A Midwest dive store owner we know likes to think he’s pretty clever. As a cost-cutting measure, he has no landlines coming into his store. Instead, he uses his personal cellphone number as the store number. His rationale is this:
- As the store owner (and its sole instructor), he is the one best able to answer customer questions.
- As his cellphone is always with him, he doesn’t actually have to be at the store to answer calls.
- By using his cellphone, he has the option to answer calls after normal store hours.
‘Sounds reasonable…right? After all, by following this strategy, customers should always be able to reach him. Except that they can’t. Here’s why:
- In addition to running the dive store mostly single-handed, this fellow has a “real” job. This means he is frequently on the phone with his bosses and their customers.
- When he’s on the road, he is not always within range of a cell tower.
- If he is tied up with customers, there is no one to answer the phone.
The upshot of all this that, more often than not, people who try to call the dive store get a recording rather than a real person. Worse, the recording they get doesn’t even confirm that they dialed the right number. It just tells them that no one can answer the phone and to leave a message. Someone will call them back…eventually.
A great way to lose business
There are few better ways to lose business than to leave your phone unanswered. Okay, none of us can answer the phone 100 percent of the time. But you should be doing everything you can to keep the number of unanswered calls to a minimum.
Your customers may forgive a single unanswered call. Once they get two or more in a row, they’ll just call your competitors instead. (You can bet they answer the phone when called.)
To avoid this, you need two strategies in place. These are:
- Take steps to ensure as many calls as possible are answered by a live human being.
- If customers must listen to a recording, make sure it’s the right recording.
We’ll deal with this second point first.
Not just a message but the right message
Since it is humanly impossible to bat a thousand when it comes to answering the phone, you need to not only record a message for customers to hear but it needs to be the right message. That message should be brief but address the following points:
- Thank customers for making the effort to call you.
- Confirm that they, in fact, dialed the right number.
- Explain why you were not able to answer in person.
- Affirm your commitment to call them back ASAP.
Here is an example of what we mean:
“Thank you for calling Dive World. If you got this message during normal business hours, it means we are on the other line or assisting other customers. Please leave your name and number and a brief description of what you need. We will call you back just as quickly as possible.”
This message covers all the points just outlined. Note, however, that it avoids using that overused line about, Your call is very important to us… All this does is make people think that, if their call was really that important, you’d have enough people to answer the phone. That’s also the phrase people hear just before being put on hold for a half-hour or more by some tech company.
The better alternative
As important as it is to have the right ‘Sorry we missed your call… message, that’s a message you want people hearing as infrequently as possible. So how can you avoid it?
The answer to that question will depend on a number of factors, including the services provided by your local phone company and others. The good news is, you may not be a slave to your local phone provider.
Increasingly, small businesses are able to take advantage of services provided by independent companies offering Voice-Over-IP service, such as RingCentral. Here are some things to look for:
- Multiple incoming lines: At least two or more, depending on your call volume. You want to ensure that, if your main line is busy, calls roll over to the next line in sequence.
- No busy signals: These should be a thing of the past. If all lines are busy, customers should get a recorded message rather than a busy signal.
- Advanced call management: Your phone service should come with an online dashboard that lets you manage how incoming calls are handled. (This is an area where traditional phone companies often fall short.)
- Rollover to external numbers: This is a variation on call forwarding. If senior employees or managers are willing, arrange for calls to forward to their cellphones if all normal incoming lines are busy. Again, connecting with a real person is always preferable to getting a recording.
“But wait…there’s more!”
Increasingly, customers will reach out to you in nontraditional ways instead of just relying on the phone. These ways include email, SMS (text messages) and platforms such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
You might be thinking, “I don’t want to deal with all that. Just let them call or email me.” It’s understandable why you might feel that way but, guess what? You can bet your competitors are more than willing to embrace the technologies preferred by an increasingly younger customer base.
We will address this in a future article.