Voice Mail Etiquette and First Impressions Copyright 1992 CAUSE From _CAUSE/EFFECT_ Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 1992. Permission to copy or disseminate all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for commercial advantage, the CAUSE copyright and its date appear,and notice is given that copying is by permission of CAUSE, the association for managing and using information resources in higher education. To disseminate otherwise, or to republish, requires written permission.For further information, contact CAUSE, 4840 Pearl East Circle, Suite 302E, Boulder, CO 80301, 303-449-4430, e-mail info@CAUSE.colorado.edu VOICE MAIL ETIQUETTE AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS by Charles R. Thomas ************************************************************************ Charles R. Thomas is currently a Senior Consultant with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) specializing in strategic planning for computing and information technology, and President of the Consortium for Higher Education Software Services, Inc. (CHESS). He is a former Vice President of Information Associates and served as the first Executive Director of CAUSE, from 1971 to 1986. ************************************************************************ Psychologists tell us that people decide whether or not they will like you in the first fifteen seconds after meeting you for the first time. In the information age, the telephone has become the de facto device of first impressions, so organizations should seriously consider the value of quality control and training when installing a new voice mail system. Too often technology is installed without the slightest bit of attention to how the corporate image will be affected. As the cost of telephone switches and voice mail systems comes down, more organizations, including college and university campuses, will install these systems, and most of them will be managed by the institution's chief information technology officer. The purpose of this brief viewpoint is to highlight the need for attention to human dimensions as we attempt to improve service through technology. The following scenario illustrates a very negative voice mail interaction I experienced not long ago. The telephone number and other personal identifiers have been changed to protect the innocent; the parenthetical numbers in the scenario correspond to numbered paragraphs in the discussion that follows which suggest related key quality control and training issues. Scenario One afternoon several months ago at about 4:45 p.m., I dialed 111- 1111 to reach the vice president for information technology of a large organization in Chicago (not a university or college). (1) Upon connection I heard a personal voice mail message; the quality of the transmission was so poor I was unable to determine whether or not I was hearing the person I was calling. (2) Since the recorded message did not positively identify the person I thought I had called, I hung up and dialed again. The second time I was sure I had dialed the right number but still didn't recognize the voice, so I pressed "0" for human intervention. (3) The initial recorded message did not tell me to press "0"--I just guessed. (4) After a wait of ten rings (at this point I had accepted the challenge to conquer this technological terrorist), an operator answered and I asked if 111-1111 was the right number for the vice president. The operator responded by connecting me immediately with that number, and I heard the same voice mail message for the third time. I again pressed "0" for human intervention, and after a wait of eight rings, the same operator answered. (5) This time I requested the vice president by name, which elicited the question: "Is that a staff member?" (6) The operator tried unsuccessfully to ring 111-1111, then came back with the unceremonious response of, "That number cut off," which was followed by a dial-tone. It was now after 5:00 pm, so I gave up for the day, fired up my word processing program, and keyed this viewpoint! An ounce of prevention ... A few simple policies and procedures might have prevented the above scenario from ever taking place. (1) As a measure of quality control, it is a good idea for information technology executives to conduct personal checks by calling into their voice mail periodically. Some organizations have an operator answer executive telephones, then ask callers if they would like to leave a voice mail message if the executive is not available. (2) In voice mail systems that allow each employee to record a personal greeting, detailed corporate guidelines for both image and procedures should be established and communicated to the entire staff. These guidelines should focus on the content of the greeting, and include instructions to individuals on both tone and corporate image expected. Individuals should all be instructed to first identify themselves by name in their personal greeting. (3) Although the "0" key on most telephones is identified with "OPER," and most telephone-literate people would press that key for human intervention, voice mail systems should reinforce callers by reminding them how to call for human help. Some current voice mail systems actually do not include this option. (4) As a general rule, incoming calls should be answered after the third or fourth ring. Of course, unanticipated call volume can overload the system, but most current electronic telephone systems include summary statistics that allow managers to identify high call times and deal with the human resources necessary to ensure top performance. Caller perception of corporate image deteriorates measurably with each unanswered ring after the fourth ring. (5) It seems reasonable to expect telephone operators to recognize executive names, particularly that of the vice president of their own division. In addition to "friendliness" training, operator training should cover complete familiarization with the organization, including knowledge of and access to VIP names.[1] (6) While an occasional operator or system error can cause a caller to be cut off, quality control steps should be taken to minimize this event. Few things are more frustrating to a caller than to suddenly hear a dial-tone, particularly if it happens on a long-distance call. Provide guidelines and training When a large organization first installs a voice mail system, getting the word out to the community of telephone users presents a formidable communications challenge. While other technologies may affect only a part of the organizational community, the telephone system affects virtually every individual associated with the organization. Many times the telecommunications vendor will provide some assistance, but to be most effective, voice mail usage guidelines and training must be tailored to the unique organizational culture. Loyola University Chicago[2] is one institution that has already faced this challenge and developed an exemplary set of guidelines for voice mail use (see box, facing page). These guidelines are published in the University phone directory, along with information on how to use the phone system, and are also presented at training sessions and department telephone configuration meetings. While some of the guidelines are unique to Loyola's telephone system, most of them are applicable to any voice mail system. Quality hiring and training standards can address many of the issues covered here. Well-trained operators and systems engineers can produce superior performance when encouraged by a supportive corporate culture. Telephone systems can be particularly important to corporate image. Consumer experience with the dinner-time computerized telephone marketing call has already placed the average corporate voice mail system at a disadvantage, so that first human interaction can be critical. It has been said that a happy customer tells one or two others, but an unhappy customer tells ten or twelve! ======================================================================== Acknowledgements: We are indebted to Art Krumrey, Assistant Vice President for Information Services at Loyola University Chicago, for providing Loyola's voice mail guidelines, which we have modified slightly for inclusion here. We also hasten to point out that Loyola is not the Chicago organization in our scenario! ======================================================================== Footnotes 1 The corporate image analogy that comes to mind is the Vail ski area in Colorado. At the beginning of each ski season, Vail Associates conducts classes referred to by the staff as "Smile School" for all employees who will have contact with customers. The results of these classes are immediately apparent every time a skier gets on a chair-lift or a bus at Vail. 2 Loyola University Chicago has an AT&T Definity telephone system with an AUDIX voice mail system. ======================================================================== Loyola University Chicago Voice Mail Guidelines * Record a personal greeting. You can change your greeting at any time, and keep up to nine prerecorded greetings. We suggest you change it to reflect your schedule, particularly when you will be out the majority of the day or away from the office for a full day or more. The message should mention your name to reassure the caller they have reached the right person, tell the caller when you will return, and whether you are checking for messages. If you are away on business, check your mailbox every night. * Your greeting should ask the caller to leave a detailed message and mention that the message may be up to five minutes long. A detailed message can save time for both you and the caller, and avoid telephone tag. * Include in your personal greeting the option to press "0" to speak to a secretary or receptionist. This is your "referral extension," and is important for two reasons. First, the calling party may need to reach you immediately and the secretary may know your whereabouts; second, some callers prefer to leave a message with a person rather than with voice mail. The referral extension must be set by the telecommunications department. * If your line is normally answered by voice mail, you can temporarily override that coverage for special cases, such as if you are expecting an important call and want to have your call forwarded to a person. Note that your calls will ring first on your phone, then on the designated phone only. They do not follow the coverage path of the extension to which you forwarded your calls. (This is called "busy and no answer forwarded" and it overrides coverage paths in all cases, even coverage paths other than to voice mail). * Practice "voice mail etiquette." If someone leaves you a detailed message requesting something that will take more than a few hours for a response, send the requestor a brief voice mail message that you got their request, are working on it, and indicate when you will have a response. If the caller has a voice mailbox, the "1" reply option when listening to a message works well for this. (The system will not allow you to attempt a voice mail reply if the caller does not have a mailbox.) If the caller does not have voice mail, call the person back and, if they are not available, leave a brief paper message. Callers are encouraged to leave detailed messages when they feel it is worth their while because they get immediate feedback. (This principle applies equally to electronic mail and even interoffice memoranda.) * For personal mailboxes, we recommend using a separate greeting to be played when you are in the office but on the phone, and another when you do not answer your phone. * Your mail box has a limited amount of space. If it is full, it cannot accept any messages. Please delete any unneeded messages. * Departmental voice mail boxes should be used only during lunch and after regular business hours. Departmental numbers should be answered personally during business hours. Receptionists and secretaries may ask callers if they would like to leave a voice mail message, then direct the call appropriately, or take a paper message. * Instead of using voice mail to answer main department numbers during business hours, we recommend separate "24-hour information lines." These numbers allow the caller to press keys to get information, and even leave messages. Examples are the recreational sports information line and the campus closing/weather line. * When you are not available for more than a few minutes, you should press the send-all-calls button so that calls immediately go to voice mail. This is a courtesy to the caller so that the person does not have to listen to ringing. You may also want to let frequent callers know that pressing "1" during your greeting allows the person to leave a message immediately. * Telecommunications will send voice mail usage reports on voice mail boxes if requested. These reports show the number of calls that went to voice mail during the business day and also outside of the business day. They also show the number and total length of messages actually left by callers. In particular, we suggest that department administrators review these reports to be aware of the number of calls that go to voice mail. ************************************************************************