As a method of communicating with friends, no issues.
As a tool for conducting business, most organizations have some problems.
Telephones are perhaps one of the most misused tools of any organization, for-profit or not-for-profit.
Don’t believe me; just listen to how people in your organization answer incoming calls. I am willing to bet things range from the good, the bad, and the downright scary.
A place to begin:
Answering. What is your organization’s telephone standard? What training does your organization give to all new associates? Do you have standards and training or does each new associate simply listen to what everyone else does?
A great standard to achieve is never allowing the telephone to ring more than twice before someone answers it. Also, if you are going to put someone on hold … ASK THEM IF THAT IS OKAY AND MAKE SURE THEY RESPOND. Someone should be assigned telephone duty with other people as back up. If the telephone rings more than twice, everyone from the top person to the bottom person should make an effort to answer it before the third ring.
Call display avoidance. No one in your organization should use call screening to force a caller to leave a message. Many people look at the caller-id and ignore the call, not only is that teaching a bad example to other associates, it demonstrates contempt for your customers/clients.
Tone, message, and smile. When you meet someone for the first time, most of us smile and use a warm friendly tone in our voice. Answering the telephone should be done the same way. Listen to how people in your organization answer and talk on the phone, the results might shock you. Have a standard greeting that everyone uses. There should be a greeting, an acknowledgement of your organization, and then a question about helping the caller, for example: “Good morning, National Blank of V & S, John speaking, how may I direct your call?”
Smiling while you speak on the telephone affects the entire tone of the conversation, should be encouraged, and practiced.
Who answers the phone? Someone in your organization needs to be the professional receptionist. Telephone calls are just as important as face-to-face contacts or on-line contacts. As an organization, the associates who answer your calls are the face and voice of your reputation. Provide on-boarding training as well as ongoing training, ask your clients/customers to provide feedback using a measure of friendliness and helpfulness based on their telephone experiences with your organization and use that as a training tool.
Auto-attendants. Cost efficiency or simply a way to cut costs at the expense of good service? If you have one of these systems, have someone audit just how effectively it helps your clients/customers. It is my belief that a properly trained person will help grow your organization more than what an auto-attendant will save your organization.
Associates who misuse your night message. A night message is meant to provide a message for people who call after hours, not to cover phones will someone is out having a “break.” Unless there is only one person in your organization, have another person cover “phones” while your receptionist is on break. Many callers who get an auto-attendant simply hang up, sometimes they leave a message, sometimes they get frustrated, and sometimes they look for another organization to help them.
Taking Messages. When taking a message, the key is to cover the basics: who called, when did they call, what did they want, when did we say we would call them back, and what was the level of urgency. Equally important is to say who took the message and then to follow up to ensure that whatever commitment we made to the caller is executed. The number one complaint that most people have when they leave a message with an organization is that nobody calls them back.
Never let anyone in your organization take messages on scrap pieces of paper. Use or make a standard form and ensure that everyone understands the importance of using the form properly with each message. Messages should also go in a place so the recipient knows they are there.
If the person for whom the message is for is not in that day, make sure the caller is aware of that fact and ask them if they would like to speak to someone else. In addition, if taking a message for someone who has been off for an extended period, don’t tell every single caller that the person will call them back “first thing,” on their first day back.
Calling back. Calling people back when a commitment has been made is one of the most important keys to your organizations success. Even if you do not have an answer yet, call your customer/client and let them know what progress you have made.
When to escalate an email. Much of the communication for many organizations is now done via email. The need for voice communication has not disappeared it has just changed. Using emails works well; however, when a client/customer is unresponsive to an email query, using a telephone call is a good way to escalate the importance of the issue. Emails are easy to ignore, a telephone call is the next natural progression. Telephone calls are truly interactive whereas an email only gives the illusion of interactivity.
Things not to do. As telephone calls do not allow face-to-face interaction, callers can be much more sensitive to verbal cues, both positively and negatively. For example, try to avoid sighing during a telephone call, the telephone amplifies the sound and makes your associate sound bored to the caller or uncaring. Chewing gum is something that should never be allowed for someone speaking on the telephone for the same reason. Swearing is something else that should never happen, regardless of whether the person is provoked. Becoming defensive and defending, your organizations decisions and policies should be part of your organizations telephone standards and training policy.
Dealing with upset people. Part of your organizations telephone-training syllabus needs to include “How to deal with difficult people.” It is unfair to place your associate’s in harms way without adequate training. The temptation to simply hang up on unruly clients/customers is not helpful for the caller or for the person on the receiving end of a tirade. The receiver will be upset and perhaps internalize the complaint and the caller will be even more upset.
Teaching your associates how to deal with difficult people successfully is one of the most important skills they can have. Developing your associates ability to listen effectively, to feel and display empathy with your callers, diffuse the the caller’s anger, determine their issues, investigate (and call back if necessary), and offer choices of solutions; all contribute to solving difficult situations. Your associates are not born with those skills, they are learned and they must be encouraged.
So what?
How you or your organization answers the telephone may seem minor compared to all of the other issues that face your organization. Just remember the first person-to-person contact many customers/clients have still happens via the telephone, it makes a difference “how” this conversation takes place.
I believe that virtually every small and medium-sized organization has some associates not properly utilizing the telephone as an effective business or organizational tool. Telephones should be used in conjunction with social media, but care must be taken to train your associates and also to continually measure the effectiveness of their skills. The points in this blogpost give your organization a starting place; there is more that can be done. The success of your organization might just depend on it.
Good luck,
Paul