Customer Support
where I was calling to try to sell something to the absent individual , but what if I were trying to buy something ? Does “ He hasn ’ t made it in yet ” inspire confidence in the person or the company ? In the same vein , does “ She ’ s gone for the day ” make you more or less likely to want to buy from the person or the company . And while everyone is entitled to be “ out to lunch ” for at least a part of every day , does a potential customer — or even a potential supplier — need to know that ?
Here ’ s what I think would be a better all-purpose response : “ He ( or she ) is meeting with a customer .”
From my perspective , the best possible reason for not being available to talk to me is to be talking to a customer ( if I ’ m not one ), or another customer if I am . Customers are the lifeblood of any business . Meeting with customers is the ultimate business activity . I think you can fault someone for coming in late or leaving early , but not for meeting with customers !
Another Customer
Here ’ s another thought connected to the possibility of another customer . Whoever answers the phone could say : “ He ’ s meeting with a customer , or perhaps I should say another customer . Who is this please ?” Do you see how this minimizes the possibility that a customer might feel slighted in any way ?
Granted , this probably qualifies as a “ little thing ,” but I ’ ve long observed that it ’ s usually not one big thing that makes companies and salespeople great , it ’ s that they master the little things that can make big differences .
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What Is This About ? Here ’ s another “ little thing ” connected to the issue of answering the telephone . I am routinely asked : “ Can I tell him …” or “ Will she know what this is about ?” On one hand , I can appreciate a business owner ’ s desire to screen calls . On the other hand , this is not a very customer-friendly strategy . Do you really want a customer or potential customer to have to say : “ I want to talk about maybe buying from your company !”?
Here ’ s my advice . If you don ’ t want to take calls that might be from salespeople , simply have all your calls routed to voicemail . Have the person who answers the phone say : “ She ’ s meeting with a customer , or perhaps I should say another customer . Can I put you into voice mail ?” Then make it a point to check your voice mail regularly enough that you can return the calls you want to return on a timely basis .
Yesterday , I asked three people who asked me what I was calling about if they ’ d been told to ask that question , or decided to do it on their own . One said her boss told her to screen all of his calls . The other two said they just assumed their boss would want them to protect him from annoying salespeople . The point is this . If you ’ ve instructed your staff to give anyone who calls you the third degree , that ’ s not good business strategy . And if you haven ’ t told them what to say when people call you , you should probably check to see if they ’ re making you look good — or the opposite ! n
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DAVE FELLMAN is the author of “ Listen To The Dinosaur ,” which Selling Power magazine listed as one of its “ 10 Best Books To Read in 2010 .” Visit his website at www . dinosaurwisdom . com
36 essentials | fall 2016