Automated attendant greetings are like a ‘welcoming committee.’ It will be the first thing that will entertain your callers when they call you. To create a good first impression for your business, you should hire a professional to record custom auto-attendant greetings using a pleasant, friendly voice that doesn’t stammer and can enunciate and pronounce words clearly. This will pull your customer towards your company, rather than push them away. Remember, you never get a second chance at impressions, so you need to do right the first time.
For frequent callers, you need to make sure that your auto-attendant greeting can efficiently help customers and will make their lives easier. As a general rule, never waste a customers’ time because time wasted might be a sale lost forever.
The first thing you need to work on is to write a script for your auto-attendant greeting. It will be easier and faster for you to map everything out and see which particular information you’re missing.
Don’t forget to begin with a short greeting of appreciation – thanking your customers because they called your company. This may seem like an overrated step, but it is needed to make your caller feel that they’re important to you and that their attention matters.
If you’ve already marked these first three rules check, then here are the top 5 Do’s and Don’ts that you need to remember before recording your automated attendant greeting:
1) Use your company’s tag line, slogan and/or website name if you have them. Don’t make up something just to fill in the missing gap in your automated greeting.
2) Use options that are commonly accepted. For example, "Press zero for the Receptionist", "Press the pound key to return to the previous menu."
3) Do tell your callers as soon as possible when they can dial their party's extension if they already know it.
4) Don't say "Please" before you present each and every option.
5) Don't present more than six options at a time.
There are basically two types of callers: the one who’s unfamiliar of your business and needs assistance and the other who knows exactly who and what they need and know their extension. Keep these two in mind and you’ll never go wrong with your auto-attendant greeting.
Never neglect the power of simple marketing tools such as automated greetings. We at The Original On Hold, Inc believe that even the smallest things can provide great impacts to business. And, with auto-attendant greetings popularly used today, creating good impressions will not be that difficult!
Customers happy = Good sales = Successful business.