I'd like to make one thing very clear from the get go. I am a big fan of thinking. I think about all sorts of things...from what color lipstick I'd like to wear today to the odd habits of those crazy little quarks. Clearly, some of these thoughts are deeper than others, I do own a lot of lipstick after all.
Thinking can be great fun to be sure, and I understand can even help to stave off Alzheimer's disease. Amazing! However, thinking at inappropriate times is no fun for anyone at all.* Like, when the waitress has come by you table for the 5th time and your date STILL doesn't know what to order. Or, like when you're standing in line at the grocery store waiting for a price check for the cranky lady in front of you that got the only bunch of banana's without a sticker on it, and the checkout girl is brand new! That's a serious amount of no fun whatsoever. Another time it's no fun to be thinking is when you've called a company. Reason being, other people call too! Most of them even know who they're calling because they checked their messages and wrote down the person's name and maybe even their extension(!). But while you're thinking about who you're calling, or why you'd be doing that in the first place,** all those other prepared people have to wait. That's no fun for those people at all. I believe in fairness. You believe in fairness too I'm sure. It is very unfair to make other people wait. And unfair is no fun. Do you really want to ruin someone else's day like that? I thought not.
*It can even go so far as to make someone stress out, which in turn creates a cascade of chemical reactions and induces inflammation in the body, which has been proven to be a contributing factor in developing Alzheimer's disease...Scary!
**If you're not sure why you're calling, other than there's a number on your phone, please see some of my previous posts.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Listening skills-why you should pay attention
Today I'm going to step away from my running thread of knowing who you're calling. I want to talk about what to do when you have made a phone call to a company.
Now, when you've called a number you are unfamiliar with, it would be best to listen to how the phone is answered. That is a big clue as to who you've reached. If you are talking to other people or listening to your radio really loudly or eating or your kids are screaming or any other distracting thing when you call a number you don't know, you may not hear how the phone is answered. This is unfortunate for both you and the person answering the phone. For you because you have wasted your own time. But it's far worse for us. This is due to the fact that The Receptionist species really likes efficiency. Repeating one's self is not the least bit efficient. It is a waste of precious seconds that could be used for breathing or answering another phone call or saying hi to a person walking by the desk. Add up all the times we have to repeat ourselves all day, and the seconds turn in to minutes, and the minutes turn in to an entire hour or two. I'm being quite serious, it happens that much. All day! Therefore, we really do not like to repeat ourselves. We especially don't like having to repeat ourselves multiple times to the same person. That's really annoying.
It's not just important to be listening when a person answers the phone. It's important to listen when they are giving you information. "Why?" Well thank you for asking! The best reason to listen while people are giving you information is because they're not doing it to hear themselves speak. (Remember, we are fond of efficiency.) It's because they're telling you something you may actually need to know. Things such as the name of the company. Or, maybe that they don't know who called you because they're the receptionist, not the phone dialer for the company. Or maybe they're answering the question you've just asked them. That's a really good thing to pay attention to in all of life really. It's silly to ask a question and then not listen to the answer (or worse, continue to talk over the person while they answer the question you've asked!).
Let's give an example of that last point shall we? Let's say you're trying to reach the toll free number for your giant insurance company. Somehow, you have misdialed (see misdial post for more information on that subject and how to handle such situations) and you have reached my company. My company is not your insurance company. The first clue to this fact is that I answered the phone with my company name. However, you were practicing poor listening skills at the time and did not hear what I said. You begin to tell me about how you need to change your insurance policy because you've just installed a home security system. While I am happy for you that you've taken such a step to ensure the safety of your family and home, I am not able to direct you to someone that can make such changes to your policy. Because you have not reached your insurance company. You'd know this if you had been practicing good listening skills when you called because you would have noticed right away that I answered the phone with a completely different company name. But you didn't. At this point, you have finally finished talking and allow me the chance to tell you that you've got the wrong number. You are still practicing bad listening skills, so what I have just said doesn't quite compute. This is where you try to verify the number you have dialed. Many, many, many companies have several phone numbers and, while The Receptionist has quite a good head for phone extensions, we do not have room amongst all the extensions for every phone number that comes to our switchboard. So we do not know if you have dialed correctly. But you see, that point is moot anyway. We are still not, have never been, and will never be, your insurance company. Perhaps you have an old business card with a phone number that your insurance company stopped using years ago that now comes to us. Perhaps you wrote the number down wrong. It really doesn't matter how it's happened. The point of the matter is that we are not your insurance company. This point is irrefutable. Unchangeable. Like your mother-in-law, it just is what it is. You must learn to accept it. Continuing to question this fact, or even argue against it, is inefficient. And annoying. Stop it.
Now, when you've called a number you are unfamiliar with, it would be best to listen to how the phone is answered. That is a big clue as to who you've reached. If you are talking to other people or listening to your radio really loudly or eating or your kids are screaming or any other distracting thing when you call a number you don't know, you may not hear how the phone is answered. This is unfortunate for both you and the person answering the phone. For you because you have wasted your own time. But it's far worse for us. This is due to the fact that The Receptionist species really likes efficiency. Repeating one's self is not the least bit efficient. It is a waste of precious seconds that could be used for breathing or answering another phone call or saying hi to a person walking by the desk. Add up all the times we have to repeat ourselves all day, and the seconds turn in to minutes, and the minutes turn in to an entire hour or two. I'm being quite serious, it happens that much. All day! Therefore, we really do not like to repeat ourselves. We especially don't like having to repeat ourselves multiple times to the same person. That's really annoying.
It's not just important to be listening when a person answers the phone. It's important to listen when they are giving you information. "Why?" Well thank you for asking! The best reason to listen while people are giving you information is because they're not doing it to hear themselves speak. (Remember, we are fond of efficiency.) It's because they're telling you something you may actually need to know. Things such as the name of the company. Or, maybe that they don't know who called you because they're the receptionist, not the phone dialer for the company. Or maybe they're answering the question you've just asked them. That's a really good thing to pay attention to in all of life really. It's silly to ask a question and then not listen to the answer (or worse, continue to talk over the person while they answer the question you've asked!).
Let's give an example of that last point shall we? Let's say you're trying to reach the toll free number for your giant insurance company. Somehow, you have misdialed (see misdial post for more information on that subject and how to handle such situations) and you have reached my company. My company is not your insurance company. The first clue to this fact is that I answered the phone with my company name. However, you were practicing poor listening skills at the time and did not hear what I said. You begin to tell me about how you need to change your insurance policy because you've just installed a home security system. While I am happy for you that you've taken such a step to ensure the safety of your family and home, I am not able to direct you to someone that can make such changes to your policy. Because you have not reached your insurance company. You'd know this if you had been practicing good listening skills when you called because you would have noticed right away that I answered the phone with a completely different company name. But you didn't. At this point, you have finally finished talking and allow me the chance to tell you that you've got the wrong number. You are still practicing bad listening skills, so what I have just said doesn't quite compute. This is where you try to verify the number you have dialed. Many, many, many companies have several phone numbers and, while The Receptionist has quite a good head for phone extensions, we do not have room amongst all the extensions for every phone number that comes to our switchboard. So we do not know if you have dialed correctly. But you see, that point is moot anyway. We are still not, have never been, and will never be, your insurance company. Perhaps you have an old business card with a phone number that your insurance company stopped using years ago that now comes to us. Perhaps you wrote the number down wrong. It really doesn't matter how it's happened. The point of the matter is that we are not your insurance company. This point is irrefutable. Unchangeable. Like your mother-in-law, it just is what it is. You must learn to accept it. Continuing to question this fact, or even argue against it, is inefficient. And annoying. Stop it.
Monday, March 2, 2009
The disconnect and not knowing who called
We're going to talk about a couple things today. They're pretty simple concepts to grasp, and I have faith in you. I know you'll understand!
Let's start with the dreaded disconnect. Why do I dread it so? Let's start this from the beginning of the call so you'll understand. We'll use John as an example again. John calls Nancy and dials the correct number this time. Nancy answers the phone, so she and John begin their conversation. It appears that John has reached Nancy on her cell phone while she's driving. Because she's driving, she made the wise decision of not turning her eyes away from the road to search in her purse for a pen and paper to write John's name down. She tells herself she'll remember his name and will write it down later when it's safe to do so. That's quite understandable. Unfortunately for us all, Nancy suddenly hits a cell dead zone, and her call is disconnected. And wouldn't you know it, she forgot John's name already! She is faced with two options: She can wait for John to her back. Or she can dial the number her cell phone stored for him and hope that it's his direct line. She decides on option number 2. This is officially a problem. Why? Well you see, that number was not John's direct line. It was the main number for John's company, the company I answer the phone for. Nancy has reached me-the receptionist.
This leads us to the second part of our discussion today. Knowing who called. Nancy does not know who called because she did not write John's name down because she was driving. I do not know who called because I do not make phone calls FOR people. I just answer the phone calls MADE to people. It is a simple but ever so important distinction. Since I do not make calls for people, I do not know who Nancy was speaking with. Which means Nancy has wasted precious cell phone minutes explaining the situation to me in the vain hope that knowing what happened will change the simple fact that I can't put her call through to John because neither of us knows she was talking to John.
This scenario is a wonderful example of why it is important to know who called you. Because if you don't know who called, I can't help. I want to help. Help me help you.
Let's start with the dreaded disconnect. Why do I dread it so? Let's start this from the beginning of the call so you'll understand. We'll use John as an example again. John calls Nancy and dials the correct number this time. Nancy answers the phone, so she and John begin their conversation. It appears that John has reached Nancy on her cell phone while she's driving. Because she's driving, she made the wise decision of not turning her eyes away from the road to search in her purse for a pen and paper to write John's name down. She tells herself she'll remember his name and will write it down later when it's safe to do so. That's quite understandable. Unfortunately for us all, Nancy suddenly hits a cell dead zone, and her call is disconnected. And wouldn't you know it, she forgot John's name already! She is faced with two options: She can wait for John to her back. Or she can dial the number her cell phone stored for him and hope that it's his direct line. She decides on option number 2. This is officially a problem. Why? Well you see, that number was not John's direct line. It was the main number for John's company, the company I answer the phone for. Nancy has reached me-the receptionist.
This leads us to the second part of our discussion today. Knowing who called. Nancy does not know who called because she did not write John's name down because she was driving. I do not know who called because I do not make phone calls FOR people. I just answer the phone calls MADE to people. It is a simple but ever so important distinction. Since I do not make calls for people, I do not know who Nancy was speaking with. Which means Nancy has wasted precious cell phone minutes explaining the situation to me in the vain hope that knowing what happened will change the simple fact that I can't put her call through to John because neither of us knows she was talking to John.
This scenario is a wonderful example of why it is important to know who called you. Because if you don't know who called, I can't help. I want to help. Help me help you.
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