Today the phone will ring into your organization and if you are lucky, you will have a golden opportunity to sell your services, help a citizen or solve a problem. Having a great sales and marketing strategy or a fantastic CRM tool is one part of the equation. But, the customer’s impression of your organization through a customer service or sales representative can make or break the deal. At Tooty, we have a unique point of view to share with you because we FEEL what customers go through as we make secret shopper calls and listen into monitored conversations each week. Based on over 2,000 surveys we completed in the last two months we have documented 4 deal breakers that may be scaring your prospective customers away or infuriating the citizens you serve.
Deal Breaker #1- Long hold times
How long is too long for a customer to wait? 2-3 minutes has been a common measurement standard for years. In some markets customers will not wait more than a minute while in others they wait as long as it takes. Your phone system should keep the data on when the customers in your market hang up the phone. That will help you determine your market standards.
Deal Breaker #2- Passing around the customer
Customers become frustrated when they spend 5 minutes talking with one person who then transfers the call to another person who asks the very same things all over again. It gives the impression of inefficiency and can make a customer wonder how complicated working with you will be. At Tooty Inc., we help organizations implement a One Call Does It All protocol where every person is trained and empowered to handle the customer from start to finish.
Deal Breaker #3- Broken promise
Your customers may understand that they need to wait for a return call sometimes. The preference is not to wait at all, but if they have to they expect the promise of a return call to be kept. When I ask sales and customer service representatives when a return call should be made to a customer if the standard is within 2 hours, they always say 2 hours. A customer’s expectation would be that a return call would be received in half that time.  That is what they are measuring you on.   You have 2-ways to verify your team’s record with returning calls. 1-ask your front line representatives who doesn’t return calls. They can tell you because they receive those complaints from customers! 2- Let Tooty make secret shopper calls into your organization that require a call be returned.  We will evaluate the customer experience, document whether a return call is received and the time.
Deal Breaker #4- Conflicting personalities
What impression would a prospective customer have of your organization if the customer service representative who first answers is dynamic and the person who the call is transferred to is disengaged or unprepared? Insides sales, account managers, national sales, help desk, accounting and other departments are equally accountable to  excellent customer care.
Tooty’s signature training program Telepicting ™ focuses on how a prospective customer perceives a representative based on voice, attitude and knowledge and concludes whether that customer would give him/her their money or trust the answers given. It is a fun and impactful training exercise.

Telepicture Sample
Age: 34
Appearance: Jeans and a tee-shirt
Facial Expression: none
Attitude projected: disorganized, unprofessional and bored
What is your impression of the company: One-person operation, not trustworthy
Would you give the representative your money: No
Was there a sales strategy: No

If you’d like to learn how you can receive a complimentary Telepicting™ evaluation, please contact: lori_miller@tootyinc.com