General Phone Tips

When a call comes in:

• Always get the name and company of the person you are talking with at the start of the call to verify that they are an existing client. Make sure that you can find their Dashboard before you dive into his/her problem. It helps to write the name down in case you need to pass the phone to someone else.

• Once you know who you are talking to, check out the user list to see what their access level is. If someone calls in and is listed as an “employee” for their user level, we will need to check with an owner before making any big changes (such as updating prices, changing confirmation email content, deleting availabilities, etc). Never switch a user’s access level.

• Understand the problem before you start solving it. Be sure to get all necessary details of the problem, and make sure you understand the difference between what the customer is expecting to see and what they are actually seeing.

After a call:

• Convert the call to a ticket if it’s going to be a longer project so that you can log your time for it.

• Make sure the call has totally ended before talking to a coworker about it!

Tips for Overnight/Weekend Coverage

• If you receive a call at 1am with an odd question and no one is online to help, explain to the caller that you need to have someone else take a look. Tell the caller that you will have someone look at the issue first thing in the morning, and we’ll be back in touch.

• If you miss a phone call in the middle of the night, call the company back as soon as possible. It’s okay if you need to take a minute or 2 to wake up, but make sure you are awake and ready to interact with the customer before calling back- please don’t tell people that you were sleeping if they ask!

General phone etiquette:

• Let people vent! Don’t interrupt customers when they are venting. Even if you know how to solve their problem. Let them get it out, then fix it for them.

• Try not to elevate your emotions if the customer does. We have a natural tendency to mirror the emotions of the person we are interacting with – be aware of this and keep your own emotions even keel to bring the upset person down to your level.

• Always roll something up to Elle or Judge if the customer starts to get out of hand! Sometimes just hearing a new voice calms them down.

• Let people know what you are doing if there is going to be a period of silence.

• “Sorry, this report is taking a moment to generate” or “Okay, just looking for that booking now”
• You can make small talk during long silences, but don’t leave people wondering what is going on.

• Thank people for being patient if something is taking too long for you to load

• Avoid putting people on hold for longer than 30 seconds.

• If you are going to put them on hold, say “I am going to put you on a brief/quick hold”, “do you mind if I put you on hold while I look into that?” – don’t ever just go silent

• Try to minimize saying “um” and “uh”.

• Always ask if you can help first before just taking a message “what is this in reference to?” “I’d love to try to help you with that now”.

• Always end on a positive note “Great talking to you!” “Thanks for calling!”

• Don’t eat while on the phone.

• Try to avoid giving people firm deadlines about when you will have something completed.

• Be yourself on the phone!!! Our clients really love that we provide support from a real human being. Phone calls go more smoothly when you’re relaxed and being casual. Being conversational but helpful and professional with callers makes the calls much more relaxed and personalized. Try to establish some kind of rapport with the caller so they feel like they’re actually working with a person who cares and not a robot.

How to work through some common scenarios that come up over the phone:

What if:	How to handle:
Someone calls and is in Demo mode?	Let them know their onboarder will reach out to help them out. We need to avoid whenever possible getting pulled into long training calls on the support line; this is the onboarders responsibility.
Someone calls and is not an existing client?	Use the script below, and and fill out this form.
Someone asks you to make huge changes to their Dashboard or pricing structure?	Ask them to email you all the details so that they have time to think it all over and put it down on paper, and we have something in writing from them to work off of.
If someone asks what the booking fee or credit card processing rate is?	It’s okay to tell them! Always double check what the fee is on their Dashboard under Settings> Advanced company settings > Payments. The majority of companies are at 6% for the booking fee and 1.9% + 30 cents for the credit card process rate.
If someone wants to talk to a FareHarbor employee who is not right near you?	Just take it like a message and say they will call you back when they become available. Do not keep them on hold while you Slack or run upstairs to find someone.
If our client’s customers call because they don’t recognize the charge on their statement?	FareHarbor’s number appears on people’s credit card statements so that is where they get the number from. First thing to ask is “What does your statement say?” They will tell you a company name. Ask “Did you recently do an activity with X company?” Usually this is enough to get them to remember what the charge is for, if not, try to find their reservation on the company’s Dashboard. You can also look up the charge in Stripe by searching the for amount and the last 4 digits of the card.
If you don’t know the answer to something?	Get as much info as you can to make sure you know what the person needs. You can put them on hold and ask someone or see if you can call them back. Our customers are chill (for the most part) and are fine with being put on hold if it means they will get a more accurate answer.
If someone asks where they can see their booking fees on the Dashboard?	The FareHarbor online booking fee is not reflected on customer’s bookings or in the reports section. The only place you will see the full amount charged with the fee is if you are refunding a payment, and you can hover over the little “i” next to the total to see what the fee amount is. Our fee is taken off immediately at the time of the booking. We do this to reduce confusion about what money belongs to us and what belongs to them.

Script for dealing with prospective client phone calls:

People can get really cranky about this, but always put a positive spin on it! Let them know:

“We’re super excited that you’re reaching out for more info on FH! I’m sorry I don’t have the info you want at this moment, but I’m going to get you in touch with an AE that can answer every single question you may have about how FH can work for your company!”