Chapter 3 Winning Telephone Skills

When handling a customer's incident over the phone, vary the order in which you ask the customer for pertinent information, as this will ensure that the customer pays attention and gives you the correct information.

False

When helping a customer over the phone, you should always let the customer ask the first question, so he knows you are willing to listen.

False

Where are criteria for determining impact, urgency, and priority defined?

Service Level Agreements

Off-the-shelf products are personal computer products that are developed and distributed commercially.

True

When dealing with unsupported products, some companies establish a(n) _____ policy, with an established time limit for assisting customers.

best effort

What is the service provided by a local phone company that identifies the telephone number of the person calling?

caller identification

What kind of survey involves calling a customer and asking for feedback on an incident that the service desk recently solved?

event-driven survey

Which ACD feature requires analysts to create and maintain an inventory that indicates which products, systems, and services they can support?

skills-based routing

Telephone skills, unlike other service desk skills, do not need much honing. Once you have mastered them, you will be able to deliver excellent customer service.

False

Voice over Internet Protocol is an automated form of taking messages from callers.

False

What does the acronym ACD stand for?

Automatic Call Distributor

Some ACD systems use an automated attendant to greet callers when all service desk analysts are busy and can provide valuable information, such as answers to routine questions, as customers wait on hold.

False

Typically, impact and priority combine to determine the urgency of an incident.

False

If all analysts are busy, most phone systems place the customer in a queue and play a message indicating that all analysts are busy.

True

Instead of relating information over the phone, a service desk analyst may ask a customer to fax information, such as a form or a report that has an error message, so that the analyst can more accurately handle the incident.

True

Service desks that respond to calls in a consistent manner are perceived as more professional than those that do not.

True

The use of a script, or standard set of text and behaviors, is a common service desk practice that is particularly useful when providing technical support.

True

To increase customer satisfaction with VRUs, there should be no more than four menu options, callers should have the option to repeat the menu options, go back to the previous menu, cancel input, and callers should be able to speak to an analyst.

True

Two things that most frustrate customers are being placed on hold for an extended period of time and being transferred repeatedly.

True

When dealing with customers over the phone, consistency is particularly important because it builds trust between the analyst and customer, and it teaches customers what they can expect when they call.

True

Which kind of transfer might be appropriate if the analyst quickly realizes that the customer has dialed the wrong telephone number?

cold transfer

Most companies have policies for using ____ mode, a feature that prevents the ACD from routing a new inbound call to an analyst's extension before he or she is ready.

wrap-up

What is the service provided by a long distance phone company that identifies the telephone number of the person calling?

automatic number identification

What kind of transfer is synonymous with a conference call?

hot transfer

ITIL defines ____ as the effect an incident is having on the business.

impact

If a manager is going to evaluate an analyst's handling of a call, the analyst should be provided with a checklist of what constitutes a successful call, prior to being evaluated.

True

If a customer leaves a message for a service desk analyst, the analyst should return the call, even if only to let the customer know that the call was received and logged, and that it is being handled.

True

If an analyst cannot tell a customer when he should expect a resolution, the analyst should give the customer a timeframe within which he can expect an update on the call's status.

True

Which is true about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)?

VoIP does make it easy for companies to link local service desks and analysts working at home.

When using an ACD, which state indicates that the analyst is ready to take calls?

available

According to a Help Desk Institute survey, what percentage of companies use voice mail to take after- hours calls?

49%

According to the 2009 Help Desk Institute survey, what percentage of its membership indicated that customers request services through the telephone?

98%

Which is a benefit of CTI?

Facilitating fax server transmissions.

Which is true of ACD systems?

They determine what calls an analyst receives

Which kind of transfer might be appropriate if there is a backlog of incoming calls in the queue?

warm transfer

A screen transfer is when information about the caller appears on an analyst's monitor. This information is obtained by relating telephone data to data found in a database.

False

A workaround is considered the final resolution to an incident; once it is implemented, and the customer is happy, the call should be closed.

False

An estimated fix time is the time frame within which the support organization is expected to resolve an incident.

False

As long as all analysts have pleasant greetings and appear willing to help the customer, it is not necessary to have them follow a standard script when answering the phone.

False

At the end of the call, if the customer has an additional request, the analyst should ask the customer to hang up and call back, so that the call may be properly tracked through the phone system.

False

____ promote(s) the consistent handling of contacts and provides employees and supervisors specific guidelines that they can use when measuring performance.

Monitoring

A speakerphone allows several people to participate in a call at the same time without the telephone receiver being held.

True

Which is true about unsupported products?

Analysts should exhibit a "can do" attitude when faced with unsupported product

What kind of survey asks customers for feedback about all calls they made to the service desk during a certain time period?

overall satisfaction survey

Which statement is correct?

Customers can perceive voice mail negatively if they are not given an idea of when the call will be returned.

E-mail and Internet support services are expected to increase considerably in the coming years; therefore, the telephone's role will be much reduced, if used at all.

False

Incident surveys are customer satisfaction surveys that ask customers for feedback on a single, recent incident.

False

Which is appropriate when a customer asks to speak to an analyst who is unavailable?

Inform the customer that the analyst is unavailable and ask if you may help the customer.

Which is true about a VRU?

It allows the collection of a unique identifier and then verifies something about the customer.

____ defines the relative importance of an incident and determines in which order incidents are handled.

Priority