In December, Emilio Gramegna, a senior consultant for Festo Consulting, conducted technical phone support training at the Biesse Group Campus in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The goal was to help Biesse’s Technical Service and Parts Department “hotliners” implement techniques for elevating their phone support style.
“Customer feedback is the essential first step in establishing immediate and effective phone communication. The hotliner, as well as the customer, need to be able to repeat what they heard. Second, whether you communicate with someone for 15 minutes, a half an hour or longer, if you are the one talking for more than 50 percent of the time, you won’t get the best results from the conversation,” says Gramegna.
“The only natural communication channel for human beings is face-to-face, but in today’s world, we must also communicate through three other channels – phone calls, email and texts / chats. It’s a big mistake to use the other three channels in the same way we do face-to-face communication” Gramegna adds.
“Hotliners have the sensitive task of having to quickly fill in the gaps that come from not seeing the other person’s facial expressions and body language – signals that let you know they are open and receptive to what you are saying.”
“Our company is committed to offering outstanding training to our parts and service department employees,” says Charlie Schulz, Biesse America service manager.
“Due to the stressful nature of their positions, they are frequently under pressure with time sensitive requests. Our hotliners often hear from customers who need immediate help. They must also explain why certain situations may require a technician to be onsite for a more in-depth examination. We want to provide the right tools in our team’s toolbox to set the tone and build a constructive dialog that helps them quickly and completely determine the root cause of an issue and make prompt recommendations,” says Schultz.
To further enhance service and communication, Biesse can help customers gain access to a cyber assistance system such as Sophia IoT, the Biesse Group’s cloud-based platform. It enables the Service team to formulate a recommendation for resolving an issue faster, allowing customers to get even quicker solutions and assistance. 
