Naturally, when you are on the phone to a customer or client, you want to be able to confidently answer any question they ask you. However, sometimes, you might not know exactly how to handle the issue but know someone else at the company who will – hence the need for a call transfer.
Even then, you must transfer the call efficiently; any sloppiness in doing so could lead unprofessionalism to leak into your firm’s image. Here are situations where this should be heeded.
The caller has reached the wrong person
This might not be down to any fault on the caller’s part. For the sake of convenience, your business might advertise just one customer service number despite running multiple customer service departments. Therefore, a call could too easily land into the wrong person’s lap, so to say.
If it’s your lap into which the call lands, act on the advice of The Balance Small Business that you politely explain why you must transfer the call. Perhaps the caller has got through to the wrong department or simply the wrong extension – so, in either case, say so gently.
It’s important that you do explain exactly why this call needs to be transferred; otherwise, the caller might assume that you are simply passing the buck. Leaving that impression wouldn’t be favourable for your company’s image, so be careful not to slip up here.
You don’t have the relevant expertise or authority
Even if the caller has reached theoretically the right departmentand perhaps even – again, theoretically – a suitable person, you might not be able to give the caller what they want. This could too easily happen if you occupy a fairly low rung on the company’s ladder.
However, you don’t need to fly into a panic if this does happen. Instead, carefully explain the situation and ask if there is anything else you can do for the caller before you initiate the transfer. At this pause, they might ask whether their issue would take a while for the other staff member to rectify. If you think it would, you could give the caller a chance to call back at a later time or offer to take a message and ask for the right department to return their call.
You are engaging in “call advertising”
Are you treating the call as an advertising opportunity? If so, this would not be too surprising given that consumers like to receive calls rather than emails from marketers. Indeed, according to 75% of consumers cited by Business 2 Community, a call is the fastest way of getting a reply from a company.
Still, it would remain convenient for a member of your sales team to be handed only “quality leads”; in other words, people who are especially likely to make a purchase. In your search for such leads, you can filter callers by learning more about what they need or want before you start a transfer.
Mid-call transfers are included in our range of services, as are SIP trunks for use in updating a phone system for even further efficiency.
