Breaking Bad Habits
What bad habits do you have regarding your outbound calling that you'd like to improve?
Excellent, Tara! Supervisor and peer observations are a great way to discover your opportunities for improvement, and it's a best practice to then create an action plan for improvement.
Elizabeth Wheeler
I think it's important to know first what your bad habits are. Listening to your calls with your supervisor and other team members is a great way to be aware of bad habits you have created. Then come up with ways with changing those habits and creating new good ones.
Great awareness, Vicmar! With continued practice, you'll be able to address every conversation with energy.
Dr. Jean Norris
I feel that I always say pretty much the same message to my students, even though it may be the first time to them, I always worry that my energy level may not be where I would want it to be . I would like to improve on my message so that my tone is always pleasant.
I would like to improve on probing. I need to work on asking more open ended conversations. Also, I notice that if I don't focus too closely on the quantity of calls but closer to the quality of my calls, I produce more results but I am not trying to hurry and make a certain number of calls and rushing through the call.
I got away from scheduling an hour to make outgoing calls. I’ve let myself get distracted. This is an easy fix for me. I will merely return to scheduling outgoing call time.
Denise, To make sure I fully understand your question, can you clarify what you mean by fillers? Thank you for posting this question in the forum!
Elizabeth Wheeler
Good afternoon,
Besides role play with the team, I will like additional tips on avoiding the use of fillers in the initial phone interview
Remembering to ask the right questions on the call. Staying on close to the script.
Rene, Thank you for sharing! You are not alone. Many times we forgot that we are connecting with a person, and not just a number. The steps you have chosen to break this bad habit are really great! Please keep up posted with how you do!
Dr. Jean Norris
My major bad habit is superficially connecting with the leads just to get the appointment. I plan to ask more probing questions, create a better rapport, and take a genuine interest in their needs so that I build trust with the leads.
Jennifer,
Great! Thank you for sharing your technique for sounding upbeat when you talk on the phone!
Elizabeth Wheeler
I think one of my worst habits is my tone. I've noticed that if I make too many calls in a row I tend to sound bored or annoyed. To counteract this I've started looking at pictures or reading things that make me smile (not laugh) right before I make a call. This way I'm genuinely smiling when the student answers the phone and my voice doesn't sound forced or fake.
Jerry, That is a great habit to break. What steps are you taking to break this bad habit?
Elizabeth Wheeler
Making sure that I focus on the student and not just getting through the call script.
Rob,
This sounds like a great technique! Thank you for posting!
Dr. Jean Norris
It's tough to really "schedule" your inbound response calls since there are so many factors involved (at work, in school, movies, on another call, etc). I try to dedicate a set time for making outbound calls throughout the day so that it not only breaks up my time of calling so that I'm not on constantly but it also means I'm trying people at several points throughout the day in an effort to reach them.
Eric,
Thanks for sharing! It's wonderful awareness to realize that you need to work on eliminating the filler words. Kudos to you for working to make it happen! I think you're right that comfort with the information you're giving will build your confidence and make the filler words go away.
Dr. Jean Norris
my bad habits are always filler words. my tone, diction, and clarity are fine, I have a great phone personality, but I use filler words like um too much. I have worked on this, but I still struggle. I feel it goes away when your more comfortable with the phones and with the information you have to give/ the questions you are going to ask.
