Always. Always. Always give the option for your caller to reach a live person. Make it easy. Don’t hide behind your phone system, forcing callers to do things the way YOU want them done.
I can guarantee you that at some point, a customer will call with some issue that doesn’t fit neatly into your pre-programmed options, and connecting them to a live person will resolve the issue with less frustration on their part.
You can do it as the standard “0” option, or by some other unique way. (“If you want to reach someone, ANYONE, just press 0, and we’ll be happy to talk to you!”)
Think about who should take those calls. It depends on your business structure, but consider NOT sending those calls to a receptionist or secretary. Think about it…what this caller needs hasn’t been addressed by any of the options in your Auto-Attendant. Do you think the secretary is qualified to handle their request? Likely not. That doesn’t mean route it to the business owner or president, but at least send those calls to a person (or group of people) or have the power to make things happen, answer in depth questions, or otherwise generally make customers happy (which IS the point of your business…isn’t it?)
Having said that, when calls come in that are simple, but will take more than a minute to answer, have someone designated to hand that call to. There may be calls that come in that CAN be handled by the secretary. Have a plan to simply say “Mrs Jones will be glad to help you with that…may I transfer you directly to her?”
Always give the option to reach a live person in some way. Your customers will thank you for it!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
