Our telephone answering services are a lifeline for many businesses. You can always count on our call agents to engage your customers calmly and professionally. But the quality of our services relies on the scripts you place in our hands.
Call answering services are supposed to represent the companies that contract them. A customer is not supposed to realise that they are interacting with a call answering service.
For a call answering service to successfully represent a company’s brand. the company must provide its service provider with a script that outlines all the ways call agents should interact with callers. But what does a good call answering service script look like?
If you have been tasked with making one, keep the following in mind:
The Greeting is Mandatory
This goes without saying. Every script should start with a greeting. The tone a call agent takes will vary depending on the company. But for the most part, greetings should be delivered in an even, professional and polite manner. The words you choose should make the caller feel welcome.
Brevity is Key
Do not meander. Keep the greeting short. It should also flow naturally. Make sure you tell the customer the name of the company they just called and who they are talking to. This will let them know that they called the right number.
Collect Information
Once the caller knows the name of the agent and they have verified the identity of the company, the script should provide an avenue for the agent to collect basic information about the caller. Again, keep things short and sweet.
Ask the caller to state their reason for calling. Again, make sure that the conversation flows.
Direct The Customer
Scripts are like menus. They have paths. Assuming that it wasn’t made clear when the caller explained their reason for calling, identify the path you want the customer to follow. Ask them if they are an existing client. Find out if they have some sort of emergency.
Determine whether or not they want to schedule an appointment. The answers to those questions and more are going to determine the path the call agent will take in the script and the questions they will ultimately ask as the conversation proceeds.
When you are creating the script, you need to know what you want each conversation to achieve depending on the answers you will receive to the questions the call agents will ask. This is the best way to create efficient branches in your script.
Whether you want to make a sale or solve a problem, you need to determine your objective. This will allow the various paths of your script to flow smoothly into one another.
Be Natural
You need to understand the purpose of a script. A script isn’t meant to be recited word for word by the call agent. Do not write it with the assumption that call agents will say every single word you commit to paper. A script is a guide.
It gives call agents a basic idea of what they should say. It also shows them the tone you want conversations with customers to take. If you try to make the script too restrictive, our call agents will ultimately sound like a recording. This will put your callers off. The script must give call agents the freedom to add their own natural flair to the conversation.
If all that sounds like a lot of work, that is because it is. A call answering service script is one of the most important pieces of marketing literature you could ever write. For this reason, you have to craft it carefully.
At Planet numbers, we have capable team members who are ready to handle calls in a professional manner. For further enquiries or help, please call 0800 088 6543 to speak with one of our agents.
