Why building rapport with customers on the phone is so important

Building rapport is the ability to generate a level of trust and understanding between the person representing your business and your customer. When speaking to customers over the phone, it's even more important to ensure you build a strong level of rapport, as you don't have the added benefits of being able to promote yourself visibly. To build rapport, you need to actively listen to your customers, empathise and understand exactly what it is they're asking of you. Once their requests have been clearly communicated, you then need to be able to explain clearly what solutions you can offer so that the customer feels confident their request will be resolved. Below we've listed out our top reasons why building rapport with customers on the phone is so important.

Build a relationship

The process of building rapport with a customer over the phone goes through several steps, much like building any relationship that's going to last. From introductions, to active listening, to understanding or empathy about what is being asked, to solutions offered and a positive resolution - building rapport is key to developing a relationship between your business and your customers. Without the benefit of positive body language, and being able to look each other in the eye, it's even more important that experienced, trained staff manage calls with customers over the telephone, to ensure their experience is always positive.

Build trust

If your customers feel their requests have been listened to, actioned and dealt with after a phone call, they will begin to trust your business, and feel confident they are being listened to. Trust is a crucial component in any long-standing relationship, in which your customers will return to you time and again.

If you want to outsource your customer service phone calls to an expert team of experienced call handling advisors, then contact Frontline today. With over 30 years experience managing calls across a range of sectors, including highly sensitive calls, we are confident we can build successful rapport with your customers, ultimately helping to improve your customer relations. For more information, contact us today on 0148 922 2399.