Posts Tagged Partners
The IVR Clinic with Allison Smith
Allison Smith, The Asterisk Voice
The 15 Commandments of IVR
Commandment #3: Keep Things Simple
So far in this Blog Series, we’ve covered the first two “commandments” of writing clean, easy-to-use IVR systems:
- Commandment #1: Don’t Overestimate Your Listener’s Attention Span
- Commandment #2: Thou Shalt Not Create Fake Mailboxes.
Both really key points: many writers of IVR systems feel like they have their callers “captive”, and that now that they have them listening them to their menu of options, now is a great opportunity to sell to them; to educate them in detail, and to reassure them that they’ve made the right decision by calling their company (which can be artificially made to sound bigger and more impressive than it actually may be by creating fake options and forcing callers to listen to the entire selection of options which, essentially, go nowhere.)
The customers who call into your business are busy people. They are probably over-stressed multi-taskers who simply want to accomplish what they need to accomplish in this call and move along. Your job – as the constructor of the telephone systems which “sorts” callers into appropriate departments – is to make their experience in your IVR as simplified and efficient as possible – hence Commandment #3: Keep Things Simple.
If it feels like I’m belaboring the point of simplicity, brevity, and clarity to death, I likely am. As someone who on a daily basis voices systems for a myriad of companies, I can tell you that I always have in mind – while I’m voicing the prompts – how it will feel when someone will call into this system. Will they let out a sigh, dejected, as they realize that in order to get to the department they need to speak with, they will *first* have to endure a commercial, emphasizing the benefits and wonderments of the company they’ve dialed? Will they become overwhelmed and confused by too many options – or options which are so similar as to confuse the decision of which to press? Will their selection be filtered down into too many confusing subsets?
It goes both ways: you will want to ensure that the information you’re asking for from callers is information which will not overload your organization, or make it a challenge to follow through. Just last week, I read a mailbox greeting which instructed the callers: “…For a faster response, please leave your name, number, and brief message explaining why you’re interested in partnering with us, along with your commitment level, your main passion, and the reason why you have decided to enter our industry.” You could really be inviting trouble there; most people wouldn’t likely take advantage of the situation and leave a half-hour long manifesto. But a surprisingly large number will. You need to invite that same clarity, brevity, and economy in a request for incoming information if you have any hope of boiling down the information gathered into a useful form and following through.
Reduce down the choices into the simplest options. Get callers to their needed department as quickly as possible. Don’t ask for information to be input – such as pin or account numbers – if the live agent is just going to ask for the information again. And above all: respect the caller’s time and energy.
Next blog: we’re going to be drilling deeper into the mechanics of sorting your callers into various departments, by giving them the option of not participating in the format you’ve designed at all. That’s right: we’ll be tackling Commandment #4: Always Give Callers an Opt-In.”
Watch for the next blog entry in about two weeks time! Thanks for reading, and your comments are most appreciated!
Conference Call Etiquette
Polycom, one of the premier listings in AsteriskExchange.com, recently shared a helpful guide to conference call etiquette. Here are their Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts of a Conference Call:
Do’s
- Watch the clock. Make good use of everyone’s time.
- Come to the call with an agenda, clear objectives, and role expectations.
- Make sure to provide a quick overview at the start of the call as well as a quick summary at the end of the call.
- Introduce all parties on the call. Always introduce participants to each other and acknowledge new attendees as they join the call.
- Ensure participants are following along. When referring to slides during a presentation, number the slides and clarify as you move from one slide to the next so that all callers can easily follow along.
- Pay attention. This may seem to be a given, but it’s not always that easy to do.
- When you’re on a conference call at your desk, it’s often very tempting to check e-mail, work on documents or do other personal work. Typing on a keyboard is disruptive, however, and callers can hear you. In addition, you may miss the flow of conversation and progress in the meeting.
- When you’re in a conference room, avoid using your mobile device to check e-mail during the conference call.
- Forward incoming calls to voicemail. When joining the conference call from your desk, be sure other incoming calls will not cause a disruption.
- Turn off your cell phone ringer, pager, etc.
- Speak using a ‘normal’ tone of voice. Today’s conference phones offer excellent acoustic clarity. Yelling or speaking too quietly is distracting.
Don’ts
- Don’t put the call on hold. If you have to step away, use mute hold because music is very disruptive to others on a call.
- Don’t interrupt. Give others a chance to finish what they are saying before speaking.
- Don’t have side conversations. They are a distraction to those listening from the other end.
From phones to software to complete business communication solutions, the Asterisk Exchange showcases solutions that extend the power of Asterisk. To find conference phones that are certified to work well with Asterisk, visit the Polycom listing on AsteriskExchange.com.
