Greetings/closing

[bmasc1]

Can anyone please share with me their greetings and closings.
What phrases do you utilize to delight your customers? Thanks!

[Karsten Fuhrmann]

Hello,

I would propose not to use a fixed phrase. It would be a pity if your agents sounds like most other agents in the world. Instead, let your staff be creative - just tell them what you want in the greeting (company name, employee name, department etc.) and let them do it their way. An enthusiastic individual greeting is always better than just a phrase.

[daveste]

I prefer a standard greeting and a non-fixed phrase closing. For an opening I like, "Another great day at X company, this is so-and-so, how may I help you". Most customers appreciate the enthusiastic greeting and it is sometimes enough to turn around a customer that was calling to complain.

As for the closing, I think creativity and a tailored closing would be more appropriate. For a customer complaint you could try, “thank you for bring this to our attention, without customer like you taking the time to call us, we would not have the opportunity for change”.

Just a thought.

[Saramencia]

I definitely agree with Fuhrman. As Call Centers has spread out CSR has turned out into robots. I feel very uncomfortable when Reps start saying my names "so many times" and the greetings are so standard, not to mention the closing!

It's time to be different! but not so different as the proposal of Daveste "Another great day at...." PLEASE! I would be scared if I heard something like that here at my country! (and maybe close).

Regards,

[djdaley]

Greetings must be clearly distinguished as a different concept to a close.

A greeting sets the scene. Whilst the words used can vary (and ultimately should do so), it is the "way" in which they are said that is important.

One "different" aspect we use, is to start a greeting with "thankyou for being patient, my name is XXX, how may I..." when there has been unexpected delays, or high ASA.

This strategy has had an enormous effect on our customer satisfaction surveys - through effective customer expection management of course!

I agree that the close should be tailored to the nature of the call. Personable not personal.

[mdbabb]

While I agree that in an ideal world (or even in a standard call center), standard greetings often provide the appearance of agents being robots, in some industries, this is not pratical.

For example, the US health care system recently has had to make changes in handling calls regarding patient care due to HIPAA. As a result, we have had to standarize our greetings in order to make sure that patient privacy is not compromised.

Other industries may have similar legal constraints (for example, banking) that may require standardized greetings.

[Saramencia]

Could anyone tell me the standard for banking?