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Voice Mail Education |
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The following pages are designed to help individuals and organizations using or implementing voice mail systems. While TMIA is not in a position to recommend particular systems or vendors, we hope that you will contact any of the TMIA members for additional information. Please feel free to use and reproduce these pages to help make voice mail more effective within your organization.
IVR Cheat Sheet for Businesses With thanks to our messaging colleagues at www.angel.com following are 10 great tips they have prepared for designing an effective IVR system
An increasing number of companies are using voice mail, including over 90% of the nation's largest corporations as well as a great majority of small businesses. Results from a industry survey show that many callers prefer leaving a voice mail message to leaving a message with a receptionist or operator, and nearly 80% of all voice mail subscribers (or mailbox owners) feel that voice mail improves their productivity on the job. The survey also points out that the ways in which voice mail systems are implemented affects both subscriber and caller satisfaction. Although these pages arenot intended to address all aspects of system implementation, they are designed to help resolve some of the most common problems encountered when using voice mail. Whether you're a voice mail subscriber, a caller, or someone who manages a voice mail system, these guidelines and tips address some of the ways you can use voice mail to communicate more effectively. Voice mail is, after all, about sharing information...so why not use it to improve how you interact with others? Having a voice mailbox shouldn't change what your job entails, but it does mean looking at new ways of doing your job. The standard rules of business etiquette haven't changed; you simply need to apply them to how and when you use voice mail. If you're like most subscribers, you use voice mail to answer your telephone when you are not available. Your most important consideration is to help the people who call you feel comfortable leaving messages. That said, here are a number of suggestions: Update your personal greeting regularly. In a recent survey, callers said they feel most comfortable leaving a message when greetings convey the subscriber's status. It's best to record a new greeting on a daily basis, but if you can't do that, record a new greeting every Monday morning, letting callers know your schedule for the week. For example:
In your greeting, let callers know when you'll return their call - for example, "by 5 p.m. today" or "within 2 hours" - and stick to it! This will enhance your credibility with your callers. Include information in your greeting about how callers can reach a co-worker who can help them if you're not available. This is especially important if you're on vacation or away from the office for an extended period of time.
In this case, Mary should be able to answer your caller's questions as well as you can. Typically, she should be a colleague with whom you work closely. Tell your callers how they can easily reach someone "live" if their call is urgent, or if they prefer to leave a message with someone else.
Make sure an operator or receptionist answers the line during standard business hours. His or her responsibility is to make sure callers get the assistance they need. Callers transfer to your receptionist for a reason - they should not be shunted into a second voice mailbox! If you'll be away from the office on business, or on vacation and not checking messages, let callers know and tell them how to reach a colleague who is taking your calls.
While these things are important to include in your greeting, it is also important to keep your greeting as short and to the point as possible. The last thing most callers want to hear is a long-winded greeting that concludes with "have a nice day." The elements of an effective voice mail greeting are:
The following example combines all of these elements:
Other ways to make voice mail work for you: Check for voice messages regularly , especially if you're out of the office and don't have a flashing light or message waiting tone to remind you. This doesn't mean you need to check messages every half hour - every two or three hours is about right, especially if your greeting tells callers that you'll get back to them within a certain timeframe. Let callers know about the system and how they can use it to communicate effectively with you. This is a point many organizations that install voice mail don't think about - and yet they're surprised when callers gripe about the voice mail system the first time they reach it! Tell your regular callers that your company is installing voice mail so they're prepared to leave a message when they first reach your voice mailbox. Some companies even send out mailings to their customers prior to installing voice mail. Answer your telephone when you're at your desk! Routinely screening calls is never proper business etiquette, and having a voice mailbox doesn't make it acceptable. Use the voice mail system to send and respond to messages from others in your organization. Learn to think of voice mail as an abbreviated form of e-mail or memos - but quicker. If you need last quarter's sales figures for a presentation a week from now, leave a message for the sales administrator requesting the figures, instead of calling his or her telephone directly or going to her office (both of which interrupt work for a non-urgent matter). She can reply when she checks her messages, which she does regularly (see above). Learn how to transfer callers into someone else's mailbox, or at minimum, ring their extension. When you receive a call that's meant for someone else in your company, transfer the call and stay on the line until the phone is answered. If the extension is forwarded to voice mail, ask the caller if he wants to leave a message before you hang up.
Leaving Effective Messages We've covered what to do if you're on the receiving end, but what if you call someone and reach a voice mail system? You can get your message across better and faster using guidelines that apply to everyday telephone etiquette. If your call is urgent, or you need assistance immediately, try pressing 0. This will get you to an operator or receptionist in many cases, or will prompt you on what to do to reach someone. Someone should be available to help you during normal business hours. What if you're trapped in "voice mail jail" - a seemingly endless cycle of menus and mailboxes? Press 0 or the designated keys on your telephone to reach someone who can help. If that doesn't work, hang up, call back, and press the keys that should get you to an operator immediately. Or call the main switchboard, if there is a separate listing. Still no luck? Send a letter of complaint to the president of the company, along with a printout of this information or reference to TMIA's web site. . When you record a message, explain why you're calling, and when you need a response. Then the person you're calling can provide you with this information in their return call.
Now Brad can research Mr. Wombat's questions before calling him back, eliminating the possible need to make two return calls. Keep your message succinct. See Howard Wombat's message above. He asks his two questions without any attempt at small talk, and lets Brad know when he needs a response. Let the person you've called know when it's convenient to call you back. If you know you'll If you are requesting information, leave your name, full address, telephone number or fax number. You might want to spell out your name. Speak slowly - someone has to transcribe your message. If you'd rather leave a voice message instead of a message with a third party, but are not offered the option, ask. Most companies have voice mail, and the person who answers your call should be able to transfer you into the system to leave a message. Automated attendants and other conundrums...
Automated attendants are one of the most misunderstood aspects of voice messaging. Theoretically, they allow people to route their own calls, or get information simply by pressing a few keys on their telephone keypads. But in practice, automated attendants often confuse callers by offering them too many choices and complicated steps. Automated attendants are not appropriate for every business use. They should never be used for emergency services or hotlines, and are generally not appropriate in business areas that place a premium on personal interaction, such as customer service. On the other hand, automated attendants are helpful in letting callers route themselves to specific individuals or departments for routine information, such as hours of operation, or directions. You can also use an automated attendant for certain departments or for callers who prefer to route their own calls (in departments like engineering, or as a second line for callers who would rather route their own calls instead of going through a switchboard). In many businesses, however, automated attendants are effectively used for after-hours calls only. The following tips can help you make the most of an automated attendant: Limit the number of choices you offer callers in a single menu. More than four or five choices will confuse your callers. And don't force them to wade through six menus before they reach the information they need. Tell callers how they can easily reach someone "live" if they need assistance - and make sure that extension is staffed during normal business hours! After hours, change the greeting if no one is available. Give callers an option first, followed by instructions on what key to press to take action. "For information about special gadget promotions, dial 3." Automatically transfer callers who don't respond to prompts to the receptionist or operator. They may have rotary phones, or may not understand the instructions.
Protecting Your Voice Mail System Why would anyone want to listen to my boring messages anyway? Organizations go to great lengths to protect their computer systems, but don't always take the same precautions with their voice mail systems. Voice mail security is more than preventing "hackers" from eavesdropping on someone's messages. It means protecting your system against fraudulent long distance charges, corporate espionage, and malicious system intrusions. By recognizing the different types of hackers and the trails they leave, you can protect your system and possibly even catch the culprit. The best known hacker is a joy rider, who simply enjoys the challenge of breaking into a voice mail system. But other types of hackers have more nefarious motives. Some break into systems to steal confidential company information or sales leads; this type of hacker usually works for a business competitor, and breaks into specific mailboxes. Others, like former employees, may break into mailboxes to leave nasty messages, or try to wreak havoc on your system for revenge. Another type of hacker wants to use your system to set up an illegal business, like credit card fraud or selling drugs. These hackers try to access system administration controls in order to set up ranges of mailboxes outside of existing system parameters. They are often sophisticated, and can easily become entrenched before they're noticed. Finally, there's the toll fraud hacker, whose only interest is dial tone. He or she will use your voice mail system to access your outgoing lines. The long distance calls made by such a hacker could result in thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges before the hacker is caught. Prevention is your most effective weapon against voice mail hackers. In fact, almost all can be deterred with a combination of common-sense policies and procedures that involve better system design and administration, subscriber education, and effective company voice mail policies and guidelines. System level security Intelligent system design and maintenance can go a long way towards preventing most security breaches. Probably the most important way to prevent hackers is regular and diligent system checks. Establish procedures and make reviewing system and network reports to identify hackers a regular part of system management - and don't think it's okay to skip a week! Take advantage of your system. Voice mail manufacturers have many security features already built into their systems. Check to see which features your system has - and implement them today.
Set up your system properly
Limit access to your system
Use system reports and network information to deter and find hackers
Company security We recommend that every organization develop security guidelines that fit with its culture and management style. How guidelines are implemented is up to individual organizations, but TMIA strongly recommends these steps to deter or catch security breaches. Train your employees
Common-sense policies
Everyone contributes to system security The more educated and aware each subscriber is, the more secure your entire system will be. Here are some tips for subscribers:
If you suspect a hacker has gotten into your system... 1. Change all system access and passwords immediately. Ask subscribers to change their passwords, too. 2. Check system reports for unusual activity, especially after hours. Hackers tend to remain on the system longer than subscribers. 3. ANI is very useful for tracing hackers. Check reports for calls to the system from numbers not associated with your business or personnel. 4. If you think a hacker is using your outside lines, immediately restrict PBX access and check your long distance records.
Keeping Callers Happy with Your Voice Mail System Your voice system may create a caller's first - and lasting - impression of your company. Whether you're developing a voice application for outside callers such as an hours of operation or automated order line, or for employees, such as a 401K information line, customer satisfaction should always be your goal. Voice systems are a proven tool for achieving customer satisfaction. In a recent TMIA survey of organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada, respondents overwhelmingly said that voice mail not only improved productivity and internal communication, but also customer service. The survey also pointed out that improvements in customer service are directly tied to proper implementation and use of voice systems. No matter what the size of your organization - or whether you're implementing plain vanilla voice technology, or a more sophisticated application linked to a host computer - how your application is designed has a lot to do with how satisfied your callers are. This pages will show you how to:
Planning: The key to a successful implementation - Implementation is more than just rolling in equipment and plugging it in. It involves closely examining your organization and the way you do business, or more importantly, the way you want to do business. A successful implementation always begins with thoroughly defining applications. By "applications" we mean the specific ways in which your callers will use the voice system - for example, to hear product information, place service orders or transfer funds. Follow these dos and don'ts to identify areas in your organization where a voice application can be a problem solver - or even a revenue generator. Do
Don't
Designing your application Rule 1 - Make it familiar
What's on the menu?
Let callers feel in control
Help callers out
Keep your callers involved Notify customers of your new voice system before it's up and running to avoid confusion and frustration, especially if you're implementing an application with multiple menus, or one that requires callers to enter an account number or PIN. Send a postcard or other mailing with information about the system. And stagger your mailings for a smoother influx of first-time callers. Make sure your mailing is benefit-oriented, stressing that the voice system provides callers with another channel for communicating with your organization. Consider including the following in your mailing:
It's all in how you say it: finding the right voice Although often overlooked or underestimated, experts believe that good voice talent is critical to the success and acceptance of a voice system. The "wrong" voice can often sabotage an otherwise good system. Consider professional help The voice your callers hear may be their first impression of your organization. If possible, hire professional voice talent to record your prompts, and use a single voice for all applications. And always record in a studio-like environment, allowing for as many takes as you need. Match the voice to the audience
Will your voice be there for you?
Lend an ear
How to increase customer use of your voice system The tips in these pages should start you on the road to successful implementation. Remember, callers are more likely to use a voice system if:
TMIA's top ten tips for designing a caller-friendly system
Modern Communication - A Survival Guide Today, we're all blessed - or cursed- with any number of ways to share information: telephones, voice mail, e-mail, and faxes are everywhere. And chances are that the people you need to communicate with have access to all of these and more. The idea of media choice has become a reality, and more and more, it's not what you say but how and where you say it that gets your message across. By using the appropriate media correctly, you're most likely to get your message noticed and acted upon. This will help others distill the important information from your message, prioritize their own messages and act on them. But whatever messaging medium you choose, keep in mind: Fax Traditional fax messaging lets us convey detailed information (like maps or directions) quickly, doesn't require transcription, and can be reviewed quickly. But fax machines, which are often in communal spaces, are definitely not meant for private documents. Most organizations have a single fax machine for 20 or 30 people, so senders often have trouble transmitting a fax, and employees must check the communal system frequently, or rely on co-workers to receive faxes. And fax documents must be copied for distribution, often losing legibility in the process. One of fax messaging's greatest drawbacks is in reaching increasingly mobile workers: senders must know where the recipient is, which often requires a separate phone call to get the number of a fax machine. Ten years ago, every fax was important, but today, a fax can go unread for days. For this reason, many people will call or leave a voice message to alert the recipient of an incoming fax - making two calls when one should suffice. But the increasing implementation of voice/fax mailboxes is making the use of fax more efficient and effective. Voice/fax mail not only alerts the recipient to a waiting fax, but enables him or her to retrieve the fax from any location, and ensures privacy when required. Voice/fax also eliminates fax machine hardware problems and busy signals, and allows senders to mark their messages as urgent for more timely responses. E-mail E-mail is great for both detailed information or simple messages; it lets recipients automatically respond to the sender, regardless of location or system type, and messages can be easily printed or saved for future reference. With e-mail, documents don't need to be printed before they are sent, and you can easily send a single message to multiple recipients. Recipients can quickly review e-mail messages to identify pertinent information and write introductions or edit messages before forwarding them. But e-mail messages-- even simple text messages -take time to compose. And e-mail may not be readily accessible when recipients are out of the office. If an e-mail message is urgent, many senders end up alerting the recipient via voice mail or a phone call, rather than relying on e-mail alone. Voice Mail Suppliers are striving to make voice messaging easier and more seamless. But even voice mail has limitations. A voice message makes it harder to review and distill pertinent information, especially if the message is long and transcription of information is required. And voice mail cannot provide the subscriber with a hard copy of a message. Unified Messaging Eventually, senders will be able to transmit all types of messages from any number of devices. Similarly, recipients will have a single repository for all messages -whether voice or data - and be able to access messages from their device of choice, which could be anything from a standard touchtone phone to wireless personal communications device. But none of these advances will eliminate the importance of media choice - in fact, they make it all the more critical. So next time you need to communicate information (short of making a phone call) think about the best and most effective way to get your message across. Choosing The Right Medium For Your Message
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