Performance review phrases – Telephone skills

Telephone skills are essential for employees of the company’s contact center. They are needed to deliver excellent customer service over the phone.

Exceptional/Superior:

1. Jeremy is able to satisfy even the most quick-tempered clients over the phone.
2. George is always prepared to take a call from a demanding customer.
3. James knows a myriad of effective telephone techniques. He finds a unique approach to every customer.
4. Marta avoids scripted greetings and always remains genuine and sincere.
5. Harry maintains a friendly attitude whenever he is on the phone with clients.
6. Oliver has a perfect understanding of the company’s products. He is well prepared for any problem.
7. Robert is a very charismatic person. He is able to sell anything over the phone.
8. Bruce has a positive and enthusiastic tone that makes clients feel comfortable during a conversation.
9. Trevor has never raised his voice when assisting clients over the phone. He remains calm under any circumstances.
10. Valerie assists her subordinates with handling tough calls.

Exceeds Requirements/More than Satisfactory:

1. Michael never fails to make callers happy.
2. David understands how to place callers on hold without offending them.
3. Emma is one of the top-rated employee of the company’s call center. Many clients compliment her.
4. Perry handles tough questions very well. He is able to solve any issue.
5. Helen always finishes phone calls with customers on a positive note.
6. Many customers specifically request Monica when calling the company’s contact center.
7. Peter never lets the caller hanging on the line. He always informs them why and when he is transferring the call to another person.
8. Ronald makes every customer feel special.
9. Stephanie avoids excuses to prevent callers from getting mad. Instead, she tries to find solutions to their problems.
10. Ingrid controls her tone and inflections to let callers know that she cares about them.

Meets Expectations/Satisfactory:

1. Jennifer listens carefully and attentively to every caller.
2. Arnold never makes personal calls during his working hours.
3. Bruce answers every call within five seconds.
4. Thomas never loses his temper when handling customer’s calls.
5. Peter has never insulted customers over the phone.
6. Samantha always says the caller’s name correctly.
7. Emilia checks voicemail every hours to make sure she has not missed any calls.
8. Richard delivers appropriate customer service to every caller.
9. Laura knows everything she has to know about the company’s products.
10. Edward checks back on callers on hold every several minutes

Provisional/Needs Improvement:

1. Rachel is very inattentive. She cannot focus on clients who have complicated problems.
2. Sandra cannot remember customers’ names.
3. Abigail lacks information about the company’s products. Sometimes she cannot assist a caller.
4. Eva talks too fast. She needs to find a better rate of speech.
5. Olivia does not know how to sell a product over the phone.
6. Brian never thanks callers for holding.
7. Rebecca is too informal with clients. She needs to behave in a more professional manner.
8. Aaron often handles fewer calls than expected.
9. Donald often forgets to call our clients back.
10. Arthur answers calls in an angry tone.

Unsatisfactory:

1. Piper is very ineffective. Clients often hang up on her because of that.
2. Jane lacks communications skills. She needs to put more effort into training to become a good call center operator.
3. Sometimes Brooke forgets about callers put on hold.
4. Clients complain about Henry’s attitude. He is too nervous and angry.
5. Yvonne fails to remember names of our regular customers.
6. Rachel answers phone calls in a very noisy environment.
7. Maria uses the company’s telephone for personal calls.
8. Shaun makes inappropriate jokes when talking with customers over the phone.
9. Samuel is not prepared to work in a call center. He knows nothing about our products.
10. Jeremy leaves poor telephone messages to other employees.

Self Evaluation Questions:

1. What do you do to avoid misspelling a caller’s name?
2. Do you have a specific strategy to calm down angry customers over the phone?
3. Have you ever lost temper while talking over the phone with a client?
4. What is your course of action when a caller fails to understand you?
5. Are you polite no matter what when speaking over the phone?
6. What do you do when the person on the other end of the wire does not hear you?
7. How much time on average do you need to answer a caller’s question?
8. Are you always prepared to take a message when answering a call?
9. How do you get back on track with callers who get off the subject?
10. Do you always end telephone conversations on a positive note?

The samples of performance review phrases for telephone skills is a great/helpful tool for periodical/annual job performance appraisal. Note that, telephone skills review phrases can be positive or negative and your performance review can be effective or bad/poor activities for your staffs.

If no matching phrase is found, you can also see a general list of performance review phrases and choose a more appropriate skill.