Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Let's talk about automated phone systems.
A lot of companies in general, and a lot of libraries, loooove automated phone systems (which I will also refer to as phone trees). I hear a lot about how much time they are saving! And how efficient they are! But my question is: whose time are they saving? Because they're sure as heck not saving MY time, when I'm the person calling in, just trying to get a simple answer to my question. Historically, phone trees have not generated a lot of goodwill among the people who are subjected to them.
Have you heard of the Get Human database (http://www.gethuman.com)? It includes information on the quickest way to actually get to a human being at hundreds of companies. (Before you reach the point where your head explodes from rage and frustration, preferably.)
If you must use phone trees at your library, then for God's sake at least put some time and effort into planning them out. Here are a couple of tips for setting up a decent phone tree. (Please note, this is not a comprehensive list, and I'll probably add more to it as I think of things.)
* Take some time to plan your phone tree out before you implement it. Use flow charts! Write out the potential scripts. Think about the questions people are likely to want to ask, and the ways in which they might get lost in the system. Get feedback from your library's front-line staff. Get feedback from a few trusted library users. Do this work BEFORE you implement your phone tree. It is very frustrating for people when you take up even more of their valuable time by droning "Please listen closely to our menu, as our options have recently changed..." If you set things up right the first time, you'll never have to torture people with this message.
* What are the questions people are most likely to ask when they call? I've called libraries where the phone system starts off with a long prologue such as: "If you want to send a fax to our library, please send it to 555-555-5555. Our mailing address is 222 Cherry Lane, Nova Scotia. You can email us at nobody@nowhere.org. If you would like to speak to the Interlibrary Loan department, please hang up and dial 555-444-4444. If you would like to speak to the Reference Department.... " I have to listen to a whole bunch of this before I even have an option to talk to a human being! By the time I get the option to talk to someone, I've fallen asleep in boredom.
* Have someone record your telephone tree scripts who actually has inflection in their voice, so that a bit of personality and liveliness shines through. Sure, you probably aren't feeling too enthusiastic about sitting there reading all this stuff, but look at it this way -- at least you aren't the one who's on the other end, being forced to listen to it. The least you can do is try to make it sound like you care and are happy to serve.
* Keep it short and sweet. "Welcome to Your Library. For library hours, press 1. To renew a book, press 2. For reference, press 3. To sign up for storytimes, press 4. For all other questions, please press 0."
* Use language your users will understand -- "Inter-library Loan" instead of "ILL," for example. Or "to renew a book" instead of "for circulation."
Considering how bad so many phone trees are, it may not be surprising that I was unable to find much information on how to set up a decent automated phone system. But I only did a cursory search. If anyone knows of good planning tools for automated phone systems (for libraries or for businesses in general), please share them with the rest of us. Down with telephone trees from hell! We don't have to take it any more! ¶ posted by Mary Martin @ 5:02 PM
Have you heard of the Get Human database (http://www.gethuman.com)? It includes information on the quickest way to actually get to a human being at hundreds of companies. (Before you reach the point where your head explodes from rage and frustration, preferably.)
If you must use phone trees at your library, then for God's sake at least put some time and effort into planning them out. Here are a couple of tips for setting up a decent phone tree. (Please note, this is not a comprehensive list, and I'll probably add more to it as I think of things.)
* Take some time to plan your phone tree out before you implement it. Use flow charts! Write out the potential scripts. Think about the questions people are likely to want to ask, and the ways in which they might get lost in the system. Get feedback from your library's front-line staff. Get feedback from a few trusted library users. Do this work BEFORE you implement your phone tree. It is very frustrating for people when you take up even more of their valuable time by droning "Please listen closely to our menu, as our options have recently changed..." If you set things up right the first time, you'll never have to torture people with this message.
* What are the questions people are most likely to ask when they call? I've called libraries where the phone system starts off with a long prologue such as: "If you want to send a fax to our library, please send it to 555-555-5555. Our mailing address is 222 Cherry Lane, Nova Scotia. You can email us at nobody@nowhere.org. If you would like to speak to the Interlibrary Loan department, please hang up and dial 555-444-4444. If you would like to speak to the Reference Department.... " I have to listen to a whole bunch of this before I even have an option to talk to a human being! By the time I get the option to talk to someone, I've fallen asleep in boredom.
* Have someone record your telephone tree scripts who actually has inflection in their voice, so that a bit of personality and liveliness shines through. Sure, you probably aren't feeling too enthusiastic about sitting there reading all this stuff, but look at it this way -- at least you aren't the one who's on the other end, being forced to listen to it. The least you can do is try to make it sound like you care and are happy to serve.
* Keep it short and sweet. "Welcome to Your Library. For library hours, press 1. To renew a book, press 2. For reference, press 3. To sign up for storytimes, press 4. For all other questions, please press 0."
* Use language your users will understand -- "Inter-library Loan" instead of "ILL," for example. Or "to renew a book" instead of "for circulation."
Considering how bad so many phone trees are, it may not be surprising that I was unable to find much information on how to set up a decent automated phone system. But I only did a cursory search. If anyone knows of good planning tools for automated phone systems (for libraries or for businesses in general), please share them with the rest of us. Down with telephone trees from hell! We don't have to take it any more! ¶ posted by Mary Martin @ 5:02 PM
