In-house trainingTelephone & Call Centre Skills

Telephone & Call Centre Skills: Sound Helpful on Every Call

Participants learn to open a call well, listen, sound warm and resolve the issue on the first call. They leave with a call opener, a handover checklist and a self-review sheet for their own calls.

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Telephone & Call Centre Skills course cover
Key Outcomes
Open and set up the call
e.g., greet, give your name and ask for the customer's name
Listen and confirm
e.g., summarise before acting: "You were charged twice in March. Is that right?"
Use voice and wording for warmth
e.g., slow down when the customer is upset and offer options instead of "no"
Resolve on the first call or hand over cleanly
e.g., agree a callback time and record full notes

Why teams need this

On the phone, customers hear tone before they hear substance. Rushed, scripted or distracted calls end with the customer ringing back. SQM Group's benchmark data reports average first call resolution (FCR) of 70%, with 80% or higher as world class, and says only 5% of call centres reach it. It also says each repeat call lowers customer satisfaction by about 15% on average.

FCR as the key measure
SQM reports that every 1% improvement in FCR is matched by about 1% improvement in satisfaction. This is a benchmarking firm's figure, not an academic study.
The 7-38-55 myth
Many trainers say "93% of communication is non-verbal". Mehrabian's studies tested 30 women listening to words in different tones, and 37 women shown photos with spoken words. Mehrabian himself said "unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable". Participants practise tone and words together.
Positive language
Per the HBR study, constructive alternatives to "can't" lower customer effort.
Group work and role-play
Teams review anonymised call scripts or recordings and mark where tone, wording or process caused a repeat call. Then they role-play back-to-back phone calls with a rushed or angry caller, and peers score first-call resolution.

Exercises use your call types and the languages your callers use.

HRDC/HRDF training that builds confidence and drives growth.

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