As the saying goes, first impressions last.
Most district transactions start with a telephone call, and how the conversation goes often gives the customer an overall impression of Comal ISD. Thus, learning proper business telephone etiquette is important and as a Comal ISD employee the following phone tips should always be followed:
Guidelines for phone calls
- Greet each caller with the name of the school and your name.
For example:
“Comal School. This is Mary Rivers. How may I help you?”
"Good Afternoon, Comal ISD, Communications department, Lisa speaking, how may I help you?"
"Clear Spring Elementary, this is Mark speaking. How may I help you?"
"It's a great day at Comal ISD, Lisa speaking, how may I help you today?"
- Give each caller your full attention. If it’s an urgent call, especially from a parent, take responsibility for seeing that the issue is resolved.
- Give callers a choice before transferring them to voicemail.
- Return most calls within 24-48 hours.
- Provide the number that a call is being transferred to and stay on the line until the call is successfully transferred. Ask the caller to call you back if the call goes awry.
- Thank each caller for calling.
- Tell people if you do not know the answer and then refer them to someone who does.
- Recognize you cannot satisfy every customer, but you can respect every customer and listen to their needs.
- Change your voicemail message to reflect when you are out of the school or office for 2 or more days and give callers an alternative person to call.
For example: "This is (name) of (company). I'm currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. Thanks."
Tips and Hints
Energy level is important – you lose about 30% of the energy over the phone, put extra energy in your voice or you may sound apathetic or hesitant.
Establish rapport by adjusting your speaking rate to the customer’s.
Good body posture: sit-up straight, head-up or stand.
Voice volume– you only need to project your voice one foot in front of the receiver
Always ask callers if you may put them on hold. Wait for a response.
Tell callers why they are being put on hold. Give a time frame.
Thank them for holding and resume the conversation.
Example: "Mr./Mrs.________ may I place you on hold for the next 2-3 minutes, while I ________?"
Explain why the caller is being transferred and to whom.
Ask the caller if he or she minds being transferred.
Make sure someone is there to answer the call before you hang up.
Tell the person to whom you are transferring the call the caller’s name and the nature of the call.
Example: "Mr./Mrs.________I am not the person you should talk to about this issue. However, I do know whom you should talk to and if it is all right with you, I am going to transfer you to him/her. So that you have the correct information, his/her number is _______ and his/her name is _______."
