What Does Your “Phone Door” Look Like?

"People enter your business through two doors," says Brett Bond, owner of Sound Advice. "Your front door and your phone door." The impression at each must be your very best. Today, for many businesses, more people pass through the "phone door" than the "front door."

Business owners don't often enter through their company's phone door, so it may be in disarray and you don't even know it.

In addition to first impressions, there's also an opportunity - each time someone calls - to strengthen your company's brand image and educate the caller on your products, services and strengths.

What does your phone door look like? What is the harsh reality of your customers' experience as they enter your company through your phone door? Are you taking full advantage of the opportunity with every single call? Here are some simple ways to make a big difference.

Secret Shopper: Do you really know what your phone personnel are saying every day to your customers? Why not have someone call your office - your salesman, or your tech support person - and pose as a customer or prospect. Record the entire experience. Large companies do this all the time. We did it at The Business Owner and found it VERY revealing and humbling. Afterward, we made some changes.

We used FoneFacts (www.FoneFacts.com). FoneFacts provides one - and only one - service specialty: telephone surveying. By posing as your customers, they professionally extract the "facts," audit and recap the information you need to know. We simply called FoneFacts, told them what we do, explained the types of customers who call us, gave them our main phone number and suggested what to say. It was easy. Their customized software and recording technology allow them to provide you with any type of detailed reporting on key performance factors.

I'd suggest that you set them up to test your phone door regularly.

Here's just some of what FoneFacts can do for you:

Employee Evaluation: Maximizing your employee's telephone skills as they relate to your sales and/or customer service goals is an ongoing process of training and evaluation. FoneFacts specializes in recording, scoring and reporting your company's telephony skills.

Competitor Analysis: If you have ever wondered about the sales ability and customer management skills of your competitors, FoneFacts can provide you with a detailed look at what others say and do. You will find that the competitive analysis goes well beyond product comparisons.

Market Research: Determining market awareness, opinions or knowledge of your product and/or service is often difficult. FoneFacts can call, record and report your market share.

Customer Surveys: Do you really know what your existing or past customers say about your product and/or service? FoneFacts will provide you with easy-to-evaluate facts that often surprise management.

General Analysis: For any other analysis your company might need that can be extracted by the telephone, FoneFacts helps you get the facts.

On-Hold Messaging: If you don't use your on-hold time to sell, cross-promote other products and services, and drive traffic to your Web site - get with it. It's easy, effective and economical. We used Brett Bond of Sound Advice (www.4SoundAdvice.com). He is tremendous. Sound Advice charges a minimal monthly fee based on the number of times you want to update the content playing on hold. With professional voice talents and varied music selections, Sound Advice puts together messages that reflect the image and information your customers need to know. No matter where you live, Sound Advice can upload new messages directly to your phones with the push of a button.

Virtual PBX: Are you ready to delve into new technologies to save big bucks and improve the way your system works? So-called virtual PBX appears to offer compelling services and substantial value. Using a single toll-free or local number and a virtual PBX such as GotVMail (www.gotvmail.com), you can get an auto attendant, call routing, voice mail, on-hold messaging, etc., all with no more hardware than a regular phone. In addition, you can have the service "find you" when a call comes in, such as by ringing your office twice, then your cell phone - all while the caller hears testimonials and/or service offerings (i.e., a custom on-hold message).

You also can have voice mail messages immediately e-mailed to you in text or audio file form. In addition to GotVMail.com, check out onebox.com and virtualpbx.com. Costs start at less then $10 per month.

Phones are critical to your business. If you don't think so, just try unplugging it for a day, or even an hour. You've invested in your phones - so use them to their fullest potential. The great news is that today, with technology, you should be able to deliver a topnotch first impression and flawless service for very little cost. The trick is figuring out how to do it. The only solution is to either delegate the job to someone you trust or do it yourself. Either way, get it done. It's just too important.

Brett Bond at Sound Advice can be reached at brett@4soundadvice.com or (918) 496-3950 X14.