While email and chatbots have become common channels for customer service, inbound calls aren’t going away anytime soon. Larger companies often have generously staffed call centers and training programs to field various customer questions and concerns.
On the other hand, small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) may instead depend on team members or outsourced reps to handle inbound calls. This is where having a well-developed call script becomes crucial.
A call script standardizes customer calls so your reps can seamlessly and consistently schedule appointments, route them to the appropriate team member, and address customer concerns. In this article, we’ll dive into what makes a call script effective and efficient—for both you and your customer.
What Is an Inbound Call?
Inbound calls are phone calls directed to a company’s customer support team and can cover a variety of service requests, questions, complaints, and concerns. It’s the job of your customer service reps—whether in-house or outsourced—to resolve these inquiries to the caller’s satisfaction.
A newly hired customer service rep might find inbound calls daunting and not know what to say throughout the interaction. Compared to outbound sales calls—calls made to prospective customers to sell them your service—inbound calls are significantly less predictable, as the call will depend on the individual caller’s concern or request.
To deal with this uncertainty, customer service reps need to know the following:
- How to start the call
- How to introduce themselves and the company
- How to ask pointed questions that identify the customer’s issue clearly
- How to up-sell or cross-sell customers, if applicable
- How to deliver a call-to-action, if applicable
- How to refer callers to the correct team member or representative when appropriate
- How to end the call after all concerns/needs have been addressed
What Are Call Scripts and Why Do You Need Them?
Many businesses develop call scripts to standardize inbound calls and provide their customer service and support reps with a basic template to work from. In a way, a call script is like a roadmap that gives reps clear directions to resolve a call efficiently and effectively. They give you the ability to:
- Determine how your reps introduce your business over the phone
- Establish pre-set responses to common questions and concerns
- Minimize error and confusion
- Ensure a level of consistency in customer interactions
A high-quality call script can get the ball rolling and give your reps confidence as they build up their experience. As they make more calls using a call script, they’ll likely find that they can venture off-script and sound natural while addressing a variety of unexpected subjects.
What Should You Include in Your Call Scripts?
An effective call script keeps your business’s basic details top-of-mind. It will include some type of call-to-action and avoid wishy-washy words that don’t inspire confidence, like “maybe” and “perhaps”. Finally, it will provide reps with a clean way to wrap up the conversation without being awkward or letting the interaction drag on for too long.
It’s helpful to anticipate the various types of customer scenarios your reps might have to handle and then develop multiple call scripts to address them. Here are some specifics you’ll want to cover in your call scripts:
- Greet the customer and introduce the company and the representative calling (“Hi, this is [name] from [company]. How can I help you today?” is pretty standard)
- Ask pre-qualifying questions regarding their needs (“Great, I can help you out with that. Before we start, can I just get a few details from you?”)
- Ask for their contact information in case you get disconnected (e.g. “What’s the best way for us to reach you in case we get disconnected?”)
- Identify their pain points
- Offer your company’s services as a solution
- Anticipate customer objections
- Re-emphasize your company’s services and try to schedule an appointment before ending the call
- Thank the customer for their time and end the call
- Provide answers to FAQs and useful notes on common concerns
- List the names and contact details of essential team members to redirect calls to in emergencies
What Should You Avoid in Your Call Scripts?
Knowing what to exclude in an effective call script is just as important as knowing what to include. Let’s establish what you need to avoid in your call scripts:
- Robotic, overly formal, and unnatural wording
- Wishy-washy words like “maybe”, “perhaps”, and “could”
- Too much information
- Too little information
- Demonstrable lack of research and understanding of customer pain points
Call scripts must include relevant information that reflects an understanding and anticipation of customer needs and objections. However, they shouldn’t sound like scripts—they should sound like any other spontaneous human interaction. Take time to adjust the language so that your reps sound like they’re engaging in an actual conversation, not stiffly reading off a teleprompter.
Most importantly, call scripts must leave room for reps to engage in effective dialogue with their customer and find out exactly what their concerns are so that they can be adequately addressed. A call script should not be a one-sided conversation or a sales pitch, but rather a tool to guide the conversation towards a mutually beneficial resolution.
Pro Tips Beyond Call Scripts
Call scripts are an essential tool for any successful inbound call center, but adding various strategies and tips can take your customer service game to the next level. Consider implementing these pro tips alongside your call script development:
Address Tone
Call scripts can help with structure and consistency, but they shouldn’t hinder the human element of a customer service interaction. Encourage your reps to be aware of their tone and emotions when speaking with customers. A positive and empathetic tone can go a long way in diffusing tense situations and building rapport.
Provide Ongoing Training
Even with call scripts, regular training is essential for developing exceptional customer service skills. Make sure your reps are well-informed about company policies, procedures, and best practices for handling different types of calls. This ongoing education will help them feel confident and prepared to handle any situation that may arise.
Use Call Monitoring
Consider implementing a call monitoring system to track your reps’ performance on calls, identify areas of improvement, and provide feedback. This can help you continuously improve your call scripts and ensure they are effective in addressing customer concerns. This also provides tangible information about previous calls if a repeat customer calls in regarding the same situation.
Ask Engaging Questions During the Call
Encourage your reps to ask open-ended, personalized questions during the call to understand the customer’s needs and concerns.
This is especially useful when a computer is slow to load data or there’s a delay between customer requests and your reps’ responses. Asking engaging questions can help keep the conversation flowing and show that your reps are actively listening to the customer.
How Can an Outbound Sales Team Lighten the Load?
SMBs often struggle with juggling inbound calls and outbound sales. In these cases, it may be beneficial to outsource your outbound sales efforts to a specialized team that can handle the load.
Most outsourced sales teams have extensive experience handling outbound calls and can seamlessly integrate with your existing call script structure. They can also provide valuable insights on improving your call scripts based on their professional experiences with similar businesses. This takes the pressure off your in-house reps and allows them to provide exceptional customer service.
Additionally, outsourcing outbound sales can free up time for your in-house team to focus on developing more personalized call scripts and training programs. This can lead to even more efficient customer interactions.
Gain a Professional Sales Team With Slingshot
Call scripts are a useful tool to help standardize your customer interactions. Whether you’re developing call scripts for lawn care, pest control, or another home service, you want your script to emphasize basic details about your business, ask pre-qualifying questions, and communicate your value proposition and pricing clearly.
However, even the most perfect call script can’t guarantee a successful call if your reps lack experience and training. Your service reps are critical to your brand, and the way they engage with prospects can make or break your business’s reputation. You want them to sound natural, sell your services effectively, provide constructive support, and build client rapport.
Luckily, you don’t need to spend all your resources on establishing a full-fledged customer support department. At Slingshot, we give businesses a way to improve their customer service and increase sales without a massive investment in benchmarking, measuring, or training. Our outsourced sales and customer support teams offer professional experience at a fraction of the cost.
Contact us today so we can help you take your customer service game to the next level.
Download Your Free Call Script Template
To get started on your own effective call scripts, download our free template for pest control and lawn care providers here. With a well-developed call script and the right team in place, you can provide exceptional customer service that sets your business apart from the competition.
