Enquiry Best Practice

How do you feel when:

• your call to a helpline or enquiry line is not answered?
• a receptionist asks you to call back later?
• someone promises to call you back but doesn’t?
• you never receive information you have asked for?

If new enquiries are the life blood of your business it is important that you examine this part of the business to make sure it is working. If you ever answer a phone call, reply to an email enquiry or meet a visitor, you are handling an enquiry. In this way, we can all affect people’s impressions of our company or service. The way we respond to enquiries is important for building positive relationships with anyone who contacts the company. This includes existing clients, suppliers and, in particular, new prospects who are thinking of dealing with the company. To encourage large numbers of good quality business enquiries and to encourage people to choose our company instead of any other company, we need to follow good practice when we deal with enquiries.

What are the rewards of success?

First impressions are very important. By dealing politely, effectively and efficiently with enquiries, we have the opportunity to develop relationships that will benefit the company as a whole. We know from experience that the way we deal with a phone call or an email enquiry can make the difference between a customer choosing us or going to another provider. It is also personally rewarding to know that we have given the best impression of our own company or employer.

Being good at handling enquiries is often very satisfying. It can lead to positive and friendly relationships with people making enquiries, who appreciate the help and service we give them – and sometimes they say so.

What is the price of failure?

Whenever we don't answer a phone enquiry, give an unhelpful reply to an email or don't send someone the information we promised to send, there’s a strong risk that we will lose that business and we could also be damaging our reputation. If you’ve ever had poor service from a company yourself, how many of your friends and relatives did you tell about it?

General principles of handling enquiries

We need to take every opportunity to develop positive relationships with anyone who has contact with us. We must make sure that we give people a good impression of our company and show that we are genuinely interested in helping them.

Whenever we get an enquiry from someone, we should make a note of:

• their full name
• how they want us to contact them (for example by email or phone call)
• the full details of their enquiry

There should always be a member of staff available to deal with enquiries (by phone, email or visitors to reception) to make sure that we maintain these standards of good practice.

Phone Enquiries

• You should answer all phone calls within five rings.
• You should make sure that all calls to a published enquiry line between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday are answered (this includes covering breaks and absences).
• You should use a standard greeting to identify yourself. For example, give your name and then ask 'Can I help you?', or say 'Good morning' or 'Good afternoon' then give the company name and your name.
• When you transfer a call to a colleague, tell the caller your colleague's name and phone number, in case they get cut off when you transfer them, and then tell your colleague the caller's name and what their enquiry is about before you put the call through to them.
• End the call in a positive and helpful way. For example, check that you have given the caller the information they need and ask if there is anything else you can help them with. Then thank them for their call and encourage them to call you back if they need more information.

Voicemail

You should record your own greeting on all voicemail messages on enquiry numbers instead of using a standard recorded message.

You should keep your voicemail message brief and:

• give your name and the company name
• ask callers to leave a message that includes their name and contact details
• tell them they will receive a reply within one working day
• You should use a different voicemail message if you work part-time, are on holiday or off sick. The message should include the information above and the date you expect to be back at work. (If you are off work unexpectedly, there should be arrangements in place with your employer to deal with voicemail messages left on your phone and to change the voicemail message as appropriate.)
• If you have been left a voicemail message on an enquiry line, you should return the call within one working day.

Email Enquiries

• You should check emails to enquiry email addresses every working day and reply by email within three working days. If you cannot send a full reply within that time, send an email to say when you will be able to send a full reply.
• If you are on holiday, off sick or absent for some other reason, you should put a message on your email account to thank people for their emails, tell them why you are absent, when you will return to work and how often your emails will be checked by your colleagues. If your colleagues can't check your emails for any reason, you should include in your message another email address or phone number for urgent enquiries.
• You should send an email acknowledgement, even if you are dealing with the enquiry.
• You should take any action needed, such as sending follow-up information by post, within 48 hours.
• You should use a personal greeting on all your email replies, for example 'Hi George' or 'Dear Mr Skirving' (depending on who you are contacting and how they would prefer to be addressed), and give follow-up contact details in case the person wants to make any more enquiries. Write your emails in a helpful, polite and informal way.
• You should always fill in the 'Subject' part of the email.
• Include an email signature in every email you send. It should include your name, job title, the company name, phone number and website address.

There are companies that offer call handling services and it may be worth investing in these services if you feel you are unable to manage the flow of incoming enquiries with your existing resources. If new enquiries are the life blood of your business it is important that you examine this part of the business to make sure it is working