Telephone systems
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2004-10-07 06:25:31 - Graham EllisDon't you just hate those telephone systems where you have to press 1 for "this" and 2 for "that" and can end up going through, it seems, a dozen options before you get to where you want? I know I do - so why have we just installed a clever system here?
We welcome personal calls from friends and contacts. We welcome enquiries about courses, technical questions (although often better asked on Opentalk) and follow ups on enquiries we have made. But we cannot be at the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and, these days, business doesn't seem to be just 9-to-5!! You'll only reach our "clever system" if you call when we're training out of the office or away at a conference, or if you've happened to call at one of those odd times when everyone's tied up. Have you noticed how the phone always rings at the same instance that someone walks into reception?
Designing our system "script" seemed - amazingly - rather similar to web site design. A home page with clear information, easy navigation links to each option and getting where you want with as few key strokes as possible. Looking at how others have done it, and learning from their good and bad points ...
Our system is more clever than most! I know the British temptation not to leave a message, but please DO. If we're out of the office, messages are emailed to us (that's why we ask you to supply an email address for return contact) and we collect them, worldwide, on a regular basis. Faxes get forwarded to us in a similar way.
Now - here's a confession. We get very tired of unsolicited calls trying to sell us things; I know the people making the calls have a job to do - I don't blame them for the nuisance they cause, but rather I blame the people who have employed them. I'm tempted to add the following onto our system:
If you're contacting us to sell us your company's products, please press 2 and we'll tell you a little bit about us and let you know how to get in touch if you still think it's worthwhile.
And telling you about us? This is the sales information line. Thank you for calling us to tell us about your product. We're a small company (we describe ourselves as a "Mom and Pop" outfit) based in Melksham, Wiltshire, England. We're very busy indeed at present, so we're not looking for any assistance with marketing and advertising - there seems no point in generating more business than we can handle and we have a good market awareness program in place. Our service bills (phone, electricity, etc) are low, and we feel it would be more trouble than it's worth to switch to make a few pounds saving at the moment. We've just had extensive work completed on our listed building, so we're not in the market for windows or kitchens. Pension issues and financial planning are well in hand too. We support certain charitable causes, with whom we're already in touch.
Do you know ... having just read that back over makes me realise just how lucky we are ...
Local Melksham businesses (taxi services, B&Bs, etc) - let us know what you're offering as we often have visitors who need to stay or get around. See our getting listed with us page.
Full contact details are at http://www.wellho.net/resources/contact.html