Customer Service: When You Need To Route A Customer Phone Call

1. When You Need to Route a
Customer Phone Call
By VanSight

2. COPYRIGHT 2009 VANSIGHT division of Synbiz
Solutions Pvt Ltd
• No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or for any purpose without the express permission of VanSight
Division of Synbiz Solutions Pvt Ltd. The information contained herein
may be changed without prior notice.
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3. The Situation
• Customers don’t always know who they need to speak to or
even the specific department they need to contact. When a
customer calls and isn’t clear about who to speak to, your job
is to get enough information to route the phone call to the
right place the first time, so the customer can be served
quickly.
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4. Techniques Used
• Offering Choices
• Empowering
• Probing Questions
• Active Listening
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5. Dialogue
• In this example, the
customer is calling about
some issue with her check,
but the employee is not
immediately clear on the
specific issue and therefore
the person or department
that needs to be involved.
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6. Dialogue
• Customer: I need to speak
to someone about my
check.
• Employee: I want to make
sure I direct you to the
right person the first time,
so can I ask you a few
questions?
• Customer: Sure.
• Employee: OK, are you
calling because there’s a
problem with your check?
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7. Dialogue
• Customer: No, I’m just looking
for information about how I can
change my tax deductions.
• Employee: So, you want to
know what paperwork you need
to complete to make sure the
tax deducted is more accurate.
Is that what you need?
• Customer: Yes, exactly
• Employee: Good. You need to
speak to Jane in payroll. I can
transfer your call or give you
the number to phone direct,
whatever is more convenient.
What works best for you?
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8. Explanations
• The employee needs to get enough information to route the call
to the correct person. To get that information, the employee uses
probing questions
• Notice that the employee asks permission to do this in order to
demonstrate to the customer that he is important if necessary,
the employee would ask a longer series of questions.
• In the employee uses reflective listening to verify or confirm that
she and the customer are on the same wavelength and that she
understands what the customer wants.
• Once the employee is confident she has enough information to
direct the call, she indicates the specific person that the caller
needs to contact and offers two options — transferring him to
Jane or giving him the direct phone number so she can phone
Jane at her convenience .
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9. How to Diffuse the Situation
• When transferring a call,
it’s always good to inform
the party receiving the
transfer about the nature
of the caller’s needs or
problem.
• It’s worth spending a few
more seconds finding out
what the customer needs
before directing the call.
When you direct a
customer to the right place
the first time, everyone
wins.
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10. How to Diffuse the Situation
• The customer feels valued ,
& impressed with your
competence.
• your coworkers and other
employees spend their time
more productively.
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