TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Best Way to Answer a Business Phone?

Re: Best Way to Answer a Business Phone?

DLR (news23@raleighthings.com)
Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:35:50 -0400

>> D is somewhat condescending.

> Bingo! You've put your finger on it. It seems to imply a low
> opinion of the hearer's intelligence: "We think we can bamboozle you
> with empty exaggeration."

>> C is what most companies will require as it gets the customer to get on
>> with the business of the call and not waste time. My wife works in a
>> call center and getting to the point seems to be an issue with many
>> folks these days.

> Interesting. I guess I'm too old or too shy ... What do callers
> normally do if you just answer "Good morning, Jones & Co."?

At the major airline call center where my wife works in baggage claims,
they tend to start with a story and if not cut off can take 5 or 10
minutes telling this story which may or may not, usually not, be germane
to the reason for the call.

>> c) "Thank you for calling Jones & Co, this is John Smith speaking, how
>> may I direct your call?"

To expand on my wife's job and why they start with something like this.

She works for a major airline. At peak times there may be 5,000 people
answering the phones. Now some are assigned to handle baggage claims
(she is), some domestic sales, some international sales, some
"premium" customers, some tours, etc...

The rub is that at times many of these specialties may be idle. So the
call distribution center will route simpler calls to more experiences
agents. PLUS and it's a big PLUS folks get aggravated with the
auto-attendant and just punch a button until they get a live voice.

So theY almost always ask what you want or how you can be helped or
whatever to make sure that 1) they can help your or 2) they know how
to route your call to someone who can.

Some notes about people working in these centers.

Many times they will NOT give out their name and if asked will give
out a "fake" name they use on a regular basis. They get enough "sex"
and other strange calls that they don't want someone tracking them
down.

No, they cannot do everything. Booking an international reservation
requires a lot of knowledge about how to check out the rules and make
sure they aren't selling you a ticket that can't be flown or that will
get the passenger immediately sent back on the airline's dime. My wife
is a baggage claims supervisor and it take about a year of handling
baggage claims to get to the point you know enough to deal with all
the possible issues.

As to being nice to everyone, they try. But after you've been lied to
5 or 10 calls in a row, your tone can get to be a bit jaded.

And as much as everyone hates auto-attendant systems, including us,
costs would go through the roof if they staffed for full service
answering all the time. Calls come in waves. Somewhat predicable but
with lots of day to day variation.

As a side note there was only two times in the last 20 years that the
phones went totally silent. One was the OJ verdict. I forget the other.

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