Challenge
A busy small business took most of its orders by phone. A handful of staff were interrupted all day by the same questions: when are you open, where are you, how do I send you my files.
Callers who needed a person waited behind callers who needed an answer the staff had given fifty times that week.
Approach
We wrote and built a short phone menu that answers the common questions and gets everyone else to a person quickly.
- List the questions the staff answered most often.
- Write a main menu with three choices and no more.
- Record clear messages for hours, directions and how to send work in.
- Send every other caller straight to the team.
- Let callers repeat the menu or reach a person from any point.
Result
Routine questions are answered without interrupting anyone, and callers who need help reach a person sooner.
- A menu short enough to remember.
- Fewer interruptions for the team.
- The same answer every time.
Our advice
Keep a phone menu to three or four choices, and make one of them a person. Long menus are where callers hang up.
Related service: Digital phone systems.