As recruitment consultants we spend a lot of time on the phone speaking to candidates, clients, chasing leads and liaising with one another – its part and parcel of the job. It’s also what reaps results, what allows us to grow, to book interviews, to develop new clients and to provide feedback.
However, every single call MUST count for it to be productive. To gather information, to find new candidates to work with and to grow, we must be making calls that are valuable, worth our time and that meet our level of service. GKR was established in 2010 so we’ve learnt several key tips about telephone manner and we hope you find them just as useful!
Plan Ahead
Planning in advance is key to making every call count; it doesn’t take very long at all, but it seriously helps to form structure which in turn helps gathering information that is valuable. Spending a couple of minutes before hand gives you time to research the person you are speaking to, and to find some common ground that might aid towards building rapport. It also allows you to decide some key objectives – primary and secondary – so that you can takeaway as much as possible without solely relying on your memory.
Introduce Yourself
This may sound like a given but this is such a crucial part of the conversation; regardless of whether you impress on the call, if they don’t know who they are speaking to, they won’t know who to associate the conversation with. When you introduce yourself, speak clearly and provide the person you are speaking with for a reason for the call. Not only does this help to make the call warm but it also provides insight into the conversation about to take place aiding towards the structure you planned.
Take Control
I want to make clear that there is a fine balance between taking control and overpowering the conversation, however, be wary of the direction the conversation takes. If you do find the other person procrastinating, help get them back on track by pointing them in the right direction so that you can achieve the objectives you set out. I also want to discuss the importance of listening because you may not realise that you can regain control by listening very carefully and asking the right questions. For us at GKR, we aim to listen 70% of the time whilst talking 30% of the time which has been proven as the perfect balance for service providers.
Adapt Your Tone
Hopefully you’ve realised by now that not everyone will like to work exactly the way you do things – if you haven’t yet then don’t worry, there is still time! Adapting the way which you present yourself to align your business with other personalities and work ethics will allow you to offer bespoke packages that appeal to a wider audience! Self-awareness is the first battle, tuning into how you do things before realising what could be altered and tweaked to round yourself off. The next battle is admitting it, but that’s all part of self-development!
Consider Your Posture
You’ve probably heard horror stories about sales managers taking the chairs of their employees as a punishment – and although we can’t say whether this is false or accurate information, we don’t use the tactic ourselves. However, we are all aware of our posture on the phone and how much standing helps to project your voice, omitting confidence, knowledge and prowess. If you are slumped into your chair with your chin almost on your desk, the other person on the other end of the phone will hear it. Fact.
Now there’s plenty more to say on this topic but we will keep the blogs coming so for now we hope you found this useful, valuable and insightful! If you work in a role that requires you to speak to others on the telephone, try and remember these top tips to help you improve!
We are property recruitment specialists, get in touch with us today if you are looking for a new career or new hire in property.
