Inbound Customer Service and Call Path Training
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CALL PATHS are a structured way to handle inbound calls. They have many benefits to the phone rep and to the organization. This presentation gives the framework for why call paths are important from a customer service prospective, then describes Gary S. Goodman's "Universal Call Path." This training was originally developed for MidMichigan Health's inbound physician referral and customer service call center.
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Inbound Customer Service and Call Path Training
- 1. Call Paths 1 A secret tool for excellent customer service Warren A. Johnson Corporate Marketing Director July 2018
- 2. 10 Elements of Great Service Have you been treated like this? 2
- 3. Elements of Great Service Eager 3 to solve our problems
- 4. 4
- 5. Elements of Great Service Calm 5 with long-term view
- 6. 6
- 7. Elements of Great Service Don’t Blame 7 the customer
- 8. 8
- 9. Elements of Great Service One Extra Thing 9 you didn’t expect
- 10. 10
- 11. Elements of Great Service Value our Time 11 we could be doing something else
- 12. 12
- 13. Elements of Great Service Honor 13 our expectations
- 14. 14
- 15. Elements of Great Service Respect 15 gives human courtesies
- 16. 16
- 17. Elements of Great Service Guarantees 17 implicit or explicit
- 18. 18
- 19. Elements of Great Service Consistent 19 same great service every time
- 20. 20
- 21. 21
- 22. Elements of Great Service ‘I’ve been well treated’ 22 evokes my loyalty
- 23. The Universal Call Path Four mile markers for excellent customer service 23
- 24. The Universal Call Path 24 • The Greeting • Promise of Help • Offer of Additional Help • Recommitment Line
- 25. The Greeting 25
- 26. ‘MidMichigan Health Line, this is Shirley. How may I help you?’ 26
- 27. Pitch 27
- 29. ‘Sure, I’ll be happy to help you with that.’ 29
- 30. Pitch 30
- 31. The Great Middle 31 Large, unscripted section where you deliver content of your help to the caller.
- 33. ‘And is there anything else I can help you with?’ 33
- 34. Pitch 34
- 36. ‘Well, thank you for calling the MidMichigan Health Line.’ ‘Well, thank you for choosing MidMichigan for your health care needs.’ ‘Well, thank you for choosing MidMichigan Health for your medical needs.’ ‘Well, thank you for choosing MidMichigan Health and the University of Michigan Health System.’ ‘Well, thank you for considering a MidMichigan Health physician.’ ‘Well, thank you for trusting MidMichigan Health for your medical needs’ 36
- 37. Pitch 37
- 38. The Universal Call Path 38 • The Greeting • Promise of Help • Offer of Additional Help • Recommitment Line
- 39. More Reasons Why It Works • Matches the 10 Elements of Customer Service • Surprises and delights customers • Reinforces perception of ‘helpfulness’ How may I help you? Sure, Ill be happy to help you with that And is there anything else I can help you with? 39
- 40. Use the Call Path All the Time? • Maybe not, but exceptions are likely fewer than you might think • Even quick transfer calls can use: ‘Sure, I’ll be happy to transfer you to Dr. Welby’ 40
- 41. Credits 10 Elements of Great Service and The Universal Call Path are concepts from “Monitoring, Measuring, & Managing Customer Service” by Gary S. Goodman, Ph.D. 41
- 42. Warren A. Johnson Marketing Director MidMichigan Health 4000 Wellness Drive Midland, Michigan 48670 Phone (989) 839-3389 Fax (989) 839-3375 warren.johnson@midmichigan.org www.midmichigan.org www.linkedin.com/in/johnsonwarren 43
Editor's Notes
- CALL PATHS = structured way to handle inbound calls. Several benefits to you as rep & to the organization: Help calm & focus caller Let caller know you competent & taking lead in conversation Help build positive perception of organization & loyalty B4 talk @ specifics, want to understand WHY call path works, so look at ELEMENTS of Great Customer Service. As we review, THINK of self going to a store & how you are treated. Presenter: Warren A. Johnson Marketing Director MidMichigan Health 4000 Wellness Drive Midland, Michigan 48670 Phone (989) 839-3389 Fax (989) 839-3375 warren.johnson@midmichigan.org www.midmichigan.org www.linkedin.com/in/johnsonwarren
- CALL PATHS = structured way to handle inbound calls. Several benefits to you as rep & to the organization: Help calm & focus caller Let caller know you competent & taking lead in conversation Help build positive perception of organization & loyalty B4 talk @ specifics, want to understand WHY call path works, so look at ELEMENTS of Great Customer Service. As we review, THINK of self going to a store & how you are treated.
- Eager When I go to hardware store, I like when someone is at door, or back in the department to help me. Compare/Contrast Home Depot & Ace – home of the helpful hardware man
- Compare and contrast Home Depot and ACE Hardware – home of the helpful hardware man. I swear the workers in Home Depot are running away from me.
- Calm I can get feisty when I go to return something. Best reps calm me down like babbling brook. Donna: Feel conversation going up elevator; get on the down elevator Other way= Long term view of relationship. Don’t want a divorce want to try to work it out. Customer angry now, but want/need as customer tomorrow.
- Obviously, we don’t want to react in kind. We want to be a calm, babbling brook. Donna always says when you see a conversation going up the escalator, you should jump on the escalator going down, lowering your voice, maybe your speed and so forth. One of the reasons Dr. Goodman says you can be calm is because we can take a long-term view of our relationship with the customer. They’re upset now, but if we can get through this together, we have years of doing business together. We don’t want a divorce; we want to work it out. Companies that provide good customer service recognize that there is a tomorrow.
- Blame When I return something, good chance I contributed: Pants/weight gain; Wrong widget; Typo on ordering Company could weasel, but best don’t. They move forward
- If I’m a customer, there’s a good possibility that I contributed to the problem that I contacted the store about. Maybe I bought something, then I put on some weight and it didn’t fit anymore. Or I wasn’t careful when ordering a part and I got the wrong widget. Or I got a message or a letter and I didn’t do anything about it and now the deadline is past. So it can be easy for a company to weasel out of helping me, because I caused the problem. But really great customer service companies like Norstom’s don’t use any of these chances to shift responsibility, they just move forward
- Extra Thing Fun point: Remember as kid when got prize inside cereal box? Cereal box said prize inside…my surprise was that it was still there b/c older brother & sister. Today, Kohl’s cash is example. Extra prize you get for shopping there One my favorite authors, Seth Godin, wrote whole book @ phenomenon : Free Prize inside. Gist = “Adding value can make your company remarkable.” Not just what expected or paid for, but something extra.
- Customers love getting pleasant surprises like Kohl’s cash. Money off your next purchase. Or when you were a kid and you got a free toy inside the cereal box. … In fact, Seth Godin wrote a whole book called Free Prize Inside, largely about this idea. The gist is that “Adding value can make your company remarkable” That’s what Kohl’s is doing, they’re giving out “free” prizes that make you remember them and keep coming back.
- Value my Time We all know what like to wait & wait Dr.’s may get pass – professional & urgent cases ahead of me But store w/ long check out line/isn’t valuing my time Other hand: certain stores – free clerk walks to front of check out and waves you in.
- Great customer service doesn’t make us wait. We know what it’s like to wait and wait and wait. And maybe we give doctors some grace because they’re professionals and there are people sicker than I am that have to go first. But stores are another issue. When there’s not enough checkout open and the line starts to stretch out, that’s not great customer service. That store isn’t valuing my time. Conversely, maybe you’ve been to stores where when the check out clerk isn’t busy they walk to the front of their line and wave you in as you’re coming down the front of the store. That makes me feel good when it happens.
- Honor Expectations When I get special invite/coupon in mail, I expect to go to store/restaurant and they’ll honor it – with pleasure. Often clerk squints. Doesn’t know @ (worse: tells me); asks manager; who squints -- may will do something, maybe will find excuse. What I like is when I have a loyalty card or if I had “Gold VISA” and treated like royalty. “Oh yes, Mr. Johnson. “
- When I get a special invitation in the mail, I’m expecting that I’ll be able to go to the store or restaurant and they’ll honor that discount or giveaway with pleasure. Unfortunately, what sometimes happens is the clerk squints at it, tells me they don’t know anything about it, has to call a manager, who squints at it and maybe they’ll do something or maybe they’ll find an excuse not to do something for me. Not great. The same thing if I had a gold Visa Card that’s supposed to give me special perks. Great customer service is when they honor my status (as insignificant as it might be) and treat me like royalty.
- Respect We show respect w/ common courtesies. Here are 4: Using someone’s name Using courtesy words: please, thank you, no thank you, I’m sorry & so forth [BUT not “no problem”] Smiling Opening doors/moving out of way/giving up seat. And last one can even be done on the phone – metaphorically. When someone opens doors for me by making a referral, or by looking ahead and knowing that I might trip on an obstacle and telling me in advance how to avoid it – same thing.
- We show respect to others with common courtesies. I can think of severak categories: 1. Using someone’s name, 2. Using courtsey words: Please, Thank, No,Thank You, Sorry and so forth 3. Smiling 4. Opening doors or moving out of the way, giving up our seat … things like that. We can do all of those on the phone, except perhaps the last one. But if you think about it, we can even do things like open doors for people metphorically. In other words we can open doors for them by making referrals or offering them extra information that they might need in the future and so forth.
- Guarantees What I like @ Discount Tire or Midas is offer guarantee/warranty [Like anything that’s a Warren-T] If something goes wrong, I can bring it back. They want me to come back if something is wrong.
- One of the things I like about Discount Tire or Midas Muffler is that they offer a guarantee. If something goes wrong, I can bring it back. We might not give out certificates, but we can imply a guarantee if we say something like “if you have any problems, please call us back because we’re here to help you find a doctor.”
- Consistent Some stores I go to because they offer consistent good service or quality of product. Might be a bit more $ or out of the way, but they’re consistently good, so I go there instead of somewhere else Example Roth Cleaners for dry cleaning: Come when run over bell (not on smoke break); remember my name after 2nd visit; offer my dog a bone, my kid a sucker, me a cookie – crazy customer service. On top of same day turn around. So I keep going back and yes, it’s more expensive.
- There are certain stores I like to go to because they have consistent good service. The price might be a bit more, or it’s a little out of the way, but they’re consistently good … Roth Cleaners here in town. They’re more expensive, but they’re so friendly. I can get express service for pick up the same day, I go there just a couple times and the clerk remembers my name. They actually come when you run over the bell or walk in the door – the last place I went they’d be smoking out back and they’d finish their smoke break before they ambled up to the desk. I mean at Roth, you drive up with a dog in your car, they’ll offer you a dog bone. And they have fresh baked cookies…at a dry cleaner. So, when I have dry cleaning, I go back. ------------------ There’s really at least three things a company has to do to have consistent excellent service They have to hire right They have to train well And they need to monitor and give positive… and corrective feedback.
- And here’s a good quote, especially when you remember our slogan is “a lifetime of trusted care.”
- Well Treated Bottom Line of great customer service = feel well treated & want to go back there next time. This is the bottom line of how you feel when you’ve receive excellent customer service. You want to go back.
- The Universal Call Path Structured way to handle call Not a script, but there are 4 points that are tightly phrased Like mile markers or signposts along a conversation: 2 @ beginning and 2 @ end
- These are the four components to the Universal Call Path (as described by Gary S. Goodman, Ph.D.).
- The Greeting This is how it sounds: Straight forward. Similar to what say now? One key element to greeting is how it sounds: raising PITCH (applies to all signposts)
- Promise of Help This is very 1st thing said after caller speaks. This is how sounds: BENEFITS: Assures caller they will get what they called for (Calms) Rep is going to take pleasure in helping (Eager) Pitch again
- BENEFITS: Assures caller (me) going to get what called for. Rep is going to take pleasure in helping the caller (me)
- MIDDLE Large unscripted section where deliver content of help You may have patterns or ask small scripted sections. Mostly freestyle.
- Offer of Additional Help Now, call is wrapping up This is what it sounds like: Why end this way (BENEFITS): Signal call is done – avoids rambling Vounteering add’l help = positive impression / Reinforces we’re going out of way. / Adds sincerity Sets customer up for “singing” in the next section. PITCH (again) very important NOTE! Use “AND…” & connect DIRECTLY to final statement. NOT disconnected.
- BENEFITS: Signals that the call has been completed to the caller – avoids caller rambling (usually into negatives) By volunteering additional help, it makes a positive impression on the caller. Reinforces that we’re willing to go out of our way for the caller. Volunteering makes us sound sincere. Sets up customer “singing” in next step (right pitch again important) CAUTIONS -Phrase must be tied to your final statement/answer to be effective. Can’t be disconnected. [Examples]
- Recommitment Line Goal is to greate loyalty to organization; not just thanks for calling Natural? (TRY) BENEFITS: We appreciate caller, now we want to give them an opportunity to appreciate us Good for us to hear as reps; also good for the customer to verbalize Contributes to customer loyalty: We need repeat customers to survive We need good HCAHPS scores It’s the right thing to do because we’re in service industry. Here to serve.
- DISCUSS reason for switching wording to emphasize larger organization. Gain consensus on wording. BENEFITS 1) We’ve appreciated the caller, this line lets them tell us how much they appreciate us. That’s good for us to hear, but it’s also good for the caller to verbalize that commitment. 2) So, it helps us contribute to customer loyalty . We need returning patients to survive. And we need happy customers to rate us well on HCAPs surveys. PLUS, it’s just the right thing to do since we are a service organization; we’re here to serve. This is what we call the “Sing” section, where callers “sing” our praises. Now it might not happen on every call, but it will happen much more frequenty as you use this call path. And it shows that you’re being effective as a rep, so give yourself a pat on the back ever time it happens and count it as one of your three good things for the day.
- Review four elements of universal call path
- 1) Customers are so used to poor customer service, that excellent service will surprise and delight them. Example: Chick-Fil-A and the phrase “my pleasure” vs more common “no problem” or even “you’re welcome” 2) Reinforces our helpfulness through repetition
- Credits 10 Elements of Great Service and The Universal Call Path are concepts from “Monitoring, Measuring, & Managing Customer Service” by Gary S. Goodman, Ph.D.