How To Create A Winning Telephone Answer Script
WHAT YOUR TELEPHONE ANSWER SCRIPT SHOULD ACCOMPLISH
Your answer script only has to do a few things—
- Greet the caller in a cheerful but professional way
- Show them that their call and their input are very much important
- Identify who is answering the call
- Provide help
- Keep it short and simple
If this can be done by your answering script, your calls can give the perfect first impression and have better customer support for answering calls. So, how do you accomplish these 5 things in a short phone call?
REINFORCE YOUR SCRIPT WITH ACTION
It is not just the words that count in your script.
Studies have shown that the voice tone is 84 percent of the message over the phone. If you do not have the correct sound, the words will not have the effect you need them to have.
So, how do you get the correct tone? Smiling is one of the easiest approaches.
The "smile and dial" technique is so common it’s almost a cliche in telecommunications at this point, but there’s a reason why it endures.
It actually changes the tone of your voice when you smile and makes it sound more friendly and warm. That's no surprise when you realize that it has been shown that smiling lowers your heart rate and decreases your reaction to stress. Physiologically, at the back of the mouth, smiling lifts the soft palate and makes the sound waves more elastic. This strengthens the tone of voice further.
So, make sure your response script contains "smiling". They should smile when talking, whether it be a receptionist who responds or another employee!
KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE
All right, you've got the sound down. So, let's deal with what you have to say.
Think back to the response script's 5 objectives. Here, let's see if we can apply them.
Altogether, here’s what it looks like: “Good morning/Good afternoon. Thank you for calling [our business]. This is [Name], how may I help you today?”
You set a friendly tone, showed value, gave your name, offered assistance, and kept it simple. It has all the characteristics of a winning script for telephone responses.
THE FINAL PIECES
The greeting is important – but there’s still a few more missing pieces to a winning telephone answer script.
- The relocation. You should ask for the caller's name when transferring, and let them know the name of the person you are transferring the call to.
- The (if necessary) "hold". If you really need to put a caller on hold, be sure to ask them, "Can I put you on hold for a moment?" Grate them for their patience when you come back from the keep, and ask them how you can help them.
- Make sure that you check back and let the caller know that you are still working on solving their problem if you put them on hold for longer than three minutes.
- The pronunciation of a name. Ensure that the proper spelling of the name of their business is used. Ask again if you're not sure, so you get it right!
- Taking the extra time to do this will build trust with your caller.
Nail these, and you’ll master the perfect telephone answer script!
NOW YOU HAVE THE TELEPHONE ANSWERING SCRIPT: CAN YOU HANDLE ALL THE CALLS?
You have a solid outline here for handling new callers, but what happens if you’re missing those phone calls? There's a fair chance you can't completely concentrate on answering your phone if you're busy running your business. You most definitely don't have the money to employ a receptionist if you're a small business. Consider outsourcing your calls to a provider that offers an excellent service at a reasonable price.
By Jeffreymendel Jeffrey Nash - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50308966
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