The New Customer Service Skill: Answering the Phone

This article answers the question: Why is answering the phone a critical customer service skill for employees today?

Answer: Answering the phone is a critical customer service skill because customers still prefer it for support, and failing to respond creates frustration and signals that the company doesn’t care.

Recently, a client shared that their younger employees didn’t answer the phone. With plenty of frustration in her voice, she asked me, “Can you teach them that skill?” 

At first, I thought she was joking, or maybe venting, but she backed up the complaint with a comment that made sense. The younger generation didn’t grow up with a hard-wired “land line” in their home. Everything they know about a phone is what they carry in their pockets. Furthermore, many people carrying a phone hardly ever use it as a phone. They use it for messaging, social media posts, text messages, and more, but not for phone calls. 

So, here is our reality. This isn’t about customer service in a contact center. That is a job that requires the phone to be answered. That’s what people are paid to do. This is about anywhere a phone rings while employees are busy doing something else. It could be a store, a hotel, a doctor’s office, a lawyer’s office, a nursing home – pretty much anywhere.  

The phone becomes background noise. It is ignored rather than answered. If a customer, patient, or client reaches out to a company and nobody picks up, it becomes a customer experience problem. Maybe customers are calling for something as simple as store hours. Or maybe it’s an urgent matter. Regardless, they are reaching out and expecting someone to be there. When nobody answers, the message they receive, even if unintentional, is that the company or brand doesn’t care. 

Year after year, in my customer service and CX research, the phone consistently ranks as the No. 1 preferred method of communication when customers need help or have a question. Despite the fact that we live in a digital world, the old-fashioned “analog” phone is not dead – not even close. So if your team isn’t answering it, you have a customer experience problem that needs to be fixed.  

Here are four ideas to help get the phone managed the way it should be: 

1. The Why: As part of the onboarding process, explain the importance of answering the phone, and emphasize why it matters to the customer when it’s mismanaged or ignored.   

2. Basic Training: This is where employees learn the basics of phone skills. How the phone is answered and how a conversation is ended are both important. I always say, “First impressions set the tone for what’s to follow, and last impressions leave lasting impressions.” 

3. Set Minimum Expectations: Standards matter, such as answering the phone within three rings. If a customer must be transferred, make it only once and to the right person. Know the proper way to put someone on hold. These are the baseline for a good experience.   

4. Soft Skills: It goes without saying that the employees you hire should have the “people skills” needed to ensure the customer has a good experience when they call. Confidence, listening skills, and empathy are essential and a great place to start.  

Anytime a customer calls you on the phone, it’s an opportunity to form an impression that confirms the customer made the right decision to do business with you. Don’t let employees with poor phone skills and etiquette get in the way of getting your customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.