Despite the rise of modern communication technology such as the Internet, e-mail, and live video chat, the Internet remains an important part of business and personal communication for Americans today. Speaking with someone live over the phone, and hearing their voice, is often a primary route for communication, especially for older Americans who may not be used to live video chat. There is no “wrong” way to communicate with someone, but some people today might underestimate the persistent value in phone conversations. Business managers, however, are quite aware of the power of telephone conversations and their impact on business. A business thrives on marketing and customer service, and a lot of this is done by phone. Customer service jobs, inbound sales calls, selling life insurance over the phone, technical support, and more is done this way. Better yet, some employees choose to work by phone or video chat from home, and this offers a number of advantages. For example, selling life insurance over the phone or telemarketing from home in general means avoiding the ambient noise of a call center or office. How might selling life insurance over the phone at home work out?

Phones and Business

Whether working at the office or at home selling life insurance over the phone or some other work, an employee must have the proper people skills and salesman skills to make the deal. Studies and statistics have long since confirmed that treating customers well over the phone is central to making new customers and keeping current ones, and a business can’t afford to lose its reliable, long-time customers. In fact, making a new customer costs 25 times as much as keeping a current one, so treating current ones well by phone is vital. Similarly, boosting retention rates of current customers even by just 5% can lead to profit growth ranging from 25-95%, a huge return of investment. Customers care a great deal how they are treated over the phone; good customer service makes a good impression and puts them in a spending mood, and they may choose to become regular customers. By contrast, rude, unhelpful, or confusing customer service will drive customers away in a hurry, and even just one instance of bad customer service may ruin relations for good. In fact, around 78% of all customers have bailed on a purchase or deal because of just one instance of bad customer service. An employee selling life insurance over the phone or other goods must have people skills as well as business expertise, and this includes building a rapport with the customer and listening closely to their needs and making them feel heard and appreciated. There is more to it, but in general, human compassion and good manners go a long way.

Flexible Work From Home

There is a growing trend for employees to work remotely at home, and there are good reasons for this. An office is crowded and noisy, and ambient noise makes it difficult to hear someone or be heard over the phone. Having to repeat oneself or ask the other to repeat themselves many times may hamper customer service quality, and stress and disorient the sales professional. Surveys show how unproductive and stressful and distracting a noisy work environment can be. At home, meanwhile, an employee may work in a quiet and controlled environment, lowering stress and distractions and making for better phone conversations. Remote employees are connected to all of their customers and clients by phone, as well as the computer. Cloud data storage and e-mails allow a remote worker to stay connected and share files, and live video chat may also be done if needed. What is more, remote workers get more time for work since they do not have to commute anywhere. Time that would be spent in a traffic jam is instead spent on the phone.

Some workers, such as single parents, may not have the option to leave their house for hours on end for work, due to having kid to take care of or an elderly parent in poor health. These at-home, phone-based jobs may be highly convenient for them, and allow them to have it both ways of caring for the family and having a reliable job. No commuting is ever needed for this work.

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