18 Call Center Greeting Tips to Live By

When your customers contact your call center, you have a chance to make a great

impression. Unfortunately, you only have a small window of time before frustration can

set in, so make sure that your call center greeting is the best it can be, in order that your

agents won't have to “talk customers down” when they call. Here are 18 foolproof tips for

creating the perfect call center greetings:

1. State the Company Name

Make sure that your message thanks customers for calling and clearly states your

company's name in your call recording. This will help your customers know they have

reached the right business before they begin to wait for a representative.

2. Avoid Long-Winded Messages

As much as you might want to tell your customers about your latest promotions while

they wait for a call center agent, your callers will become bored and frustrated very

quickly. Keep your message short and sweet, and avoid long promotional messages.

3. Use Different Voices

If your customers call often, chances are they have heard your greeting several times, by

now. Make sure your call recording greeting uses several different voices, and alternate

them to make sure that your greeting is fresh.

4. Tell Your Customers How to Reach an Operator

One of the biggest complaints callers have is that they can't reach a live person. Make

sure that your greeting clearly indicates which number to dial to speak directly to an

agent.

5. Give a Self-Service Option

Many people call companies to get very basic business information, like office hours, that

don't require the help of a call center agent. Offering an option for self-service to answer

these questions can help your customers more quickly.

7. Offer Meaningful Hold Messages

A customer on hold is a captive audience, and one that you want to make happy. While

you shouldn't add promotional information in your initial greeting, you can include it

while your customers are on hold. This gives them something to keep them interested

while they wait.

8. Ditch the Canned Messages

Callers have heard the "your call is important to us" line too many times. Don't use it.

You can come up with a similar message, but simply thanking your customers for calling

is usually enough.

9. Make Sure Your Call Center Staff is Friendly

Once your client's call has been answered by an operator, there is another greeting that

you need to think about. Make sure your call center staff greets every caller with a warm,

friendly welcome.

10. Extend Professional Courtesy

Your call center agents should use "please" and "thank you" when appropriate. There is,

however, such a thing as overdoing this. Make sure that your agents aren't using these

phrases repeatedly in every sentence, or else they will not sound sincere.

11. Offer Greetings in Other Languages

Giving a prompt for Spanish is a great way to make all of your customers feel welcome.

Make sure that you have the bi-lingual call center reps to handle these calls after the

prompt.

12. Make Sure Your Greetings are Easy to Understand

The voices you use for your greetings should be clear and concise, using non-regional

accents. They should speak slowly enough for your callers to hear every word being said.

13. Have a Separate Greeting for After Hours

If your call center closes, make sure that you have an alternate greeting letting your

callers know when they can reach a live agent. This will save them from being frustrated

with your call center.

14. Use Entertaining Hold Music

Find a song that fits your business, if possible. If you can, find music that will put your

callers at ease, without putting them to sleep.

15. Allow Callers to Repeat the Greeting

Your customers may not hear everything that is mentioned in your initial greeting, the

first time around. Giving them the option to hear the greeting again gives them the chance

to choose the correct prompt.

16. Create an Option to Bypass the Greeting Completely

You may have customers who call your center often, and, for them, hearing the same

greeting repeatedly can get annoying. Allowing them to bypass the greeting will help

them get service faster, without getting irritated.

17. Train Your Staff to Handle Misdirected Calls

Sometimes customers enter the wrong option on a menu. Teach your call center staff how

to handle and redirect these calls to the appropriate department, so customers don't get

shifted around from one department to another.

18. Thank Customers for Calling You

You should thank your customers in the call recording greeting, when their calls are

answered by a live agent, and at the end of every call. Your customers are your lifeblood.

Let them know how much you appreciate them.

Using effective call recording and call accounting solutions from Trisys, Inc. can ensure

that you are always providing the highest quality call center solutions to your customers.

Bio: Trisys, Inc. offers a variety of call recording and call accounting solutions for your

business. If you are not getting the most out of your call center employees, it may be

time to invest in software that can help assign metrics to your employees and customers.

This software can allow you to reward those that are going above and beyond, and

reprimand those that, unfortunately, are not. Visit our website today at www.trisys.com

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Description: Choosing your call center greeting may not seem like a big deal to you, but,

in reality, it can mean the difference between happy and unhappy customers. You should

think long and hard when preparing a call greeting, to ensure that your customers will not

become easily bored or frustrated with your chosen message. Set up a beta group of

customers and ask for their input to ensure that your call recording greeting is sufficient.