Making Hold Time Worth the Wait: Business Brew Work-From-Home #3

On August 6th, Staci Clary joined Business Brew to talk about the importance of the customer experience as it relates to phone greetings, on-hold messaging, voicemail best practices, and how to handle online chat. 

Here are some of the highlights from the chat. 

When recording a voicemail message for your cell phone whether personal or business:

  • Don’t be scary
  • Be yourself
  • Don’t be rushed
  • Keep the message short
  • Get to the point 
  • Be clear and kind

Tips for cell phones and employees:

  • When handing out phones, also hand out the expectations for use including customer experience
    • Consider writing a paragraph that accompanies the phone
  • Offer a script they can use when recording a voicemail message

General voicemail tips:

  • Practice what you’re going to say
  • Deleting your voicemail and trying again is ok

Tips for businesses using auto-attendants (phone systems):

  • In an ideal world, live answering is best
  • Consider having a company representative answer the phone when possible
  • If you have a hold system or auto-attendant, the music and message should sound like your business
  • Allow three rings before the auto-attendant answers
  • The most important person in your business is the person who answers the phone, whether it’s live or recorded
  • Keep the options in the auto-attendant menu to three or four
  • Always give “press zero to talk to a person” as an option
  • While on hold, silence is not polite; it’s hard to know you are still on hold if it’s silent
  • Consistency is important

Online Chat tips:

  • Same with auto-attendant, it’s best that this is operated by a real person
  • If it’s not a real person, make sure the auto-responses indicate that

Other tips and memorable lines from Staci:

  • Any music playing in your business should suit you and the business well
  • “Help me matter to you”; receiving a phone call from a customer is the reward for good marketing and advertising, make it count by making your customers feel special
  • Your phone is an employee, treat it is as such
  • Update your voicemail and auto-attendant two to three times per year
  • Review all the touchpoints customers can have with your business!
  • Little things matter and make a big difference
https://anchor.fm/business-brew-podcast/episodes/The-Business-Brew-Podcast—Making-Hold-Time-Worth-the-Wait-e11l2nu

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