Telephone Scripts and Standards

In many companies and organisations and particularly in small business, the first ever contact with a potential customer is likely to be by telephone.

Some companies regard this position as one of the most crucial in their whole company, as perhaps for 99% of the people they deal with, their first and most significant impression of the company, is the person answering the telephone.

Courtesy and attention to detail are critical issues.

In any business, there are considerations to ensure you represent your business in the most professional light possible.

1. Who is answering the phone during working hours? Is it the serviceman while he is working on the job or a designated person that can provide their undivided attention?
2. What happens if you are currently on a call and a second call is incoming? Are you set up so that they are transferred to a message bank (with a professional voice telling the caller the business name and steps to leave a message)? Or do they receive a busy signal?
3. How often do you check your message bank throughout the day?
4. If a message is left on a message bank, how long does it take for a return call to be placed to that potential customer?
5. If you have the facility to answer second incoming calls (depending on the size of your business), and once asked if you can place them on hold, do you have a professional human voice/music that promotes your business? Or do they hear nothing only to be left wondering if you have hung up the phone?
6. If you have a 24 hour/7 day business, what happens on after hours? Do you carry a phone or one of your team? Are the rates varied? Is the person answering the call trained what to say?
7. Do you have written procedures to answer the phone?
8. What information are you capturing on this initial call? Do you ask them ‘how did you hear about us?’

Telephone Scripts

Note: These scripts are specific for our business and should be used as a guide only. We recommend you tailor your scripts to work with your business.

Good Morning/Afternoon company name, your name speaking.

Customers will tell you what the problem is, write it down.

We can definitely help you out with (problem) today (name), I just need to take some details.

Can I please have your name?

Check spelling

And how did you hear about company name?

This is important as we need to track EVERY call that comes into the office (even price shoppers)

What is the address there (name)?

I will just explain how we work, to get someone out to have a look at the job we have a $55 call out fee and from there the serviceman will give you an up front price before he starts the work. If you go ahead with any paid work, we waive the $55 call out fee.

If need further information; While he is there he will also do a FREE plumbing & safety inspection report on all your plumbing including taps, toilets and hot water

May I ask your contact number (name)?

And do you have a Mobile number; we like to have 2 numbers because the serviceman will call ½ hour before he arrives.

Do you have an email address in case we have to send you out a quote?

Gather more information on the job if needed.

I can get someone out there between (2 Hr window) for you today if that suits you. If we have time available to fill today Or Would you prefer morning or afternoon?

We have availability on (day) for between (2 hour window)

Just to confirm, one of our servicemen will arrive at your property on (date) between (time) to fix (the problem) for you.

Thank you for your call, have a great day! (Wait for the client to hang up)

Success Loves Speed

I’m a big believer in the importance of acting sooner rather than later. In fact, taking immediate action and completing every task with a sense of urgency. Why? Because in short, I personally don’t recall ever succeeding at something because I got there last. This is true in many areas of life;

• If you want to sit in your favourite spot - the middle, eye level row - in the cinema for the latest movie, get to the cinema first. The perfect seat loves speed.
• If you want a job you just found in the paper, get there first. Jobs love speed (and so do employers if you are the perfect candidate!)
• If you had your eye on a certain guy or girl to take to the dance, ask him/her first. Your beating heart loves speed.
• If you want to purchase that property that just came on the market, start sealing the deal first. Property ownership loves speed.

And so on. Because success, in general, loves speed.

So, why does success love speed? Success comes from taking some form of action. A word described in the dictionary as “the causation of change.” Whatever result you want, it’s a change from what you now have. By definition, then, a change has to take place for you to get from your present status to that result.

Following are 4 important reasons why I believe speed of action creates exceptional results;

1. Have a plan and stick to it.
If you knew what it was you were trying to achieve, with steps one, two, three onwards outlined, it would be far easier to reach your destination in lightening speed.

2. When you procrastinate, you tend to lose your enthusiasm.
The ‘best idea in the world’ will literally stay the ‘best idea in the world’ unless you make it happen! Too many of us get comfortable with the way things are and allow that great idea to fade into the comfort zone of oblivion. But when you take action, your creative juices flow faster, your excitement of the ‘unknown’ kicks into high gear, and your resourcefulness, the things, people, and circumstances you need to accomplish your objective are drawn to you almost like magic. As a result, your motivation to succeed becomes elevated.

3. Obstacles appear the longer you wait to take action.
Changing circumstances are a constant battle, hence waiting too long before taking action will only result in the opportunity becoming less and less appealing to you as those obstacles start to make their appearance.

As a general rule, I assume that if I take immediate action, perceived problems will tend to disappear and that the more I hesitate, the more time there is for issues to arise.
4.Time is finite.
No matter how capable you are, you can only accomplish so much in a lifetime. Every second that’s wasted reduces the totality of what you can accomplish by one second. Some people maintain that a constant feeling of urgency to accomplish more is stressful, but I find the opposite to be true. I feel more stress when I procrastinate -- when I’m not doing what I know I should be doing. Not actioning NOW the work related tasks I set myself for the day will simply eat into my time with the kids – so get cracking!

Of course, nothing in life is perfect. There will be times when moving too fast can end up hurting you. But from my own experience the gains I’ve had from moving fast far outweighs the losses I incur as a result of procrastination.

If you want to succeed in life then you’ve got to learn to accept change, to follow a plan of action and do it with a ‘sense of urgency’ because success loves speed.

Andy.