How to be Effective Taking Customer Orders over the Phone

Many companies rely on orders being taken over the phone. There are many different routes to get to the point of ordering. It might be that the work has been done through digital marketing techniques, leading a potential customer to make a phone call to order, or it could be that a cold calling process has taken place. Whatever the reason behind the customer wishing to place an order, now that you have them in this position, it is important for your business that you have an effective and robust order-taking service in place that provides your customer with the product or service that they want, whilst maintaining high standards internally within your company, taking notice of supply and demand, stock levels and the service or product delivery process.

Offering the capacity for your customers to place orders over the phone is a great selling point that reaches out to a greater number of potential customers. Phone orders can be quick and simple to process, as long as you have developed a robust and precise order-taking process within your company. Whichever route you go down, it is important that you keep accurate and detailed records of the calls and the specific orders to cover all angles and ensure the relevant departments have access to the correct information at the right times.

There are a few things that your order-taking team will have in place to ensure there is a consistent process. When a customer first calls in, there should be an initial friendly greeting and a knowledge of the specific order forms and how to fill them out, to ensure that everything is noted down accurately, that prices are correct and fully conveyed to the customer (including any tax) and that the next phase can be delivered successfully. This then moves into the delivery and payment sections of a call, whilst optional follow up calls can determine whether a customer is happy and where there might be a need to tweak your approach in future to improve things.

A frustrated customer will complain about your service, either to your company or to their friends, colleagues, family and other people that could potentially be customers. This is another reason why it is so important to ensure a high level of consistency and quality in the order taking process that you have set up to deliver your products and services to your customers. A professional call centre team that has experience of, and training in, order-taking, will understand the pressures and the obstacles that are faced and have the ability and skills to maintain a straight face, to remain positive and to make sure delivery of your products and services is delivered in as smooth a process as possible. That way, your customers are happy, and that your organisation is never put under any undue pressures relating to supply and delivery mechanisms.

With this in mind, always look to align your organisation with an experienced contact centre team that can provide you with an order-taking service that matches the expectations of your customers and allows your company to grow and be successful without stretching resources and damaging the supply line of products and services. An approach that is intuitive and allows for instant updates to the network and ordering systems, allows for all relevant departments to remain updated at all times, creating a smooth, well-oiled machine that delivers successfully.