How to build the best script for your business
Since we are the voice of your business, your script should represent you accurately at all times. If you ever need to make a change, email us at ccsupport@signpost.com or call us at 844-202-2015. Your account manager will work with you to create, edit, or delete outdated scenarios.
What information should I provide to build my script?
The perfect script varies by industry, location, seasonality, and many other variables. To create the perfect script, take some time to outline how your average call proceeds. If there are questions or moments that split conversations into different paths, note those and sketch out the paths they create. Finally, don’t forget to think of the rare but realistic paths your calls can take.
Outlining or mapping your calls is a great starting point. Next, the following questions will help you begin filling in the gaps with important information and questions for reps to ask.
What services do you offer? What don’t you offer?
To help us handle your calls accurately and quickly, clarify the services you do and don’t provide during onboarding. This is especially important if customers get confused about what you can and can’t do.
What are your must-have pieces of information?
To maximize the quality of our service, we’ll need to know what information you need to get from customers when they call. The basics include
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Availability
- Description of service need
However, your business may also need unique information. Listing this information lets us manage the entire process our agents are helping you handle on the phone. The best way to provide this information is to list the qualifying questions you would ask if taking the call yourself.
Do you handle emergencies?
If your business handles both emergency and routine calls, you should plan for both types of calls. Figure out what questions or information signals an emergency and decide what you want to happen for each. For example, you may prefer to have emergency calls transferred to an on-call technician or your phone directly while letting our agents schedule appointments for more routine calls.
Sometimes the difference between routine and emergency isn’t obvious, especially to an agent outside of your industry. But you can also provide us with FAQs and background information that will help our agents make informed decisions.
Of course, you can submit a fleshed out script as well. This six-step process will help you turn your outline into a professional, cheery, effective script that’s ready for our agents to follow.
- Establish tone or direction of the call in your greeting: Your greeting will define how customers feel about the call. A warm greeting will put them at ease and set friendly expectations. Alternatively, cutting to the chase can tell callers that you’re able to respond rapidly. This is especially effective if they’re calling with an emergency.
- Collect contact information: Next, secure the caller’s name, call back number, and email address. If the call is disconnected for some reason, this will allow our agents to reach back out. This information will also be saved in your Messaging Hub, so you can access it as well.
- Sort the call: Most customers will start with the reason they’re calling. But some will need prompting. So after your greeting, ask how your business can help. If you handle emergency responses, you can also ask them if they’re calling with an emergency situation or a routine appointment. Another option is to ask the caller if they’re a new or existing customer. Regardless of what question you ask first, we recommend sorting the call with qualifying questions as soon as possible. This can help our agents
- Resolve calls as quickly as possible, reducing the minutes used per call
- Give your callers efficient service
- Identify and transfer calls that need escalation faster
- Route calls to the appropriate departments
- Keep it simple and to the point: Some businesses need complex scripts with multiple branches. But it’s best to keep the call script as simple as possible to keep callers from getting confused or setting up calls that take too long. The faster our agents can schedule an appointment or transfer calls to your team (if necessary), the more likely you are to win the job.
- Include important information in receptionist notes: Even if your business handles complex situations or a niche industry, our receptionists can handle most of your calls. We provide a place to include FAQs and documentation that our agents can train on to limit the number of calls we need to transfer.
Conclusion
The good news is that we know scripts. We’ve handled hundreds of thousands of calls across hundreds of industries. If you identify the most important information or moments in your calls, we can take care of the rest. All you’ll need to do is review and approve the outcome.