What Your Telephone Answer Script Should Accomplish
Your answer script only has to do a few things—
- Greet the caller in a positive way
- Show them that you value their call and their input
- Identify who is answering the call
- Offer help
- Keep it short and simple
If your answering script can achieve this, your calls will give the perfect first impression and provide great call answering customer service. So, how do you accomplish these 5 things in a short phone call? Let’s dive in.
Reinforce Your Script with Action
It’s not just the words in your script that count.Studies have shown that 84% of your message over the phone is your tone of voice. If you don’t have the right tone, the words won’t have the impact you need them to.So, how do you get the tone right? One of the best ways is to smile.The "smile and dial" technique is so common it’s almost a cliche in telecommunications at this point, but there’s a reason why it endures.When you smile, it actually changes the tone of your voice and makes it sound more friendly and warm. That’s no surprise when you remember that smiling has been proven to lower your heart rate and reduce your stress response. Physiologically, smiling raises the soft palate at the back of your mouth and makes the sound waves more fluid. This further improves your tone of voice.So, make sure “smiling” is included in your answer script. Whether it be a receptionist who answers or another employee, they should smile while talking!
Keep It Short and Simple
Okay, you’ve got the tone down. So, let’s handle what you need to say. Think back to the 5 goals of the answer script. Let’s see how we can apply them here.Altogether, here’s what it looks like: “Good morning/Good afternoon. Thank you for calling [our business]. This is [Name], how may I help you today?”You have set a polite tone, shown value, given your name, offered help, and kept it simple. It has all the components of a winning telephone answer script.
The Final Pieces
The greeting is important – but there’s still a few more missing pieces to a winning telephone answer script.
- The transfer. When transferring, you should ask for the caller’s name, and let them know the name of the person to whom you are transferring the call.
- The “hold” (if necessary). If you absolutely have to put a caller on hold, make sure to ask them, “May I put you on hold for a moment?” When you come back from the hold, thank them for their patience, and ask how you can help them. If you put them on hold for more than three minutes, make sure you’re checking back and letting the caller know you’re still working on solving their problem.
- The name pronunciation. Make sure you use the correct pronunciation of their / their company’s name. If you’re not sure, ask again so you get it right! Taking the extra time to do this will build trust with your caller.
Nail these, and you’ll master the perfect telephone answer script!
Now you have the telephone answering script: can you handle all the calls?
You have a solid outline here for handling new callers, but what happens if you’re missing those calls? If you’re busy running your business, there’s a good chance you’re not able to fully focus on answering your phone. If you’re a small business, you most likely don’t have the resources to hire a receptionist. Consider outsourcing your calls to a phone answering service. Nexa virtual receptionists work with your script and answer as an extension of your business. “Our customers commented that when they first spoke with Nexa, they were surprised because they thought they had spoken with our in-house office staff,” said R.T, a Nexa customer. Let Nexa handle the calls while you handle your business.
