‘Let us smarten up our telephone conduct. We may not be wealthy, but let us dazzle our customers with Exceptional Telephone Courtesy.’
THERE was a time when I felt that our telephone conduct in offices had improved a great deal, in some places to the point where I would deem some telephonists ‘outstanding’. From time to time when I encounter beautiful telephone manners, I make a comment to the persons or organisations concerned. Improvement in this area fills me with a great deal of satisfaction. It is like an oasis in a desert, so much else of our official conduct in many places is reprehensible, even as we mouth phrases about Quality Service.

High Quality Service is a total experience and not confined to just one area. Exceptional customer service on the other hand does not come from glossy Annual Reports, large well-appointed buildings, fancy work programmes or the amount of hi-tech equipment one can purchase. Exceptional Customer Service is gauged from what is given each day by each employee regardless of the level of that employee, whether cleaner, office assistant, supervisor, clerk, junior manager or CEO. As Susan Morem says in her book Gain the Professional Edge “an organisation’s image is not determined by its mission statement, annual report or speeches top executives give. An organisation’s image is determined by the way each and everyone of its members represent it to the outside world”. Exceptional Customer Service is no longer an option in our organisations if those organisations are to continue to remain viable. Our customers, internal and external are entitled to expect this.

Managers/supervisors where are you? Do you hear your employees answer the telephone? Are they a credit to your organisation? Call them from a place away from the office to hear what they sound like. Do not ask your secretary to call them. You can call them yourself. Do you correct them? Do you monitor the correction?

I want in this Viewpoint to focus on two aspects of our telephone conduct:

(a) identifying in a professional manner, the organisation in which you are working, or in which you are answering the telephone; and

(b) putting a caller on hold.

When the telephone in your organisation rings, answer promptly i.e. by the third ring. And with a smile in your voice identify your organisation.

“Thanks for calling Cereals Incorporated. How may I help?” or “Good morning. This is the Ministry of Courtesy … how may I help?”

Too many are picking up the handset and saying “Hello..o….o… in a pained/distressed tone. Or, “Yes sweetheart, how may I help?” so that the caller then has to ask, “Is this Cereals Incorporated?”

Recently I called a Ministry to make an appointment for a visitor. The response I received was “Yes, marning…. Wuh he waan see e fuh?” For the next couple of seconds I was almost speechless. All I could say was “Excuse me”. Whereupon the lady in an impatient tone repeated, “What he want to see the …about?”

The second aspect of telephone conduct is Putting the Caller on Hold. Too many telephonists after the pleasant greeting and identification of the place of business e.g. “Thanks for calling the Ministry of pride. How may I help you?” forget and when the caller says, “May I speak with Mr. Camacho?” she/he gets “Hole on right!” Spelt HOLE.

To put a caller on hold, we need to ask the caller’s permission. It is put in the form of a question e.g. “Will you hold please?” Giving the caller time to say, “Yes I’ll hold”. There is nothing more annoying to a busy caller who would prefer to leave a message because he/she may not have the time to hold, but the caller heard the click after you said “Hole On” which meant that you have apparently gone to the ground floor to get Mr. Camacho.