Sign of a Great Caller Experience

One day I was driving home from a camping trip with my family, and I decided to come home without traveling on the Interstate highways.

It was a beautiful day, and as we drove through small-town USA, it struck me how a business’ presentation to passersby was critical to its survival! If the business had a good sign, a clear presentation, and was the type of place I was interested in stopping, I would be a customer.

But poor signage, a bad presentation, or no clear idea of what I would find inside would cause me to keep on driving (maybe never to pass that way again!).

While this concept may seem obvious to you, there’s a parallel here for your business.

You’ve run your ads on radio, TV, billboards, and the Internet. You’ve spruced up your front entrance to make it appealing and inviting. You’ve educated your staff on how to ask the right questions of customers, without being pushy. Now you’re waiting for customers to come pouring in your door.

Have you overlooked anything? I think you’ll be surprised!

 

Your Caller Experience is a critical link to convincing new customers they should buy from you, and reinforcing that message to existing customers.

And just like the road signs I was watching as I traveled through small towns, you have but a few seconds to make or break that experience over the phone. Callers will put up with bad experiences for only so long.

So what makes for a bad experience? Here are a few situations that result in customers not wanting to do business with you:

 

  • Poor phone skills: Staff who do not properly answer the phone, and do not place an importance on handling the phone call with clarity and promptness.
  • Silence On-Hold, or even music alone: Callers don’t know whether they’ve been disconnected, or simply put on “forget.”

 

You wouldn’t have an empty showroom when your customers walk in…so don’t have “empty” On-Hold time. Nobody likes it.

 

  • Long waits: Being On-Hold at some point is a fact of life. But don’t forget about your caller On-Hold. Try to get back to him or her as quickly as possible!
  • Transferred to the wrong person: Make sure when you transfer a caller that you stay on the line to make sure the caller gets to the right person or department. Your caller will really appreciate it.

 

Whether callers have these unpleasant experiences is one of the many the things you can measure by using a Secret Caller service, where calls are made into a business to test how its phones are answered. It’s amazing how just a few small things can make a huge difference in how customers experience your business.

 

Those few seconds over the phone are critical to whether a customer chooses to do business with you…or go on to your competition.

What do your phones say about your company?

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