We received the following comment on one of our consumer surveys recently:

One agent was very arrogant, was rude, and did not listen to my needs. I told him not to call anymore. Do you screen the agents by phone? Maybe you should consider doing this to ensure they have people skills. I have found that sales people do not always have the soft skills needed to conduct business over the phone.

Now, compare that to this survey comment:

Everything was great. The man on the phone was not only fast and courteous, but pleasant.

Ok, let’s unpack these two comments. We’ve got: arrogant, rude and hard of hearing versus fast, courteous and pleasant . The first resulted in the prospect asking not to be called any more. The second resulted in the prospect going out of his (or her) way to offer praise.

One agent was fast, whereas the other, by dint of not actually offering any help, was slow. One was not only courteous but pleasant. The other was not only arrogant but rude. We cannot be sure that the second scenario resulted in a sale, but it looks quite promising. We can presume that the person in the first scenario didn’t agree to buy a policy before asking the rude agent not to call again. (Not too big a stretch, right?)

I suspect that, as with driving ability, people tend to think they have above-average phone manner. But the fact is, in the real world (unlike in Lake Wobegon) we cannot all be above average. Most of us fall in the tall and thick part of the bell curve with our middling phone manners. A few are exemplary, and an equal number are terrible. I can assume that you, dear Agent Blog reader, are probably not as bad as the agent described in the first comment and not as agreeable as the one described in the second. You probably won’t be called rude, but you probably won’t be singled out as pleasant either. Unless you work at it, that is.

The trouble with our perception problem—our mistaken notion that we’re better on the phone than we actually are—is that it prevents us from improving our phone skills. After all, if you’re above average, why tinker with anything?

Unless you have anecdotal evidence (empirical is even better) that you’re a good phone communicator, it’s time to get feedback, be it from family, friends, co-workers or existing clients.

When asking for feedback, be sure to ask specific questions and emphasize that you want brutally honest answers. And ask open questions (e.g., What about my phone manner stands out as good? Bad? Was my hello warm enough? What about my signoff—was it too hasty?).

The telephone is perhaps the most important medium for an insurance agent; more than email, more than face-to-face contact, it’s where the bulk of your interaction with prospects and clients takes place. So it pays to put a little work into improving your phone manner. With a little effort, you, too, can be pleasant.