Stick to the script

When I was working on the phones as a Customer Service Rep, as is policy with most companies, I was asked to follow a specific script. At first I was almost insulted. Did they think I did not know how to have a conversation on the phone? It seemed silly. People would know I was reading and I felt that was insulting to my customers. After all I assumed I was hired based on my witty banter and clever dialogue. I was able to make an instant connection with the manager because I was at ease talking to almost anyone about almost anything. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t want to take full advantage of the talent I had.

I read over the script a couple of times but I was so familiar with the company and products I figured I could just improvise when the time came. Surely it would be ok to paraphrase, after all it would be saying the same thing instead using what I thought was a more personable and natural tone. You can guess how well that went.

The first couple of times I stumbled and bumbled through a tongue-twisted mess as I tried to read it and interject my own flair at the same time. I mixed up words, read sentences twice, and accidentally omitted an entire paragraph. I figured it was the trying to read and talk at the same time that was tripping me up so I read over the script a few more times and noted where I thought would be good to throw in some stories I thought were relative, and key points I thought they had missed. That was almost as disastrous as I completely confused the customer and still neglected to relay several key points of information. They ended up not booking an appointment and sounding somewhat frustrated as they hung up.

I was getting frustrated too. Interacting with people was something I was typically very good at and now I was struggling where as coworkers who could seemingly not manage to string two sentences together were excelling. I talked to the manager and the first thing she asked was, “Are you using the script?” I had to admit I wasn’t, not exactly anyway.

I was lucky she wasn’t furious but instead understanding. She explained to me she felt the same way I had when she started using it but she pointed out several key concepts about customer service scripts I hadn’t considered.

• It minimized communication errors and assured that the customers got the correct information
• It sped up my on the phone time and allowed me to process more calls and book more appointments
• I didn’t have to think on my feet or flag the manager as much because the script covered most typical situations I came across

She took it one step further too by making the time to practice with me so I was comfortable reciting it from memory with only a glance from time to time. This made the conversation feel more natural and helped me book more appointments because I wasn’t overloading them with information anymore either.

By taking the time to stick to the script I was able to best represent my company’s point of view. I was able to handle most any call on most any day, bad mood or not, because all the information was right in front of me. I was still able to use my conversational talent face to face when the customer came in for the appointment. In the long run my appointments and sales increased dramatically and when it came time to compose a new script the manager even asked for my input.

By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer, business owner, and work-from-home mom.