Not so brief Breef thoughts for July 11th
Hey kids, what time is it?
It's "What the fuck are they thinking time!"
And now Professor Matt will explain the right and wrong way to answer and handle phone calls in a small business. Some people need a little help with this even though its mostly common sense.
The Correct Way:
Answer the phone politely and professionally. Be sure to correctly identify which person or department the caller should be transfered to. When paging the person/department in question take note as to whether they may be busy or not. Clues are conversation with customer(s) on the intercom or a busy signal. If you are unable to visually confirm the the employee is with a customer or on the phone, you can usually deduce such a fact. If the employee has not responded to the phone call, pick up the call and indicate to the caller that the employee/department is busy and ask if they'd like to hold or take a message.
The Wrong Way.
Answer the phone and wait for the customer to ask for a person or department. If the caller asks for a specific person just transfer the call to that person's department. If the person/department is busy continue to page them without checking back in with the caller. Be sure to have a unpleasant tone when paging a person or department. Be sure to continue to page even after the person you are paging indicates they are busy. It is also important to over load a person or department with phone calls, one person should take 3 calls at once, right? It is important to aggravate your fellow co-workers in order to foster a bitter work environment. In the case that a co-worker asks you to help with phone calls by taking messages or to be mindful of pages and leaving customers on hold, be sure to balk at the request and insist its not your job.
I hope we've enjoyed today's lesson and more will exciting and insightful commentaries are right around the corner. So stay tuned.
--Matt
It's "What the fuck are they thinking time!"
And now Professor Matt will explain the right and wrong way to answer and handle phone calls in a small business. Some people need a little help with this even though its mostly common sense.
The Correct Way:
Answer the phone politely and professionally. Be sure to correctly identify which person or department the caller should be transfered to. When paging the person/department in question take note as to whether they may be busy or not. Clues are conversation with customer(s) on the intercom or a busy signal. If you are unable to visually confirm the the employee is with a customer or on the phone, you can usually deduce such a fact. If the employee has not responded to the phone call, pick up the call and indicate to the caller that the employee/department is busy and ask if they'd like to hold or take a message.
The Wrong Way.
Answer the phone and wait for the customer to ask for a person or department. If the caller asks for a specific person just transfer the call to that person's department. If the person/department is busy continue to page them without checking back in with the caller. Be sure to have a unpleasant tone when paging a person or department. Be sure to continue to page even after the person you are paging indicates they are busy. It is also important to over load a person or department with phone calls, one person should take 3 calls at once, right? It is important to aggravate your fellow co-workers in order to foster a bitter work environment. In the case that a co-worker asks you to help with phone calls by taking messages or to be mindful of pages and leaving customers on hold, be sure to balk at the request and insist its not your job.
I hope we've enjoyed today's lesson and more will exciting and insightful commentaries are right around the corner. So stay tuned.
--Matt