Telephone Scripts

“Yes, I’m calling about a problem with your ABC Unit.”
“I’ll be happy to help you with that problem sir, may I ask who I am speaking to?”
“Tom Jones of ABC Company”
“Thank you Tom, may I have the serial number of the unit…” The only problem I have with scripts is some people believe it all has to be verbatim. In the example above, lets look at the response when the person calling in gives their name. I know that referring to someone by their first name in a support/sales situation is conventional wisdom, but not everyone is comfortable with referring to a stranger by their first name. If one of your people isn’t, why would you stress them out? I have never encountered anyone that got mad at me for being respectful (yes, I tend to start out with Mr. or Ms. when speaking with someone new). A little flexibility to make your people comfortable goes a long way to reducing stress without compromising professionalism or information gathering. More on this in the future.
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