Almost all professionals deal with phone calls as part of their roles. Some do a lot more of it, such as those who work in call centres or customer services. Knowing how to handle phone calls is critical in handling client relationships and in preserving customers.

A critical area that significantly helps telephone skills training is emotional intelligence. Those who can successfully manage their emotions even when under stress are known to be very good at handling phone call, especially when you need to deal with difficult or angry customers.

A good way to examine telephone skills is to see what are the challenges, especially in situations when phones are extensively used such as call centres. Here is a list of challenges that a customer service representative (CSR) is confronted with:

• Every customer expects to be treated as an especial customer.
• The CSR has limited control over her own work level.
• Call centres usually have high levels of monitoring which can add to the CSR’s stress levels.
• The CSR needs to be informed about a wide range of topics related to their products, services and organisation.
• The CSR is usually at front line of customer services where she needs to deal with complaints. She can easily get affected by the frustration experienced by a customer.
• A CSR must be capable of multitasking. She should be able to talk while using a computer and imagine what the customer is experiencing using only words heard on the phone.
• The CSR needs to remain calm and in control no matter how the customer feels. Staying calm while a customer is shouting or is abuse is certainly challenging.
• The CSR needs to be impartial and might have to disguise her own feelings.
• The CSR should have good verbal and language skills and be able to talk concisely while giving enough details to the customer.
• The CSR should always present her organisation in a positive way despite wrong doing or negligence by other colleagues.
• The CSR should be happy and enthusiastic for every customer.
• The CSR should be good at sales skills and know how to follow leads.
• The CSR should be aware of other experts in the team so a customer can always be referred to other technical members of organisation if needed.

As you can see, there are many challenges that a CSR needs to encounter. On further examination you can see that these challenges are not unique to customer services and that they apply in various degrees to everyone who deals with phones.

The question is how to prepare yourself to confront these challenges.

Focus on Emotional Skills

The simple answer is that by focusing on emotional skills you can prepare yourself to deal with all of these challenges. For example, when a customer is aggressive or rude to you, you can use an assertive tone that delivers your message while not getting emotional or confrontational.

Emotional intelligence also help you to know how to act when necessary. Knowing how to act helps you to adopt the expression and behaviour of a person who is calm when you need to be calm. On the other hand, when you need to be excited and enthusiastic, you can act like one and transfer these feelings to the other person (such as when you want to sell something to them).

Fortunately, everyone can increase their emotional intelligence. You need emotional intelligence training and dedication to learn from experience and apply the methods that you learn. For resources on emotional intelligence training and telephone skills see the resource box at the end of this article.

Find more readymade UK corporate training resources and training materials definition on soft skills training, train the trainer, telephone skills and customer service skills. For related training resources see telephone skills training materials. Also see free training courses, training tools, games for trainers, short icebreakers, power point slides, trainers notes and resources on writing training materials.