George Patton is quoted as saying the following: “Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

In situations that require creativity and ingenuity I find this to be good advice. However when it comes to creating a memorable and powerful customer experience these can be reckless words to live by.

The reason? If you ask 100 people to deliver impeccable telephone customer service, you are likely to get 100 different versions of what that customer experience should look like. Some may be good, and a few might even be outstanding, but chances are many of these versions of a great telephone customer service experience will be below your expectations.

This is where the danger lies. Think of the Coca Cola Corporation. Coca Cola takes great pride in ensuring that a Coke in Atlanta tastes the same as a Coke in Seattle, Los Angeles, or wherever you may be drinking their soda.

If the leaders of Coca Cola just told each plant manager to make a great soda and sell it, it would end up with a dozen different versions of Coke. A consumer wouldn’t know what he or she was going to get when buying a Coke and would probably purchase another brand of soda that they knew what they were going to get each time they made a purchase.

Your organization’s telephone customer experience is much like the Coca Cola example. Without a defined method for delivering exceptional customer service your customers won’t know what to expect when they call upon your organization.

The way to ensure that your customers get the same exceptional service each and every time they call is to develop a script that your team members can follow and use as a guideline when they receive an inbound phone call. A call script can be very simple or complex based on the needs of your organization. No matter the complexity level, all scripts should start out the same way: with a strong greeting.

We recommend the four part greeting, which sounds like this: “Thank you for calling ABC Company, this is John, how may I help you?” or perhaps this: “Good morning/afternoon, ABC Company, this is John, how may I help you?”

From here the script can take many shapes and sizes and assume a multitude of complexities. A simple script might include how the caller is transferred to another member of your organization, how information is gathered from the customer, or how a customer’s problems are solved through the use of a defined troubleshooting procedure. A more complex script could include cue points for when to ask probing questions and cross-sell or up-sell other products or services your organization provides.

The keys to developing an effective phone script are to become intimately familiar with the reasons why your customers are calling, identify the desired direction that the call should take, and identify all the different touchpoints that exist during the course of the call.

Using this information a phone call “road map” or flow chart can be developed to craft the customer’s experience with your organization during their phone call. This serves as your organization’s phone script and it must be properly presented to and reinforced with your team members. While it may seem cumbersome or difficult to navigate at first, with time, patience, and persistence your team members will become intimately familiar with the script and how each and every call should be handled and how they are to interact with the caller in a number of different situations.

Using this approach to telephone customer service creation will provide a standard of incredible service that your customers will come to love and depend on. This will give your organization a considerable edge over its competition that is difficult to replicate.

If you have questions about creating a script for your team members to follow when fielding inbound calls give us call or click the button below – we’re here to help!