Can You Call Back?
I’ve encountered a number of occasions when I’ve called a business to speak to someone only to be told they’re not available. I’ve then been asked to “call back”.
My question is: what does this say about the business’ attitude towards others? It may be a case of training staff to take a message, but even so, how many people, on being asked to call back, may simply put the phone down and not call back? How much potential business could be lost because of this simple error?
The telephone is often someone’s first encounter with a business (assuming these days that businesses even provide contact numbers). Their first impressions of that business, its staff and their professionalism will be influenced by that first contact. There’s no more effective way of turning business away that being unprofessional on the phone.
One of the problems people tell me about is when they have to be transferred from one person to another (because the first person doesn’t have the expertise of authority, perhaps) and then have to repeat the same information over again to the latest responder. This once happened to me three times in a single call.
The solution to telling a customer to “call back” is to ask the caller for their name, contact number and a brief description of why they’re calling and then to ensure that information is passed on to someone who will act on it. In some businesses, people are trained not only to do this, but also to check that the person to whom the information was passed did call back.
What can we do to correct this? Simply agree standards with our people and make sure they’re followed. These can include:
- How to greet customers
- Words and expressions to be used
- When to pass the call to higher authority
- Number of times the phone may ring before it must be answered
- Tone of voice
- How to pass information to colleagues when transferring a call
- How to take a message
Reputations can be made or broken on a single call. How to ensure this doesn’t happen is one of the least difficult tasks a business faces.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Selling, Strategy, Teamwork
posted by William Martin @ 11:35
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