Opening Call Flow

[Anriana]

For those of you who work in call centers, what is the beginning of your call flow?
Mine is "Thanks for calling (company), this is Anriana, how can I help you?" followed by "Okay, I can help with that, I know it's frustrating when X happens, what's the account info?"


I hate this flow; it means we have to just sit at the beginning of the call waiting for the cust to ramble on about whatever their issue is with no access to their account or any of our tools. About 25% of the time the issue is something that we could see and start resolving while they're telling us the issue, but instead we have to wait for them to finish complaining. The company says this creates better rapport with the customer because we're empathizing and assuring them we will help at the beginning of the call.


I really like Sprint's, which seems to be "What's the phone number? Okay, what's the PIN? Okay, what's going on?" It's much more efficient.


What do you guys prefer? Jumping right into the issue or mandated statements of emotion?

[COMINATCHA]

I used to work in a call center that gave directory assistance Our opening line was strictly "What name please?' (asking for the name of the business or residence the customer was looking for.) I always thought that was too abrubt to greet someone, and I got in trouble whenever I tried to be more friendly or make a conversation, which I often did! After asking fo the name, we would look up the phone number and then simply end by saying "Thankyou" and pressing a button which releases the number automatically to the customer. I can't say that I miss that job - it wasn't exactly challenging!

[Enigma]

I used to work at Dish, and our opening speil was "Thank you for choosing Dish Network, My name is ______, how can I help you today?"

We had to say choosing, not calling- it always reminded me of how United Airlines used to end their flights 'We realize you have a choice of air carriers, and we appreciate your business' or some such.

While it's more efficient to get down to business, I think the call flow is in place to ensure good customer service, it's friendlier and helps reassure most customers.

[MadonnaC]

ours:-

Thank you for calling (company). My name is MadonnaC. May I start by getting your home phone number.

Yes, we have various statements of empathy, and we have to thank them for 'choosing and owning' our stuff. Marketing seems to have got hold of information from various surveys, decided to incorporate it, and still expect us to get 7 minute call times.....

[smileyeagle1021]

my opening spiel varies depending on the call.

If my phone comes up with a hotel code- reservations it means the hotel has already greeted the guest, all I have to do is say "reservation desk, this is smileyeagle speaking, may I ask with whom I'm speaking?" (and sometimes they actually tell me there name, sometimes they just go into what they need, assuming they give me there name I then say) "and how can I assist you today (name)"

if my phone comes up with a hotel code-hotel it means that I am the first person to answer the phone and I answer "thank you for calling the (hotel) reservation desk, this is smileyeagle speaking, may I ask with whom I'm speaking" after that it's the same

if the phone comes up with a city code I answer "thank you for calling the (city area) reservation office, this is smileyeagle speaking, may I ask with whom I'm speaking" (they give me there name) "and which (city area) location can I assist you with today (name)?"

if the phone comes up with anything else I answer "thank you for calling worldwide reservations, this is smileyeagle speaking, may I ask with whom I'm speaking?" (they give me their name) "and which city and state can I assist you with today (name)?"

it actually works pretty well.

[tropicsgoddess]

For those of you who work in call centers, what is the beginning of your call flow?
Mine is "Thanks for calling (company), this is Anriana, how can I help you?" followed by "Okay, I can help with that, I know it's frustrating when X happens, what's the account info?"

I hate this flow;

What do you guys prefer? Jumping right into the issue or mandated statements of emotion?

I don't blame you. I would rather jump into the issue, your opening sounds like you HAVE to demonstrate empathy right from the start,instead of after the customer tells you their problem.

Thankfully I never had an opening like that when I was a call center slave. My last call center job (I did customer service for an Airline's frequent flier miles department ) and we HAD to say I'll be happy to assist you after a customer stated their problem or they would dock points from our QA score.

I don't work in a call center now (Thank God!!!) but at the dealership, the GM wants us all to say "It's a great day at _________ Ford" as our greeting. Lame.

[freeatlast]

When I worked in the Call Center from hell, we answered with "This is Freeatlast. May I have your account number please?" In an attempt to reduce talk time, management decided to forgo the "Good morning/afternoon" portion of the greeting. Many years ago it was decided that we would not give the name of the company, as they should know who they are calling. Many customers commented that we sounded rather rude and abrupt, however, management chose to ignore those comments.

[BlaqueKatt]

we have 6 step call sequencing-mainly to control the call-this is how every call goes------
(greeting)
"thank you for calling "blank" wireless, my name is blaqueKatt, may I have your name please?"

(customer focus)
"Thank you, and what can I assist you with today?"

(bridge to business)
"Ok I'd be glad to help you with <issue>, if I can get your mobile phone number, starting with area code?"

"thank you, and for security purposes may I verify the last four of your social security number/password?"

"thank you, ok we are going to look into/assist with <issue>."

(offer options)
"ok we can either do x or y to fix this."

(recap)
"ok so today we dealt with<issue>, is there anything else I can ssist you with today?"

(close and branding)
"Thank you for choosing "brand" wireless, you have a great day!"<smile, smile>



that's it-that's an entire call "script"-our AHT is required to be under 7 minutes-taking every call the exact same way makes it happen---proof, I hadn't been on the phones in two years, and my AHT is still under 7 minutes.

And the company I work for spent a ton of money to research how to make our calls efficient-every center does it the exact same-and every center has under 7 minute AHT.

[JoitheArtist]

My org used to say, "Thank you for calling ____, how can I help you?"

We now say, "Thank you for calling ____, this is Joitheartist, may I get your chapter number?"

Several reasons:

1. Callers can no longer say, "Oh, the person I talked to before didn't give me her name."

2. They don't get a chance to rant at us without us knowing who and where they are.


It still amazes me the people who call about issues with their chapter, and say "Oh! I didn't think you'd need my chapter number!"

[JustADude]

And the company I work for spent a ton of money to research how to make our calls efficient-every center does it the exact same-and every center has under 7 minute AHT.

Wow, I must be a prodigy at conversational manipulation, then. I came up with something very, very similar to deal with the customer complaints at the Pie Haus, just by being tired and impatient but still trying to remain polite.

Of course, since they want everything done in under 90 seconds that still puts my talk-times in the crapper... but they're already there since I seem to draw more than my share of knuckle-dragging mouth breathers that take 20 seconds to give me their phone number, insist on hearing every special... in detail... before using the coupon already in their hands, and have to be asked 5 times what crust they want their ing pizzas on.

[Meadhands]

If you wouldn't mind hearing it from someone who calls into the center, rather then the one recieving the calls, I usually prefer the 'straight-to-business' approach. When I call in, I have probably already planned to do so for a while, but finally took the time of day. I once had a 48 minute call to send an item in for repairs, and I would prefer NOT to do that when my dinner is three feet away waiting to be eaten.

[Chanlin]

I'm in a position where my job has me on both sides of the fence both receiving and placing calls. I can tell you it annoys me to no end to get centers that are forced to stick with a script because to me it seems very impersonal. I realize its their job, i've been there, but ye gods its annoying to sit through some scripts when I already know what I want and what can and cant be done as most of the calls I make are for Local Number Portability.

At my center we are required to have 4 things in our call, Our name, the company name (usually at the opening) and then closing which the basic gist must be "is that all for you today, and thank you for calling" and thats it. The rest is completely up to the individual agent. AHT is about 3 1/2 to 5 minutes per agent.