Archive for the ‘Hold the Cheese!’ Category


Do You Really Need an On-Hold Message?

One question I get asked in the On-Hold message consultations my company offers is whether or not a company can benefit from a custom On-Hold message.

So how will you, the busy business owner, know when an investment to reach your callers while On-Hold will return good results?

How many calls do you receive?

Over the course of a day, a week, or even a month…how many calls does your business receive? Have you ever thought about counting them? Have you ever tried?

You could get your receptionist or employees just to make a quick tally whenever they answer the calls. It might not be the most technologically advanced method, but it will give you a better understanding of how many calls you do receive!

How long are callers On-Hold?

I talk with some companies who tell me, “We don’t put people On-Hold,” but willing it not to happen doesn’t mean it never does.

Being On-Hold is a fact of life for most businesses. But On-Hold time really falls into two categories:

1. Long hold times…like call centers, tech support, and customer service. These are hold times counted in tens of minutes. (I know…I was On-Hold with American Express for forty-two minutes!)

2. Short hold times…these are hold times that we often don’t think about. Being transferred to another person, sent to voicemail, or waiting while someone looks up our order. These hold times are usually measured in seconds. You may be On-Hold for ten seconds while going to voicemail, thirty seconds while being transferred to the person with whom you would like to speak, or for a minute or two while someone looks up your order or checks the stock of an item.

These two very different categories require different approaches. But for category #2, which most small businesses fall into, optimizing that On-Hold time can bring great value to the caller.

So how do you measure it?

Spend two days asking your staff to track how many calls go On-Hold or are transferred. Again, a simple tally will work. Monitoring a few of those calls will give you a great idea of how long the average hold time is at your company.

With that information, you can begin to measure the value that a custom On-Hold message can bring to your company.

And if your business really is one of those that doesn’t put people On-Hold, you’ll find that out as well.

Quantifying the Caller Experience will give you a clearer picture of the areas where your Caller Experience can improve to maximize customer service.

Remember, you can’t improve what you don’t measure!


Hold the Cheese!

Most On-Hold messages are cheesy. Cheesy because they talk about things that callers don’t care about, in a way that doesn’t make callers want to listen. For example, reminding you that “Your call is important to us” and to “Please continue to hold” simply frustrates your caller even more! Cheesy because someone simply didn’t take the time to ask, “Will our callers think this sound cheesy?”

Most On-Hold experiences are not fun and engaging. Most callers would ask not to be put On-Hold…and some will demand not to be!

But with a little effort and thought, you can create an On-Hold experience that has callers asking to be put back On-Hold!


Do You Really Need to Change Your Message?

 

One of the keys to having a great caller experience is to keep the On-Hold message current and up-to-date. So how do you do that? How do you know when to change it, how often to change it, and what to change? That depends on a number of factors. What is the profile of your caller? In other words, does he call in regularly, once a week, month, or year? Or does he interact with you heavily for a week, then not at all for a couple of months? How long is he On-Hold? What are the top three or four things callers ask about when they call in? Is there information that would really be helpful for them to hear?

These are some of the questions that you need to consider as you walk through the process of creating a complete On-Hold program.

 

It’s not just as simple as slapping a message on your phones, and checking that off the To-Do list. If you really want a powerful Caller Experience, it takes understanding your business, understanding your caller, and understanding how people think.

 

 


Don’t Put Me On-Hold!

How often have you heard, “Don’t put me On-Hold!” I’ll bet you’ve thought that a few times yourself!

Being On-Hold is often a frustrating  experience. But let’s break it down to examine why it’s frustrating.
Taking your time

Number one, it’s taking up your time. Time that could be spent doing other things. And companies that have long hold times (we’re talking more than five minutes or so), really need to reevaluate their staffing or procedures for handling calls.

 

Silence

Ah…the dreaded silence. Have I been disconnected? Am I being transferred? Did I just get put into the phone system’s Black Hole? (Most phone systems have one of those—you knew that, right? Somewhere that callers go, never to be heard from again!) As a business, putting your callers On-Hold to silence is one of the worst things you can do to hurt your Caller Experience. It’s like asking people to stand in line with a blindfold on. They’re just not going to stick around! But give them something relevant and interesting to listen to while they’re On-Hold, and the wait time will seem very much diminished!

 

It’s all about me

If you do have an On-Hold message…congratulations on “getting it.” Now, what does it say? You see, callers want to hear about themselves. They want to hear how your service or products are going to make their lives better…how they are going to help them and change their lives for the better. They don’t want to hear a message that is all about you—all about how long you’ve been in business or how great you or your products are. This kind of message comes across the phone lines as “blah, blah, blah.” But tell a story, make the caller the star, and you’ll experience a much happier customer when you pick up the phone!


Give Callers Personal Value

The party line is dead.

It’s over.

Replaced by the sophistication of electronics. (That is, unless you live in one of the eighty-one cabins in Big Santa Anita Canyon high above L.A.)

Ahhhh, the steamroller of progress. A very good thing this time.

The party line’s completely non-private service made eavesdropping opportunities abound. If another caller were on the line when you needed to make a call…too bad…you were waiting.

But when it comes to business, have you realized that the party line is dead? No longer do multiple people share a phone call to your company.

It’s a direct, one-to-one relationship. Have you customized your On-Hold message to reflect that reality?

 

Talk to that one caller in his or her language.

“Well, how?” you say. “How can I have a customized On-Hold message? Lots of people call me!”

Right, but have you considered who those “lots of people” really are?

 

Mike Wittenstein, Chief Experience Officer at Storyminers, says the most important factor for delivering a great customer experience is to know your customer. Personally.

That personal knowledge allows you to understand how your product, service, or company fits into the customer’s life—what it is that makes him or her value your product.

 

Rather than build the Caller Experience with your entire customer list in view, pick one, and design it for that customer. Choose a customer you know personally, and build your message around how your product or service improved that customer’s life. Tell a story, with your customer as the star.

Sure, other callers will hear that. And when it doesn’t fit their exact situations, they’ll think, “Wow, if this company is ‘all that’ for that customer, it can probably solve my problem as well!”

 

Applying this tactic to other areas of your Caller Experience is even more straightforward. Here’s a great example from DSW Shoes.

[audio:http://prosoundusa.com/files/DSW.mp3|titles=DSW]

 

You see, if you want to connect with an individual caller, you have to talk to them like an individual!

 


How to Think Like a Caller

Inside the Caller’s Head

My friend Roy Williams taught me that it’s hard to read the label from inside the bottle. What you think is your “inside reality”—the customer experience inside your doors—is only what your customer says it is. Nothing more. And thankfully, nothing less. That also means you have the opportunity to surprise and delight your customer with unexpected service.

A while  back, I ended up owning two identical, brand new iPads.  Well, when I found out I wouldn’t have to pay a restocking fee to Apple to return one of them, I decided to send one back. It was only after I decided to return one that I found out Apple not only would not charge a restocking fee, but they would send me a prepaid return shipping label, and the return wouldn’t cost me a thing. As in free! I was delighted.

And the reason I was delighted (aside from saving the money, of course) is because it was unexpected. Nowhere does Apple advertise “Free return shipping…you can send it back, and not pay a dime!” It’s just something Apple does, and it makes me like doing business with them.

So what do you do to delight your customers? What are the little…or big…things you could do to surprise and delight your existing customers? Strengthening the bond with your existing customer base is one of the best ways to increase your revenue.

So why is it that it often goes the other way? You woo customers in with fantastic ads and heartfelt promises, but then once they’re “in the fold,” they are no longer on the “To Be Delighted” list?

So here’s a way to have some fun, and maybe discover some ways to delight more customers:

  • Get out of the office…business…or whatever work environment you are in. That’s right, go ahead.
  • Grab a cup of your favorite beverage, and contemplate your business category:
  • Are there any preconceived notions or misconceptions that prevent more people from coming to your business, or buying what you sell?
  • What mistakes do some competitors make? That is, how could they create a more fulfilling customer experience?
  • Now, call your business, and ask for directions to your store. Pay attention to what this experience sounds like…how the phone is answered…what you hear as a customer.
  • Walk into your business and buy something. Was it easy? Did you enjoy the experience? What was the environment like?

Sometimes it takes getting out of the familiar to see things from another perspective. And even then it’s hard! You might be surprised at the view from outside the bottle!


Empower Your Customer Service People

I’m a huge fan of empowering your front line people to do what they need to do in order to make your customers happy. I’m constantly baffled at companies that give their Customer Service Reps the power to make very attractive offers to potential or former customers, but if I, as an existing customer, am unhappy or upset, there is virtually nothing they can offer to keep me as a customer.

Ann Brady talks about an experience she and her husband had with their satellite dish company. After more than four years as a loyal, paying customer, they noticed a problem with the reception. When they asked to have someone come take a look at it, they were told it would be $100. That is the only option customer service was empowered to offer. When Ann informed the customer service rep that she could get brand new satellite equipment for free from the company’s competitor, she was told to go ahead and switch, which Ann and her husband did. After they switched, the first company called to ask why they left, so Ann told them the story. The employee agreed that “After four years, we should have fixed it for free.” Too late. Ann had signed a new one-year agreement and couldn’t be happier with their new, free, digital video recorder.

Examples like these are not at all uncommon in the customer service world. Give your customer service people…your frontline customer contact points…the power to solve customers’ problems—to do whatever it takes (within reason) to make your customers happy.

Here are some tips for empowering your customer service department:

1.) Depending on the nature of the complaint, arm your customer service employees with the ability to offer incentives to unhappy customers to encourage them not to leave.

For example, if you normally charge for a service call, but you’re facing the prospect of losing a ten-year customer, allow the customer service representative to offer half off.

2.) If your company screwed up, and your customer calls you on it, allow your customer service people to admit that a mistake was made, apologize, and offer something to make up for it, perhaps a free month of service, or a coupon for a discount on a future order.

Nothing is more aggravating than having someone apologize without admitting any wrongdoing (i.e. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” or “I’m sorry you’re upset about that.”) Teach your people to say, “I’m sorry; we were wrong. What can we do to make it up to you?” While the customer isn’t “always right,” reacting this way can go a long ways toward keeping a customer.

3.) Toss the scripts. Giving customer service people lists of things to say to unhappy customers turns your people into nothing more than robots. With today’s voice recognition technology, you may as well use an automated response system.

Train your customer service people on how to act like human beings. Provide them with the kind of conflict-resolution training they need to turn unhappy customers into people who at least believe your company cares about their problems and wants to help them.

4.) Offer incentives to customer service people who retain unhappy customers.

For example, record your calls, and once a month give an award to the customer service representative who does the best job turning angry customers into happy ones.

5.) Don’t wait for the customer to insist on speaking to a manager. If the customer service representative’s authority to offer a solution is not enough to retain the customer, it should be standard procedure for the representative to request time to consult a supervisor and possibly bring him or her into the discussion.


Angry Callers

At one time or another, we all are going to have to answer the phone to talk with an angry or upset caller. When that situation happens, here are a few things to remember.


Don’t React in Frustration

If you match the caller’s anger or upset feelings in your response to him, the call, and the relationship, will quickly melt into a puddle of irreplaceable hard feelings. So the first thing to do is…to NOT do! Don’t react with frustration; don’t respond in anger, and don’t even make a smart comment. The best thing to do is to stay calm.
Empathize with the Caller

Most of the time, if you can empathize with the caller, you will gain his ear, and calm him down at the same time. Empathy is understanding or entering into another’s feelings. Convey that you understand why the caller might be upset, and that it’s not an unreasonable reaction (even if it’s not the most productive reaction!). Seeing the situation from the caller’s perspective is the first thing the caller really wants you to do.

 

Take Some Blame for the Company

I recently had an excellent example of an employee taking the blame for the company when I called Starbucks. I had purchased a coffee cup, and used it once, and the second time I went to use it, my coffee poured out all around the lid! As coffee ran down my chin and on my shirt, I couldn’t believe what was happening! When I took off the cup’s lid, I saw right away that the cup had been cracked, all around the top, and there was no way it could be fixed. I called Starbucks to ask what it suggested I do about this situation since I suspected that the first time I used the cup, a barista had dropped it, and I felt that could have caused the cracking.

When I spoke with the Starbucks representative, the first thing he did was take full responsibility for the incident. No questions asked. There was never any implication that it might have been my fault, and never any hedging on the fact that the company was going to take care of me. Right away, he asked whether I could send him the receipt for the cup so he could give me a refund. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the receipt anymore, so he asked what I had paid for the cup. I told him it was ten or eleven dollars to the best of my memory. He let me know that without the receipt, he couldn’t issue an exact refund, but that he would be happy to send me a $10 gift card if that were acceptable to me. He also took careful notes of the cup type, and let me know that the company tracks incidents with its cups, so it can improve on them.

Then, in a move that sealed my feelings about Starbucks, he said, “Now, you mentioned that it spilled on your shirt. Is there anything we need to do to clean or replace your shirt?” Do you see how taking the blame for the incident led him to going beyond what I felt was even necessary in order to resolve my situation? But if he had been hedging up front, and even grudgingly offered a refund, I wouldn’t have felt nearly as good about the company as I do now! (And sharing this story with you is free press for Starbucks!)

By taking the blame for the company, the employee allowed for there to be only a very small step between solving my complaint, and making me a fan of Starbucks for life!


Effective Auto-Attendant use

One way to make effective use of both a live answer, and an auto-attendant system, is to use the Auto-Attendant as a backup. Rather than letting the phone ring when your normal receptionist is busy, hoping that someone else will pick up the phone, direct it to your Auto-Attendant. The really beautiful thing is that most phone systems include a basic Auto-Attendant in them, so it’s simply a matter of turning it on or setting it up.

Here’s a significant advantage: your receptionist knows how to direct callers efficiently to the correct places. If that person is busy, and you allow the phone to ring to whomever might answer, not only will you take someone off-task, but that person isn’t used to answering the phone. The greeting that person uses, and her familiarity (or lack of) with routing calls could provide a negative caller experience.

Using an Auto-Attendant as a backup, you get the advantage of a live person answering the phone, while still covering that person when call volume is too much for her to handle, or she is simply tied up with another caller.

Using the Auto-Attendant also gives you the opportunity to highlight a special or promotion that the customer may not have known about. Pizza shops use this opportunity quite a bit to play their weekly special to callers BEFORE they answer the phone live to take their order. Those pizza shops that take advantage of this tool experience a tremendous uplift in advertised items, like extra garlic bread, drinks, and desserts.


What to say when you do answer (Part 2)

Ask how you may direct the person’s call, unless you can answer his or her questions

One thing a lot of companies do that frustrates callers is asking, “How may I help you?” when really what they mean is, “How may I direct your call?” Those greetings give two entirely different meanings to the caller.

The first says: “I’ve reached someone who can bridge between myself and this company, probably looking into any records the company has about me or my purchase, and can probably make a decision regarding my concern.” If that’s truly the case with whomever answers the phone at your business, then including, “How may I help you?” in your script is great.

However, more often than not, when we hear that question, all the person is really authorized to do is transfer your call to someone else who does in fact have the ability to find you in her computer. Do you see the difference? When you hear someone answer with, “How may I direct your call?” you instantly know that this person won’t be the one helping you solve your problem, or answering your question, but she very likely will be a big help in getting you to the right person. The more obscure your question, the more you need this person’s help and knowledge of the inner workings of the company in order to transfer you to the right person. “How may I help you?”, if spoken by someone who really just wants to transfer the call, will cause customer frustration!

So pay attention to these minor word differences when crafting your phone answering script…they can make a big impact on the service you deliver over the phone.

 

Keep a Notepad Handy

Always keep a notepad and pen handy near your phone. When you use it every call, you’ll begin capturing really important information. Start with the name of the caller as soon as he gives it. This way you can use it during the conversation. Use it to refer back to the call, or when transferring the call to someone else.

If you use a flip-notebook, you’ll easily be able to go back and find a name, phone number, or detail that you need later.

One of the things that is really neat about Click and Clack, the Car Talk Guys, is that they use the caller’s name quite a bit, and they deal with a tremendous amount of information on each call! They don’t just remember all that stuff…they’re writing it down as the call happens!

Start doing that yourself and you’ll sound like a hero to your callers!


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