Can You Answer The Telephone?
The most fundamental skill a business must perfect is answering the telephone. Now before you stop reading because you're sure you have this handled, many people who are receiving this email have been called this week and the experience was not one that you would be proud of. A sample of the results is as follows.
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Phone answered then silence upon forwarding the call. Call back was required. - Major tourist venue
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Muffled answering then told to "hold on a sec" more muffles then told the person I was after was not in. Not asked for message! - Finance company
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Phone rang over 10 times & then "hello" was the answer. Obviously someone other the normal phone answerer took the call. - Online direct debit company
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Prompted to press a button to select my own path then ended in hang up of the automated system. - Bank!
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This is ....persons name (No company greeting) - Large business coaching organisation!
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Give me a sec, let me chuck you on hold I'll find out for ya! - Market leading home appliances retail store.
You Choose!
To these I could add the "hang on", "hold on", "I'm not sure if he's in", "can you call back later" etc etc. This sample is one that was taken during a normal week of phone communications. These experiences are happening every day in small, medium & large corporations. Some of the companies whose results are mentioned above are very well known organisations.
So pick up the phone & call your business. You should be doing this randomly to ensure you are aware of the experience your prospective and existing clients have. The question remains...if your business has a problem with this how do you remedy it? The fact is that if you do have a problem answering the phone you will find that you will have problems with performing not only simple but complex procedures right across your business. But don't despair. Those readers of this newsletter know the next step. Write it down!
All failings of your business' systems are the product of incorrectly written procedures. At this point if you're thinking... "what written procedures"...the remedy is simple. If you're thinking..."but I have the system documented already"...the remedy is still simple but you may need to revise your writing methods. The remedy in the first case is to simply write down how you do everything in your business to a standard that is acceptable to the management and ownership of the business. The writing of these documents will be contained in a manual that in reality IS your business. That manual will contain all the intellectual property and value your business has to offer to its employees, owners, shareholders, investors, clients, future clients, suppliers and future owners.
Transform Business Systems are advocating writing down all your business functions. Read More here about how an
Operations Manual will transform your business. At Transform we have available both
pre written content for 100's of business functions and the powerful
TKO software to contain them so that delivery to your employees is swift and professional.
Contact us for more information and please let me know if our phone skills are ever not up to standard.
