There are many different ways to communicate these days—especially with customers. As a brand looking to establish lasting relationships with your audience, it’s important to leverage multiple channels of communication whenever possible. Often, connecting with customers involves using the right channel at the right time. But with so many channels to choose from—text, video, email, social media, etc.—it can be hard to make the right call.
One channel that is often overlooked is a good old-fashioned phone call. Despite all the technological advancements in communication, giving someone a call is still a preferred way of touching base and getting needed information across. Find out how making use of voice communication is a proven way to build trust with your customer base.
Authenticity and Human Connection
The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things about the workplace, including having most of the workforce perform their daily tasks from home. In fact, more than a third of U.S. workers now work from home due to the changes after the coronavirus. Now, people are doing things like working, ordering food, and scheduling appointments all through text and forms without the need to speak to anyone.
For many, this represents a loss of vital human connection. Things like forms and text-based communication can make a company seem cold and distant when interacting with customers and clients. Voice communication reintroduces that connection by adding a personal and authentic touch to these interactions. Nothing says “we care” like picking up the phone and giving someone a call rather than sending an automated text message.
Plus, the age-old saying: “It’s not what you say but how you say it” holds true here. There is so much more to language than just the words that are said. Things like tone and inflection contribute a significant amount to the overall interaction. Having a kind and empathetic person contact a customer can establish great rapport and create a sense of connection that never could have been achieved through text.
Clarity and Transparency
Nothing is worse than having something be miscommunicated or misconstrued by a customer. Things like appointment times, discounts, offerings, and other specifics need to be crystal clear to the person on the other end. Being able to articulate an aspect of your business to a customer creates a sense of trust that you’re there to answer their questions in a timely and transparent manner.
This also ties in with the advantages of real-time communication. Through text, talking points can get lost or forgotten over the span of time it takes to have a full conversation. With voice communication, on the other hand, your team can immediately clarify any issues, concerns, or input that your customer might have. Do they need to change their appointment time for something crucial? They could send a text and then agonize over waiting for a response, or they could just call your office and get an answer right away. These kinds of touches can make all the difference when you’re looking to build trust with customers.
Building Authority and Expertise
Lastly, when your team uses voice communication to speak directly to customers, it makes them feel like you know your stuff. A text, even one that’s not automated, can easily be copied. But when a knowledgeable representative is on the other line calmly and confidently answering questions and solving problems, it’s not something that can be easily faked or manufactured.
Depending on your industry, being able to demonstrate that confidence through voice communication could be vital to obtaining and retaining customers, clients, or patients. Leveraging this channel to show your audience that you are an industry leader can establish trust that leads to long-term customer loyalty.
How Rhode Island Telephone Can Help
If you think that voice communication isn’t needed for modern businesses, think again. As we’ve seen, it’s a crucial aspect of establishing trust between your brand and your customers. Having a communication system that doesn’t incorporate solid voice communication could be alienating your customer base and costing you valuable business.
While you may recognize the value of voice communication, you may not have a good system in place to get things up and running. That’s where Rhode Island Telephone comes in. With affordable cloud-based phone systems, you don’t need to break the bank with expensive and complicated hardware to establish a phone system for your business. Give us a call today to request a free quote!
