Call Your Company.

Call Your Company.

How is your company’s phone answered? Does it convey the message to your customers and suppliers that you want?  If you have an auto-answering system is the message the same today as it was the day you bought the system? Is the massage out of date – Happy Holidays… in July? This is the first contact your customers and business partners have with you on a regular basis. It can create a positive or negative image. Make sure it is positive.  I know of a specialty retail store that has limited hours and is dependent on customers leaving messages on their phone system. The voice mail message was recorded by the phone system installer for whom English was a second language. The message is difficult to understand and is not inviting. The store never changed the message and has no idea what that massage is costing them.

If the phone is answered by a live person decide exactly how you want your phone answered. It can be a simple announcement of the company name or more personalized such as “Good Morning, XYZ Company Jenny speaking. If you like the way your receptionist does it now document it. Write it down and put it in your operations manual.

If you have an auto-answering system a slightly longer greeting may be appropriate. It may include an advertisement such as: thank you for calling Joe Builder - winner of the state Homebuilder’s Builder of the Year Award or Joe Builder developer of Sunny Acres.  If you put a seasonal greeting make sure you have a process to update it before it is out of date. Be careful not to make it too long. I have one associate who lists all his awards and certifications on his cell phone introduction. It is more infomercial than greeting.

“There is no right or wrong just make sure the message is positive and creates the image you want.

Once you arrive at a greeting that you like document it. Put it in writing and put it in your operations manual.   

©Thomas Robinson Sept 2010