Telephone Etiquette

Telephone etiquette is something that will make your customers know they called the right place.  By being professional and interested, the person on the other line will feel like your complex is where they should be.  But what is telephone etiquette?

The telephone call is, sometimes, the first contact that a applicant will have with your complex, so you need to turn it into a step to get them into the office.

Always try to answer your phone by the third ring.  People are busy and they don’t want to take the chance that they will get a machine.  They want to talk to a live person.

You should give the following information when you answer the phone:  A pleasantry, your community name, and your name “Thank you for calling XYZ Apartments, this is Christine, how may I help?”

Now if you work in an office that has multiple phone lines, then you know there are times when you need to put people on hold.  Always ask them if it would be all right to put them on hold for a second and never keep them on hold for longer than 30 seconds without checking in on them.  You don’t want them to think that the other caller is more important than they are.

When the 30 seconds is up, you don’t have to complete the call with the caller, just let them know that you appreciate their patience and you will be with them shortly.  You don’t want them to get bored or upset because they are waiting.  If you don’t find them important as an applicant, they may feel like you won’t find them important as a resident.

Once you return to them, apologize again for the delay and ask for their name.  Make sure you write this down, so you can call them by name from that point on.  This bring their attention back to you and helps them forget being put on hold.

Guest cards are great to keep by the phone.  They will tell you the information you need to gather and it will help keep your caller on the line so you can turn the phone call into an appointment to see the apartment.

Ask your caller questions, so that you can find out what they are looking for in an apartment and then help them visualize what you have to offer.  Be specific, room sizes, closet sizes, storage areas, appliances, etc.  Keeping a list of these things by the phone and labeled for each vacant unit you have will help you remember which apartment has what.

Let them know what you have to offer over your competition and let them know what you have to offer before giving out the price if at all possible.

Why not call other complexes and see how they answer the phone and your questions.  Pretend to be a prospective caller and ask the questions you get from callers.  You might be surprised at how different they answer they calls.