Voice mail should boost sales, not annoy your customer
You need to talk to Bob Jones about your order right away. You call him and are greeted by an operator. You ask for Bob Jones and the operator transfers the call. It rings five times and a recording comes on: "Hi this is Bob, I'm either on my phone or away from my desk, please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can." Rats I didn't call to talk to Bob's voice mail ... I called to talk to Bob!
Is voice mail here to stay? Sure.
Will there always be voice-mail misuse and abuse? Surer.
Is there a "best way" to handle transferring calls to voice mail? Surest.
Andy Dinkin, CEO of Tegra Telephone Systems, is dedicated to better internal and external communications through the proper use of the telephone. I asked Andy for his formula for the perfect way to transfer a call to voice mail. Here it is:
Answer live. A human being (receptionist) answers the incoming call with a sincere, friendly greeting.
Find out who and what, fast. The receptionist should determine who the call is for, and what the status is of the person the incoming call is for (available, on the phone, out to lunch, out of the office, in a meeting, etc).
Tell the truth about the status of the person being called. If the desired party is on the phone, let the caller know what's happening, and know how the called party likes his calls handled. (Note: Your phone system should allow all calling, transferring, and status options to be known and accomplished without the receptionist leaving her seat.)
Entertain the caller on hold. While the outside caller is on hold, he should be listening to music or a message. This makes waiting on hold less annoying.
Give the caller (the courtesy of) all options. If the called party is unable to take the incoming call, the receptionist should say, "Mr. Jones is unavailable. Can someone else help you, can I take a message, or would you like to leave a personal message in Mr. Jones' voice mail? That way, he can get back to you with an answer."
Take a written message if asked, but have the capability to just record it. Some people just don't want to leave a voice-mail message. Technology note: If the caller chooses to have a written message taken, your phone system should have the ability to record what the caller is saying and then transfer the live conversation into the recipient's voice mail. This way the information is conveyed exactly as it was given by the caller without a chance for error in the written transfer. If you are technologically impaired, you'll have to take a written message. Dumb move: Your worst option which many companies employ is to say, "We don't take messages, you'll have to leave a voice-mail message or call back." What a nice thing to say to a million-dollar customer or prospect.
At last to voice mail. If the outside caller chooses to leave a message in voice mail, the receptionist must have the ability to send the caller directly to the recipient's personal greeting. Asking the outside caller to enter an extension number or even worse, hang up and call another number, is unacceptable.
Price vs. cost: If you saved money on the phone system, and your customers hate it, and you begin to lose business, how much has it saved you? Remedy: Phone systems should be purchased by the sales department, not some bottom-line, care-less-about-the-customer, number cruncher.
Caution: Many voice-mail systems make it difficult to get back to the operator or receptionist. Be sure your system allows the caller to just touch zero and get back to a live human being.
Double caution: Change your voice-mail greeting when you are out of town, on vacation, or have limited access to checking your messages.
Triple caution: Return your voice-mail message promptly. Nine out of 10 voice-mail complaints relate to slow response. Many companies now have voice mail tied to pagers that notify you the instant you get a call.
"Customer-friendly" is the key to voice mail and reorders. Making the phone equipment compatible with the customer's needs is paramount to the system's success and its value to your company. It will also keep your customer happy. Oh, that.
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of "The Sales Bible" and "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless." President of North Carolina-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts training programs on selling and customer service. He can be e-mailed at salesman@gitomer.com
