The Constellation A newsletter for Answering Service Employees, donated to the industry by TeamSNUG
Hydra A Shining Star to Guide the Way... “The Seamonster” Today’s Luminary is Mary McGreevy The Answer Center Hydra is the largest of the By Paula Ford 88 modern constellations, measuring 1303 square Midnight Mary Makes our Day! degrees. It has a long nswer Center has been blessed by list. Mary is able history, having been having great midnight shift to hand odd calls A operators. Our longest term off to the on-call included among the 48 employee with over 20 years experience person without constellations listed by the has been Mary McGreevy, or "Midnight creating that Mary" as everyone calls her. Mary was the dreaded "first thing in the morning 2nd century first operator we hired when we decided to complaint". astronomer Ptolemy. It is go 24 hours. She worked day shift when we had 35 clients, but as we grew she found Mary is blessed with a natural empathy and commonly represented as the pace nerve wracking. Mary thrives on identifies with both clients and callers - a water snake. It should not overnights and our clients love her. When seeing situations from their perspective. she goes on vacation the busy night One client’s practice manager says her be confused with the accounts notice her absence. They don't usually unsmiling doctor was positively similarly named complain, but they celebrate her return. gushing in praise of Mary. It is a very rare thing for Mary to fail to calm and reassure constellation of Hydrus. When Mary first came to work for us, she an upset caller; in fact she becomes upset had pictures of her husband and two sons when she can't accommodate the caller. on her desk. Now the pictures focus on Despite its size, Hydra grandchildren, but the love and pride she I am sure that Mary saves at least one life contains only one takes in them is still the same. per year, and she certainly helps a lot of foolish people from taking potentially lethal reasonably Mary can't work seven nights a week, so we risks, like those who smell gas and want to bright star, Alphard (α have tried to figure out what makes her so stay in their apartments until maintenance special. We use the "Mary Profile" in every arrives! Mary gets them to go to their cars, Hya, 30 Hya), which is step of the hiring process whenever we and somehow she doesn't make them feel of apparent need someone for the third shift. Key stupid while she's doing it. When she magnitude 1.98. Alphard words: wakes up the grumpy surgeon, she calls Empathy her and sends a text with just the callback ("the solitary one") is Un-common sense number - experience has taught her that actually a double star. The Happiest when she makes others happy this doctor transposes digits when sleepy. Only misses work for major surgery or She delivers all of the small restorations head of the snake a hurricane companies messages to the owner twice— corresponds to the Is NOT a morning person the first time wakes him up, the second makes sure he's vertical and heading for Hates to change jobs Ashleshanakshatra, the the van. Mary is genuinely pleased when Can't excel when super busy - wants to she can make a caller happy. lunar zodiacal constellation form relationships with clients and
regular callers in Indian astronomy. One of the funniest "Mary" stories? A client
has his house set up with an alarm system On the midnight shift, uncommon sense is a that allows him to turn lights and appliances real necessity. You may think your script —from wikipedia on and off from his cell phone. Mary covers every possible situation, but not learned how to call his home, start his every situation can be on the emergency 2nd Quarter 2012 (Continued on page 2) No Problem is a Problem! ey, thanks for sharing your lunch with me.” “Anytime, no problem.” “H “Thanks for holding that door.” “Sure, no problem.”
Actually – “no problem” is a problem in our business. There are only two “right” replies when someone says “Thanks”, or “Thank You” or any variation thereof.
“Thank you.” ----- “You’re welcome.” or “Thank you;” ----- “You are welcome.” or “Thank you.”--- “You are so welcome.” All variations on the same theme, and all acceptable
Can you ever say “No problem”? Sure you can, if someone doesn’t say “thank you”. For instance if someone says, “I appreciate the ride home!” You can reply, “Oh really it was no problem, I was happy to do it.” But, just using the word problem, even when denying it, makes a person wonder. How much better would it be to just say “I was happy to do it.” No one really wins when we say “no problem – two negatives do not make for a positive experience.
Or – try something new that is bringing smiles to people’s faces.
My Pleasure --- IS a Pleasure
“Thank you.” ----- “My pleasure.”
When you reply to “Thank you” with the words, “My pleasure”, said sincerely, it makes people stop and really consider what you said. Often they will stop and look straight into your eyes and grin! They will feel that you were happy to assist them, that more than just “not being a problem” you actually felt good about it. It always brings a smile to my face when someone replies to my thanks by saying it was their pleasure to help me.
In our business we need to make it our pleasure to help our callers. It is our job to be of assistance and we should be pleased that we are able to do it. (Actually, we probably should be pleased we have a job – so many people don’t these days.) When we tell a caller that it was our pleasure to help them, we are cementing their relationship with our clients. When we tell our own clients it is our pleasure to serve them, we are cementing their relationship with our company.
This personal touch is what keeps our customers happy with what we do for them, and it helps them forgive us if we make a minor mistake. So when we are on the phones, make sure that our clients and their customers and callers know that it was our pleasure to assist them. Everyone wins when we say those two little words.
Luminary, cont... (Continued from page 1) coffee maker, and then wake him up. One night he forgot to put the carafe back in the coffee machine. Even though he got a flooded countertop and nearly scalded his feet, he was still laughing when he told Mary the story. Instead of changing the routine, he got a new coffee maker that hangs down from the cabinet and installed it over the sink!
If Mary wins the lottery and leaves? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK! Healthy... Wealthy... Better Breast Cancer Detection Stolen Bags?
ammograms id you know that sometimes fail suitcases can be M to detect D stolen right off cancer, especially if the the luggage carts in the tumor is in dense breast lobby of a hotel, and the tissue. If you, or hotel is not legally someone you know, is at responsible for the loss? high risk for breast If you must leave your cancer, ask for Molecular luggage ask that it be put Breast Imaging – done in a safe location. ALSO, with an MRI. A Mayo high end bags are much Clinic study found that it more apt to be stolen raises the detection rate than ugly, scuffed to nearly 86%. luggage.
...and Wise Achieving Balance
rotect yourself from falls. Your sense of balance can be improved – but you have to exercise it regularly. Stand on one leg and move the other, bent at the knee – do this several times a day. P Be sure to have something you can grab nearby if you need additional support.
Prize Puzzle
he article on the next page talks about measurements. The following clues are abbreviations of common measurements. For example, 365 D in a Y is “365 Days in a Year”. How many can you T guess? Answers, back page...
1. 60 S in an M ______
2. 2 C in a P______
3. 12 I in a F ______
4. 4 S on a S ______
5. 5280 F in a M ______
6. 12 M in a Y ______
7. 16 O in a Pound ______
8. 4 Q in a G ______
9. 29 D in F in a LY ______
10. 2000 P in a T ______“The things which are not measurable are more important than those which are measurable.” —Alexis Carrel
t almost seems that Alexis Carrel was talking about our industry. We I measure so many things to try to establish standards for our service, and yet it is that which can’t be measured that truly is the most important aspect for our clients. It is that warm caring quality that is difficult to describe, but so easy to feel when you are on the receiving end. We can call it being Nice, Caring, Pleasant, Kind, Interested, Connected or Engaged, and we still won’t really describe that elusive quality, but we know it when we hear it!
It is that tone, those questions and comments, which give the person you are talking with the feeling that you truly understand what he or she is saying, and that you empathize with their situation.
When the Award of Excellence was conceived twenty years ago, they tried to measure the caller’s experience. By counting the number of times we say please or thank you, we can hope we are measuring the politeness of the agent, but we really aren’t. By counting the times we use the caller’s name, or say, sir or ma’am, we try to measure the personal feeling of the call, but we really aren’t. By confirming that we explained what we would do with a message we have taken, we hope we are measuring the information that we have shared on behalf of our client, but again, we really aren’t.
We measure things because doing so indicates some standards of quality. The average time to answer tells us if our staffing is correct. The time an agent is logged in compared to the time they are taking calls gives us an idea of how he or she is working. We measure our Puzzle efficiency by the length of time we Answers: People will forget what you say; people will even forget are on clients’ calls compared to our 1. 60 Seconds in a what you did; but people will never forget how you peers. Making sure Minute we confirm the 2. 2 Cups in a Pint made them feel. spelling of names 3. 12 Inches in a and the telephone Foot —Joe Pine, Author of The Experience Economy numbers indicates 4. 4 Sides on a that we will give our Square client accurate information. Confirming that the prompts are all completed indicates whether 5. 5280 Feet in a we are providing our client with all of the information he or she has requested. But NONE of Mile these things measure the most important thing – the caller’s experience. That is not 6. 12 Months in a measureable. Year 7. 16 Ounces in a Every one of us knows in our hearts if we have reached out to that caller and made them feel Pound good about their experience. We know if it is all about US and how well we are hoping to 8. 4 Quarts in a score on the call, or if it is about the CALLER and how they perceive our CLIENT because of Gallon the way we handled their call. Our job is to be sure that we do all those measureable 9. 29 Days in requirements, but most of all it is to represent our clients well and make sure that their callers February in a will have an immeasurably good experience. If they hang up the phone feeling that we are Leap Year going to help them, and feeling good about the way we have gone about it – we have done 10. 2000 Pounds in a our job well! Ton