GPI 213 – Ask the receptionist to relay the customer problems she hears / observes every day.

Ask your receptionist what is going wrong with your company. She may already have a good idea having listened to a lot of callers asking for help, to speak with someone, to voice their opinions, needing to complain or just asking your personnel for advice. Speak to her and request that she monitor and report problems that may indicate internal customer service problems.

Issues to monitor at the switchboard:

Hard to get sales people to answer? Do incoming calls from customers always get personally answered by a sales person? Your customers need a personal touch; they want to speak to someone and this is an advantage you have with live operator. Your customers got this far to a live person so do not let them down now and push them into a voicemail system. Get someone to answer the telephone. Do not ignore this service attribute. Do not allow calls to go to voicemail when the customer wants to speak with a voice.
Sales calls go into voicemail? Is there anyone in the sales department that will not take calls or forces calls into voicemail? Does the receptionist have problems with any one individual answering the telephone or calling customers back? If unknown, keep a log and review it weekly.
Customer complaints go unanswered? Do the customer complaints which do not get a call back from your inside sales people forwarded or noted to the manager in charge? Does anyone ultimately get back with the customer?
Suggestion: Encourage the receptionist to stay on the telephone until an irate customer call gets personally answered by a sales representative. She can also take the customer’s number to make sure she does not lose him. Inform everyone in sales that they are to pick up the telephone when she is paging for help.
Purchasing will not take calls to get competitive bidders? Are there problems getting purchasing to take calls from vendors? Note: Your purchasing or procurement manager needs to review buyer priorities. Evidence of this may insinuate internal control problems.
Customer irate waiting for sales people? Is it difficult to find sales personnel when a customer refuses voicemail and states emphatically they want to speak with someone? Note: Why is this request by a customer such a problem? Someone is responsible for all incoming calls in the sales department. Who is not doing their job?
Vendors calling to get paid? Are there numerous vendor collection calls to accounts payable seeking payment? Note: Collection calls continuously clogging up the switchboard obviously insinuates the company is not paying bills on time.
Absence of supervisors or managers – no one in charge? Is there a time during the workday or a specific period when a supervisor or manager is gone that problems begin (regardless of the department or function)? Receptionists will recognize these patterns and need to report an increase of problems when this occurs.
Human resources not available for employees? Are there a number of calls from employees to human resources that do not get answered or get returned? Note: This is bad for employee relations and needs to be corrected for the sake of your employees.
Employees out of the office hard to contact? Are telephone calls made to employees on the road frequently unanswered? Receptionists are many times responsible to call sales personnel, company truck drivers, department managers or just anyone that is currently out of the company facilities. Is there anyone of that is consistently difficult to contact, slow to call back or is known never to call back?

The receptionist is never expected to know all of the ramifications of problems incurred with incoming telephone calls, but it is well worth asking these questions and more. Train this person to note problems and ask customer questions to ensure they are satisfied with reaching their inside sales personnel as well as any other department requested. Your receptionist is the first voice your customers hear so make it a pleasant and helpful one.