessional introduction

•Makes customer repeat information
•Asks the customer for information that should be readily available
•Doesn’t realize the priority of the situation
•Puts a desperate customer on hold with no time table of response
 How to properly manage a Technical Assistance Request –
Conversation #1 Improved

• Agent: Thank you for calling Honeywell Process Solutions, this is Susan, who am I speaking with today and what company
are you calling from?
• Caller: This is Joe Smith from Shell in Vallejo, CA.
• Agent: Are you experiencing an emergency or any critical situation?
• Caller: Yes! my Experion C300 controller experienced a major electrical failure and I’m unable bring the system up online,
we are in the process of shutting down the entire factory as a result.
• Agent: Please make sure you are in a safe location. I’m in the process of verifying your account information as well as
getting an Engineer lined up to speak with you immediately. Can you confirm your phone number just in case we get
disconnected?
• Caller: Thank you, my number is 480-455-5000.
• Agent: Joe, I have an Engineer, Will Fixit that can speak with you immediately, I’m going to transfer you now. Is there any
other assistance that you need?
• Caller: No, but thank you for realizing our situation and putting me thru immediately, much appreciated.

•Agent was professional with introductions and took control of the call
•Agent realized the critical situation immediately
•Agent was able to verify account information within the system
•Agent immediately lined up an engineer that was logged into the system and was able to
warm transfer the call
 How to properly manage a Technical Assistance Request –
Conversation #2

• Agent: Hello, how can I direct your call?

• Caller: Hello this is John Smith from Shell in Los Angeles California, I was expecting to receive a shipment yesterday for a critical
outage we have planned for this weekend
• Agent: Can you let me know what your purchase order number is?
• Caller: PO# 56789 and I placed it 3 weeks ago according to your lead time requirements.
• Agent: Ok, I found your order and I show that this did not ship out as planned.
• Caller: That is not good, when do you show the order scheduled to ship?
• Agent: The system does not tell me, I will need to call someone in our supply chain to get an answer on if we have stock and when
we might be able to ship.
• Caller: By accepting my purchase order, you confirmed that you are able to meet Shell’s order requirements. This is unacceptable
that I have to call to find out the status of my order that should have already shipped!
• Agent: I understand your frustrations, but I don’t work in Supply Chain so I cant immediately answer your questions.
• Caller: Please find out what you can on the status and call me back when you have an answer.
• Agent: Ok, I can’t make any promises on when, but I will try and get it done soon.

•Customer had to call for status on an expected shipment

•Agent had no information as to why or when the order will ship
•Agent blames another function for the issue without realizing we are One Honeywell
•Agent cannot confirm how soon she has the time to get the information
 How to properly manage a Technical Assistance Request –
Conversation #2 Improved

• Agent: Hello John, this is Melanie from HPS how are you today? I’m calling about your PO# 56789 scheduled to be
delivered in 10 days.
• Caller: Yes, this is a critical part we desperately need for an outage we have planned coming up in 12 days.
• Agent: I’ve just been informed that we are unfortunately having some issues getting this part ready in time for so I
wanted to call you ahead of time and work thru another option that can still meet your requirements on time.
• Caller: Yes, thank you, I really appreciate you recognizing there is an issue in advance to help us.
• Agent: We have a program called CRP (certified recycled parts) and we do have this exact part number available in
stock. It has been refurbished and meets all the quality specifications and is price discounted. If you are interested in
this option, I can get this out the door today so you have it well in advance of your outage.
• Caller: Sounds like this is the safest option. Lets do this, send me the CRP part, and keep my original order in place,
we’ll have that as a backup so we don’t find ourselves in a critical situation down the road.
• Agent: I’m processing your order as we speak. I’m also going to send a message to your FSL so they can talk to you
about the CRP program and entitlements we have available for keeping you up and running.
• Caller: Sounds great, thank you for being proactive and introducing us to this new program.

•Agent called the customer proactively once the problem resurfaced

•Agent was able to give the customer another option to meet their need
•Agent was able to drive an additional sale unexpectedly
•Agent was able to generate the customer’s interest for more information on the CRP
program
Telephone Skills & Tactics
Advanced training & practice
Customer Service over the Phone (60 minutes)
cust_09_a03_bs_enus
Direct link HERE

Frontline Call Center Skills Simulation (60 minutes)

CUST0110
Direct link HERE

The Angry Caller: What's Your Plan? (7 minutes)

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Direct link HERE

Or:
1. Go to Honeywell Skillport HERE
2. At top left “Search & Learn”, search for [title]

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Module Completion

PROPERTIES

On passing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

On failing, 'Finish' button: Goes to Next Slide

Allow user to leave quiz: After user has completed quiz

User may view slides after quiz: At any time

Show in menu as: Multiple items

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End of Telephone Skills

• Thank you

• Please exit properly (close the screen by selecting the “x”

at the top right) to receive completion credit.

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