Phone System

Phone System Design is Critical for Customer Satisfaction
Have you ever called into an automated phone system and gotten locked into a battle with an impenetrable machine that seems to be deliberately designed to keep you from accomplishing your goals? While it's true that the phone system designer did not deliberately make things difficult, it can still cause you to never want to call the company again.

On the other hand, well-designed and intuitive Interactive Voice Response (IVR) phone systems not only reflect your company's understanding of your customers' wants and needs, but your desire to meet those wants and needs effectively.

Here are a few of the basic rules to follow when setting up your IVR:

Make a Flowchart
An outline or flowchart is vital to making certain that all potential calls have a proper place to go. Unlike a normal flowchart, however, you should start by brainstorming all of the reasons that a customer might call you, and work backwards step by step to the first greeting a caller will hear when they dial your company. If you start the IVR setup knowing how every potential call will get routed, you'll end up with business phone features and services that are much easier for your customer to use.

Call Your Own Office Phone
Pretend you're a customer with an uncommon complaint, and mentally "call" your own system. What do you like to hear when you connect to a company? How do you want your company's voice to sound? What options will your customers access the most often? For every message you build into your IVR, imagine hearing it from a customer's point of view.

KISS
Keep it simple. Less is more. The more options you give—the more possible confusion you present. Make sure that there is no overlap between options, so there will never be a question about which button to push. Always provide an option to talk to a representative before you have to leave the third layer. It might be wiser and easier to manage, for example, to add a second line and second IVR to deal with vendors than to have a single line that starts with a layer asking if a caller is a vendor or a customer.

Offer and Explain Universal Commands
Most IRV phones allow you to easily institute universal commands such as "press *9 to return to a previous menu" and "press *1 to leave a message at any time". These kinds of commands give callers a feeling of control and confidence that makes them actually more likely to pursue the call until they reach the appropriate destination.

If you can implement these ideas when you put together the IRV for your business phone system, you'll be offering your customers exactly what they want most from a phone call -- and that's worth the cost of time and effort to properly set it up. If you need help with this process, the friendly staff at TRI-STAR Telecommunications is standing by to help you create the ideal business telephone system solution for your business.

We will see to it that each component of your system-from voicemail to call routing-is as easy as possible for your customers to navigate. In addition to unmatched customer support, we also offer the lowest prices available on phone systems, as well as access to an international network of technicians to install, maintain and repair your product.

Call us today at (800) 211-6200 and we'll help design the large or small business phone system package that's right for you!