7 Tips For Creating An Effective Business Welcome Greeting

It has been calculated that around 73% of customers attribute their love for a brand to a friendly customer service representative, and about 62% of customers stopped doing business with a company after obtaining poor customer service. This proves that to ensure missed calls do not mean missed business, you need to have a representative to attend to every call that is placed to your organization. Adding a virtual receptionists to your business phone line not only ensures that all calls are answered immediately, but it also presents your callers with the professional image you need to grow your business.

Using a professional business phone system isn’t enough. The manner in which the automated welcome message greets customers and clients is equally important. Here are seven tips for creating effective virtual receptionist welcome greetings.

Companies that depend on the automated virtual receptionist need a clear greeting to welcome callers, ask and answer questions and route people to the appropriate agent or department. The greeting can begin with an appreciation for the call or business. This helps customers feel valued and cared for. Stating the company’s or business’ name and then following it up with the company’s tagline or slogan is a good idea.

The caller’s time is precious so avoid recording long and annoying greetings. Keep the message short and crisp. This ensures callers do not get bored and irritated when on line and waiting to punch the right number to reach the correct department. Also remember that the needs of your clients should come first. Try not to overload the virtual receptionist with a multitude of menu options. Simply mention two or three of the most common alternatives callers are most likely to call for without making it too long. Ultimately, offer an option to connect with a live person by either pressing a button or staying on line.

The last thing you want is to sound hostile and unreceptive to your callers. It is most definitely a big turn off and is not the way to attract prospective customers and clients. Make certain that the virtual receptionist greeting is put together with two or three pleasant sentences. Be courteous and welcome your callers before anything else.

Poor sound quality, background noise, and a virtual receptionist’s unrecognizable accent are very common ways that ruin the brand name and image of the company. Bear in mind that the automated recorded greeting is the first impression you give your callers, so it needs to be just right. Make sure the greeting is professional by putting together a well thought out script.

Callers become annoyed when they get the impression that they are talking to a robot. Sure, they know it is not a real person, but that doesn’t mean you need to offer definitive proof. Make sure the message does not sound robotic. Instead, it should be as close to a human being as possible. Think about recording the menu options in your own voice. After this, listen to the menu and re-record the parts that appear awkward, strained, and difficult to comprehend. Remember, the greeting is the first thing callers hear so make sure it doesn’t sound rushed. You have to make certain the first impression is a lasting one for a good reason.

Do not over complicate your greeting and refrain from mentioning a slogan or tagline merely to fill the greeting. Limit your greeting to two or three sentences and do not over exceed that limit. Do not word your menu options with rude undertones. If you are choosing a response for when the virtual receptionist has to tell the caller to repeat himself/herself, refrain from saying ‘what?’ rather try ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. Could you repeat that?’ Being courteous, even in an automated message, goes a long way.

Manners even if it is served by an automated message can put you in the good books of many customers and clients. This particularly comes in handy when customers are kept on hold for too long and start getting impatient and irritated. It is your responsibility to ensure that they know that you value their patience and their business. Simply thanking the customer for their time and tolerance helps the caller feel they are appreciated.

How companies and organizations treat customers plays a very vital role in maintaining and promoting the brand name of a business. A virtual receptionist helps to keep business flowing and enhances the name and reputation of a company in a sure shot way. Virtual receptionists are gaining a lot of traction in enterprise as well as consumer markets. They can boost the name of your organization, enhance customer care, and provide extraordinary customer service. Having a well-planned and well-articulated virtual receptionist greeting ensures you never miss a lead or repeat business.