In many cases, the first thing a customer hears when calling into your phone system is a recorded prompt – perhaps something like “Thank you for calling XYZ! For sales, press 1. For support, press 2.” This relatively simple prompt creates a first impression of your organization that may be difficult to change. Whether it is a greeting, menu, or compliance message, the prompts a customer hears should accurately reflect your business and give them a positive impression… even if they haven’t actually spoken to an employee.

Here are 4 tips that we’ve found will dramatically increase the quality of phone system prompts:

1) Script each prompt word for word – Before any recording takes place, be sure you know exactly what the voice talent should say. This will dramatically reduce the time required to produce prompt recordings and make them sound much more confident and professional. It will also give your marketing team a chance to ensure consistent branding across the various media types a customer may encounter (phone, website, e-mail, etc.). Think carefully about what you want customers to hear when they call your organization. Read the scripts aloud as though you are the phone system playing the prompts to the caller. Do they make sense? Do they concisely and accurately convey the information needed by the caller?

2) Engage professional voice talent - Working with a professional who has recorded thousands of prompts will dramatically increase the quality of the end product… and reduce the time required to produce the recordings. Nobody is perfect, but only having to record a prompt twice instead of twenty times will save you lots of time and money. Also, don’t forget to do a bit of sleuthing within your organization. You might have some hidden talent in your employees. Perhaps consider a “Voice of XYZ” competition.

3) Use a professional recording environment - I’ve called a number of very large companies that had obviously recorded their prompts in the middle of their call center floor. Excessive background noise or poor recording equipment can result in prompts that are almost unintelligible. A very quiet room with minimal echo may be sufficient – a professional recording studio is definitely better.

4) Ensure prompt files are in the correct format - While prompts may be recorded at CD quality or higher, be sure to convert them to the format required by your phone system. While your phone system may be able to convert them on the fly, allowing this is a very bad idea. I’ve seen phone systems brought to their knees trying to convert CD quality audio to be played to calls waiting in queue. If in doubt, the most common standard is: CCITT µ-Law 8 Bit 8 kHz Mono.

Note: Depending on the application, you may also be able to find suitable libraries of professional prompts online that can be downloaded for free or purchased.

Something important crashes to the floor from the desk in the rush to get to your phone for the executive conference call you were supposed to join three minutes ago. After looking up the number and quickly punching it into the handset, you hear “bee-Bee-BEE. Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number…”

Regardless of the reason, dialing a number that does not connect can be very frustrating. After many questions and frantic calls for support, I decided to write this post to help dispel some of the mystery that often surrounds how telephone numbers are composed and dialed.

The Basics

Virtually all telephone numbers you will encounter follow the E.164 numbering plan and are composed of three basic parts:

1. Country code
2. Area code
3. Local number

How you dial each number is determined by where you are located.

Phone Numbers in the United States

The U.S. along with a couple dozen other countries participates in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) which basically states that numbers within it will use the following

+1-NPA-NXX-xxxx

1. + – indicates that an international access code will need to be added when this number is dialed from a country outside the NANP
2. 1 – the country code used by the NANP
3. NPA – an area code within the NANP
4. NXX – central office exchange code, the first part of each local number managed by a given carrier
5. xxxx – subscriber number, the final portion of each number assigned to a customer

While there are a variety of special classifications (emergency, information, toll free, etc.), phone numbers within the NANP will generally fall into one of three categories:

1. Local
2. Long distance
3. International

Dialing Local Numbers

Unfortunately, there is no set rule for how local numbers should be dialed. Each area will have its own rules. However, they will generally allow and/or require one of the following:

1. 7 digits – dial the exchange and the local number only to call another number within the same area code
2. 10 digits – in a region covered by more than one area code, it may be necessary to dial both the area code and the local number
3. 11 digits – in some cases, a one must be added to the beginning of the number followed by the area code and local number

Dialing Long Distance Numbers

In most countries outside the NANP, a trunk code of zero is required before any number not within the local calling area. Within the NANP, the number one preceding the area code is generally required as the trunk code to call a number outside of the local calling area. This can be especially confusing because the NANP country code is also the number one.

If dialed from within the NANP, the number would be written as:

1 (213) 213-2134

Note: the parentheses indicate that the area code may be optional when dialed from within its local calling area. In fact, (unlike many other countries), dialing the full phone number often will not work when dialing a local number.

If dialed from a country outside of the NANP, it would be written as:

+1 213 213 2134

Dialing International Numbers

In general, dialing an international number requires an international access code. For example, to dial a number in the United Kingdom, a U.S. caller would dial:

011 + 44 + area code + number

For calls placed from within the NANP to a country outside, 011 is the access code to indicate that the call is an international call and should be routed as such.

A common mistake is to include (or even dial) the trunk code as part of the international number. For example, a London caller might dial something like the following as a local number:

020 xxxx xxxx

It should NOT be written or dialed as:

+44 (0)20 xxxx xxxx

This is because the zero immediately preceding the area code is ONLY dialed from within the United Kingdom. From the United States, this number would be dialed as:

011 44 20 xxxx xxxx

Also keep in mind that newer phone systems and many mobile phones would allow this number to be stored in the following format so that it can be dialed from anywhere in the world:

+44 20 xxxx xxxx

More Information

If you are unsure how to dial an international number, I highly recommend visiting howtocallabroad.com

It’s back to school season! All around students and parents are buying schools supplies and backpacks, teachers are setting up classrooms, textbooks are being distributed and school buses are making their early morning run in your neighborhood. In honor of the “season,” we wanted to share some good back-to-school tips with all of you.

When heading back to the classroom, one of the most important items on the list is to bring the right textbook. The Interaction Center platform includes a whole library of great “textbooks” that we highly recommend. It is called the IC Documentation Library and is available either on your Interaction Center Server or can be installed on client workstations. If you aren’t sure how to access this wealth of information, ask your system administrator or send us an email..

Here are a few reading recommendations for each level of education:

Elementary School – For your users, be sure to take a look at the Quick Reference Materials. These PDF documents cover all kinds of fundamental topics, including:

– Voicemail quick reference cards
– Interaction Client user guides
– and more

Many of these materials can be ordered from Interactive Intelligence as documentation you can distribute. But, why spend the money when you can print them yourself from your server? That’s a quick “A” on your report card!

Also remember to watch our Interaction Client “Did You Know…” Video Series! Request a free copy here.

High School – Supervisors and system administrators can take advantage of documentation for:

– Interaction Administrator
– Attendant
– Supervisor
– and much more

Get AP credits with your diploma by watching our Interaction Supervisor Video Series! Get Free copy here

College – These are the heavy-duty textbooks of the system. Look through the Technical Reference Documents. Perhaps start with:

– Data Backup Recommendations
– Interaction Center Security Concepts
– and Security Precautions

These will ensure that your system is secure and protected against data loss.

Post-Graduate – Begin your graduate studies with documentation for the System APIs. The IC Documentation Library contains a wealth of information on:

– Client COM
– IceLib
– SOAP
– XML integrations
– and more

There you go…a full curriculum for Back to School. If you need any tutoring, be sure to let us know. Here’s wishing you a successful and productive academic year!

One more thing, ININ is offering a 10% discount on their Online Passport (comprehensive computer based training) Until September 30th.

So the next time you receive a frantic call reporting that a user isn’t getting voice mail messages, “Assume nothing.” Don’t assume that their voice mail is actually broken. Don’t assume that callers are actually leaving messages. Don’t assume that the user is correctly accessing their voice mail. But, just because only one user has reported an issue, don’t also assume that everyone else’s voice mail is working correctly or that the problem may only affect voice mail delivery.

Remember: “Assume nothing.”

I am in training to run the Indianapolis 500 Festival mini-marathon this year. I’ve never run a half-marathon before – actually, I’ve never run anything before. A friend asked if I would join her in this adventure and, in a moment of weakness, I agreed! There have been lots of long training runs to do. During those runs, I keep myself going by picturing what it will look like to receive my medal at the end of the race. I saw a shirt recently that said, “It’s all about the medal.” Yes, I am motivated by the medal!

There are people in your organization running a race every day. They are racing to provide your customers with the best possible experience. It’s hard work for them…you put them through training in preparation for the work. But…do you provide them with a medal? What have you done lately to motivate those folks? I have three quick ideas to help keep your staff running.

1. Send them a handwritten note. Who achieved the highest QA score of the week? Who had perfect attendance this month? Who just finished their college degree at night, or announced their engagement? Send them a note…not an email…a genuine I-really-took-the-time-to-do-this handwritten note! I worked with an organization that had a president who was passionate about notes. He counted on his leadership team to let him know what was going on with the 500+ employees in their organization. He sent handwritten notes all the time. You could walk through their contact center and see these notes proudly displayed in cubicles. It’s a “medal” that keeps people running because they know you care about them.

2. Surprise people with something silly. One year, during an especially busy stretch, we walked up and down the aisles of our call center carrying a tray. On it were small paper cups filled with M&M’s and Jelly Bellies. We labeled one set of cups “Zoloft” and one set of cups “Prozac.” It was a bit of comic relief in an otherwise crazy day. Dress up in a crazy costume, hang balloons from the ceiling, give away little stress balls…it’s all about keeping your runners smiling through their race.

3. Present them with a medal! Check this out: http://bit.ly/eOoH7h I love buying fun stuff from these folks. It’s very affordable and they’re a good Hoosier company. I’ve presented medals for all kinds of celebrations big and small (the same kinds of reasons I’d write a handwritten note). People hang these on the walls of their cubicles as well. It’s another fun way to recognize your staff’s hard work.

Taking care of our customers is a marathon, not a sprint. Keep your runners motivated for the long haul…give them a medal!