Effective Communica- tion Maximizes Customer Satisfaction By Richard R. Vensel Effective Com- * munication Maxi- % mizes Customer Satis- 4 faction ; How does your ™ company sound on the phone? Many times the phone is your customers’ first impression of your company. Here are some strategies to make the most of your telephone system. Continually review all recorded messages. Not long ago I called a cus- tomer and as will happen these days, ended up listening to their wonderful answering system. (I sometimes think these systems havea mind of their own, computer driven or not.) I listened to this very professional recording about many of the great services offered by this company. This was done very thor- oughly. One problem I noticed oc- curred when they mentioned a specific section of the tolerance had to be 15 thousands where it actually should have been 1.5 thousands. A normal caller probably never would have noticed this, but is that the first impression you want to leave? Be consistent with your company name. Can your customer tell who he is calling? I’ve run into many cases where the phone answering systems used a different company name than the one you thought you were calling. An example of this would be if I were to answer the phone “Vensel’s” instead of Vensel Enterprises. I’ve also run into cases where the name was totally dif- ferent on the recorder than the name of the company I was calling. It’s easy to miss these things, but they really can make a difference to the customer on the other end of the line. Remember service is person-to- person. Automated answering systems leave much to be desired when it comes to providing good service. How often do you know the last name of the person you deal with over the phone at a particular company? How often is the only way to reach that per- son on these new answering systems by punching in the first three letters of their last name? Think about it. When in doubt you can always dial 0 for the operator, but isn’t that defeating the purpose of the system? How about when you call a com- pany and know who you need, but get a recording that states, “For help dial 0 for the operator,” and when you do you get a busy signal. Oftentimes even when you finally get to the extension you really need, the fun can continue. How about when the phone rings at the extension you need, but instead of getting a person you get another recording telling you to leave a message for that person. Is this service, or the new computer age we must conform to? It doesn’t seem like service to me. Don’t take this the wrong way. We use an answering system, but only af- ter all three lines are in use or when we are actually out of the office. Try these tips to improve your sys- tem. Have aclose friend, relative or business associate actually call your business and try to use the answering system. Were they impressed with the knowledge and politeness they heard? Did they have any difficulty getting through? Can they come up with any suggestions on improving the system? Remember the person selling you the MAY, 2000 system may not know what is best for your company and customers. Make sure that the message lets the potential customer know what in- formation you need in order to serve him best. Remind him to leave his com- pany name, phone or fax number, time he called and a brief idea of what he is looking for. Let’s not forget e-mail! This is a fast, cheap way to keep in touch, and based on the cost-savings, will be used more and more. Again, it is worthless without complete information allowing you to get back to the customer with the answers they need. Oftentimes the simple e-mail address can mean noth- ing to the person or company receiv- ing the request. Simple information like the company name and address, phone and fax numbers would be very use- ful. Communication is one of the key assets to your growth. Use it to your benefit and don’t get sloppy with the new forms of communication available. The basics are still useful and the best. Richard Vensel is owner of Vensel Enter- prises, Crystal Lake, IL. Page 1 of 1