Answering Your Business Phone

[Guest]

Right guys the reason for the post is this.

We have used a company in the past who charge

[arfur mo]

Yes, but if the pottential client doesn't know you, just got your name from a phone book etc.. experience has shown they will cross you off the list and go onto the next person who will answer.

Our local nsi company has a habit of not answering the phone, works for me they just phone us.

Dave

hi dave,

as i don't advertise anywhere, other than cards and on some of my bell covers, my attitude is borm from my perspective. but i still stand by what i say, if they can't make a little effort to show willing they are welcome to the tender mercy of others and not welcome to waste my time.

imo in our buisnessyou if you have the initial sales call answered by a service operator working off a crib sheet and using your name, the caller soon senses this operation and is then likely to draw the conclusion your not having enough staff to operate properly duing the day, it won't bode well for out of hours needs either. i know full well it is a useful weapon i can use if i i know a competitor uses a call service, but then i do fight real a dirty campaign

regs

alan

[james.wilson]

alan whats looks worse, a phone that rings out or one that is answered by someone who sounds like a receptionist..

[arfur mo]

alan whats looks worse, a phone that rings out or one that is answered by someone who sounds like a receptionist..

well i run on voicemail, my home vm gives out my mobil number advising to use it for a more prompt contact. i have CLI and rarely see a number which has called not try again. some leave simple messages like a request for pm's or postpone/confirm installs, but most call the moby as 1st choice.

i would prefer they got no answer at all than a 'cardboard' have a nice day response from an agency operator. ok, some are to be honest are very good, but most are very poor imo and absolutely rubbish at understanding what can be a complex message or even gauge wether its important, urgent or dross to pass on to me.

all i'm saying is it's just not for me, perhaps i won't trust anyone with my reputation or name, but it must work for others i suppose.

the biggest worry i'd assume is for registered guys would be an urgent call not being passed on by mistake, how would that stack up with the inspectorate's obligatory 4 hour response should it happen?

regs

alan

[arfur mo]

well alan we will agree to disagree, i think there is nothing worse than your main voice line dropping to voicemail. Obviously it happen at our place when everyone is on the phone but the phone system does the usual, sorry to keep you waiting etc etc.

I accept that most people all your mobile and a mobile on voicemail is fine as most people expect that, but your main service or sales line. Not for me mate. But if it works for you

James

hi james,

when are we ever going to agree to agree

ironicaly, i fit phone systems with all singing voice mails and auto attendants, but would not have the press 1 for sales etc for love or money on my firm. personal hate involved here, reinforced today from being 'dropped' 6 times today by Telewest's cronic implementation of it (re another thread).

as you advertise (i'd assume), it is a different scenario from mine, as i'm 85% word of mouth/repeat works (other 15% chance sheer opertunism for a sale). my pool of contacts know i'm always out, so use the moby, they tend to want me personally, and not a service (thats part of my small trader's charm i hope ).

even if i expanded i still feel i would not use an answere service other than if i were unavailable due to some emergency or illness. holidays my son (trained by me so he's also very good) steps in should this ever happen, and i cover him in the same way.

all else should fail, cover is given by the local NSI Gold Co who take over my installs when neded, but they have never to date had to deal with a call from my systems, so far no client has ever had the experienced of 'agent' response to compare.

i just know from converstions i have had, that there is a lot of ressistance to call service's, a feeling of frutration dealing with someone who ha no idea what you are talking about. i'd rather listen to a tape than 3rd hand.

regs

alan

[arfur mo]

im sure we will agree on something at some point mate, surely!

Nope we dont advertise

<insert arfur quote about word of mouth, quality kit, let someone down loose all future work yada yada here>

all of our business is repeat or recommendations. We have advertised in the past but found it to be a complete waste of time. (i may re-evaluate this soon)

We dont operate an auto attendant, ie you speak to a human but we do use a hunt group for the calls and if no-ones available we play them a voice sorry to keep you waiting etc if you wish us to call you back please press 1 to leave a message etc etc. But normally after the legal calls recored etc you get a person

hi James,

you not that much diferent to the way i work really, as it's only me doing all, i'm usually installing or selling. i think that i have more chance of nailing a sale if they call my mobile or via CLI i call them back.

as dave has said people will move on if they get an answerphone, but i wonder how many who are answered by a service although may leave their details or say they will cal back, then carry on and ring other firms who do happpen to respond immediately?

the method using a front end auto-attendant is often used by small companies trying to present a bigger or more corprate image butmistakenly in my view. those that do this i suggest "press 1 for operator" to get to a human, then those more comfortable with auto attendents can press 2 for further options", then go "for sales press N" and so on.

2 very big big mistakes imo

1) a real no brainer this one - announcing "your call is very important to us" dogh! if it was that important there would be enough staff to answer it (billigerant gits like me think that way ).

it's not practicle all the time but then why advertise your 'weakness'? far better to say "we are very sorry for the delay, all our staff are working hard to answer your call as soon as we can, but please feel free to press 8 and leave a message so we canl call you back as soon as we can and at a time that suits you" far far more sincere.

2) putting "press 9 for operetor" right at the end of the intro menu imo. if a client is annoyed or has bells sounding they want to get through quickly, might not be able to hear the menu due to internal sirens, so the best way to calm them is a quick response if you want to win them back, not annoy them with loads of press this menu's. so i'd suffer the lazy ones who go for operator but thats life.

what you do is fine (yippee we agree ), as the VM is a parchute to catch overloads, but bear in mind what i suggest about message structure and content. you really need to think it through from a callers prospective

regs

alan

[Woosh]

My 2 pennies worth I do not advertise either all clients are recommendations from others. If I cannot answer the mobile I ring them back ASAP if the phone is out of range then it diverts to my wife who deals with the call. 99% of my clients know that I will ring them back within 5 mins and are happy with this. If they dont like it then pi** off to another company. I have enough work to keep me busy.

[Guest]

My 2 pennies worth I do not advertise either all clients are recommendations from others. If I cannot answer the mobile I ring them back ASAP if the phone is out of range then it diverts to my wife who deals with the call. 99% of my clients know that I will ring them back within 5 mins and are happy with this. If they dont like it then pi** off to another company. I have enough work to keep me busy.

Mine goes to the wife as well, but when she is:-

Having a coffee with her few hundred mates

In the hairdressers

Attending to nature

Eating

She sometimes misses the phone. I just think it is very unproffesional for a client to talk to an answer phone.

Our answering service don't pretend to know anything about the business, they just answer the phone, give the excuse you agree and then promises a call back in the timescale you agree. Never had a bad word against them yet from a client.

Dave

[arfur mo]

My 2 pennies worth I do not advertise either all clients are recommendations from others. If I cannot answer the mobile I ring them back ASAP if the phone is out of range then it diverts to my wife who deals with the call. 99% of my clients know that I will ring them back within 5 mins and are happy with this. If they dont like it then pi** off to another company. I have enough work to keep me busy.

Woosh,

seems we are kindred spirits - be afraid very afraid

regs

alan

[arfur mo]

Mine goes to the wife as well, but when she is:-

Having a coffee with her few hundred mates

In the hairdressers

Attending to nature

Eating

She sometimes misses the phone. I just think it is very unproffesional for a client to talk to an answer phone.

Our answering service don't pretend to know anything about the business, they just answer the phone, give the excuse you agree and then promises a call back in the timescale you agree. Never had a bad word against them yet from a client.

Dave

Hi DAve,

not out to say who is right or wrong or being argumentative in any way (az if i would ), just exsploring others views.

answer phones have been around for yonks now, people in the main do accept them as they often have one at home or call minder. imo there used to be a great resistance to them due to peoples reluctance to have their voice recorded at a moments notice after the bleep, and risked saying someing which when played back would be laughed at by the 'experts', nobody likes being foolish.

so like i replied to James, i wonder having got through to an answer service, especially in our security trade, a new prospective client will think twice, not want to talk to a stranger who is not actually directly employed by that security company about their security issue's how ever little detail they give at that time, they have all seen horrer stories of 'rougue traders' on the box (makeup please! - am i on next? ).

another thought just struck me (it happens if i don't take my medication), are the employee's of the answer service used actually CRO vetted? otherwise should a client get through and give name, address and phone number stating the usual "my system is out of order and we have no service contract, could you please send an engineer round to look at it?" could be a source for a 'mate'.

the operator might even be a kiddy fiddler or groomer, alarm activated kid phones alarm company asking what to do, addres happens to be local to the service ofice's.

perhaps i'm just parnoid, it seems these day we have to worry about everything and everyone, i'd be curious if any of the registered guys who use a service have checked this angle out, let us know please as perhaps the operators are CRO'd.

regs

alan