Top Ten Telephone Etiquette Do's for Work-from-Home Call Center Agents

1. Do listen to the caller. Taking the time to hear and understand what your customers are saying is a critical component to call center telephone etiquette. When callers know you are listening to what they are saying, they feel important and respected, and the call has a higher chance for overall success.

2. Do be aware of the tone of your voice. Be enthusiastic and upbeat. Callers can hear a frown in your voice just as easily as they can hear a smile. They'll react in a more positive manner to your voice if it sounds happy and inviting.

3. Do drop everything else you're doing and give your undivided attention to the caller. That means no checking your email, having a side conversation or reading your favorite magazine when you're supposed to be taking calls. Callers can immediately detect by your tone and speech if they are not your first priority. To provide superior customer service, callers must be the only thing you're focused on when you're working.

4. Do ask questions and show you care about the caller's needs. Asking questions also helps avoid dead air when you're typing or looking up information for the customer.

5. Do speak clearly and annunciate your words. Speaking through a telephone headset microphone can muffle and distort your voice. Nothing is more annoying to customers than speaking with call center agents and not being able to understand them. Take extra care in speaking slowly to ensure your customers hear every word.

6. Do be aware of the position of your headset's mouthpiece. Again, headset microphones can muffle and distort your voice, but this is one hundred times worse when it's paired with a mouthpiece that is either too close or too far away from the agent's mouth. When the microphone is too close to your mouth, not only will your voice be uncomfortably loud to the caller on the other end of the line, but it will also be garbled and incomprehensible. If your microphone is too far away from your mouth, the caller won't be able to hear you. Check your mouthpiece often while you're working to ensure it's positioned properly based on the instructions in your headset manual (the recommended placement for the microphone on most headset models is two fingers' width from your mouth).

7. Do ask permission before putting your customer on hold. Not only is it very confusing for customers to be speaking with you one second and the next second they hear music or silence, but it is also extremely rude. It's the equivalent of hanging up on a caller. What happens when someone hangs up on you? It makes you angry. The same thing happens when you put customers on hold without asking permission first.

8. Do check back with your customer periodically if you need to keep him or her on hold for an extended period of time. This is particularly important if the company you're working for doesn't provide music on hold. If customers are on hold for longer than a few minutes without music, they begin to wonder if they were disconnected. If they're on hold for more than a few minutes with music, they begin to get impatient and wonder what you're doing. Did you go on a break? Did you fall asleep? Where are you? Check back in to let them know you're still working on the issue and will be back with them shortly.

9. Do ask permission before transferring callers to another agent or department. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. One second they're talking to you and the next second they hear another voice. What happened to you? They're left to start from the beginning again with a different agent, which is incredibly frustrating for callers.

10. Do ensure you are well trained and knowledgeable enough to handle calls successfully. Take your training seriously and keep handy documents and cheat sheets nearby to help you get through your more difficult calls. Review your training materials periodically to refresh your memory and ensure you're not only following company policies but also able to handle any call that comes your way.

For more tips, read my follow up hub, Top Ten Telephone Etiquette Don'ts for Work-from-Home Call Center Agents.