The document provides call handling guidelines for customer service representatives. It outlines best practices for greeting callers, acknowledging concerns and paraphrasing to show understanding, verifying customer identities securely, placing callers on hold and transferring calls. Representatives are instructed to sound friendly, apologize for any issues, actively listen, thank customers, and address them by name. Proper hold and transfer procedures include requesting permission, providing timeframes and reasons.

1. CALL HANDLING GUIDELINES

2. • I. Greeting
•
• “Thank you for calling (COMPANY NAME). This is
(YOUR NAME), how may I help you?”
•
• *Sound as happy, friendly and accommodating
when delivering your greeting statement

3. • II. Acknowledge/Paraphrase
• “I understand how you feel and I apologize for any
inconveniences you may have experienced. Let me try to help
you out with your concern. Can you tell me more about it?”
• “I understand how you feel and I apologize for any
inconveniences you may have experienced. If I understood you
correctly, this is what happened: (CUSTOMER’S ISSUE). Is that
right? Let me help you out on that.
• *Use the EAR Method every time the customer shows a sign
of being upset, frustrated, angry, etc.
• *Use verbal prompts such as “I see” or “Yes, I understand” to
let them know that you are listening. Also, say “I apologize,
please continue” if you accidentally interrupt callers while they
are talking

4. • III. Verification
• Get all the necessary information for the customer to be
verified (i.e. name, last 4 digits of credit card no. etc.)
• “In order for me to be able to verify your identity, may I have
your name and the last four digits of your credit card
number please?”
• “For verification purposes, may I have…..?
• “To protect the privacy of your account, may I have….?
• “Thank you for that information.”
• *Always thank the customer for the answers/information that
they give you and make sure you use their names at least 3
times in a call. Remember that the essence of the verification
is customer security!

5. • IV. Hold Procedure
• Ask for permission
• Give a specific timeframe (limit it to 2 min.)
• Give a reason for the hold
• “Thank you, please hold.”
• “Thank you for waiting.” (upon return)
•
• Transfer Procedure
• Inform caller where/to whom they’ll be transferred
• Give a reason for the transfer
• Inform of possible hold time
• “Thank you. Please stay on the line for the
(TRANSFER DESTINATION; i.e. technical
department)”