Use cases
The calls to hand over first
The best first job for a voice agent is high in volume, low in variation, and currently done badly because nobody has the hours for it. Six that fit that description in almost every business, and where a person still belongs on each.
The main number, when nobody is free
Reception and after-hours answering
- What happens today
- Your published number rings at a desk. When that desk is busy, at lunch, or gone home, the caller gets voicemail. Most of them do not leave one.
- What changes
- Every call is answered on the first ring, at any hour. The agent works out what the caller needs, answers the routine ones outright, and books a callback for the rest with the details already written down.
- Where a person still belongs
- Anything urgent, anything about an existing complaint, and anyone who asks for a person goes straight through during working hours.
Speed to first contact, on every lead
Calling new enquiries back
- What happens today
- A form comes in at 9.40pm. Somebody calls back at 11am the next day, by which time the customer has spoken to two other suppliers. Nobody is at fault; there was nobody there.
- What changes
- The agent calls back within seconds of the enquiry landing, asks the questions your sales team would have asked, and writes the answers into your system. Your people spend their day on the enquiries that are worth a call.
- Where a person still belongs
- The moment a lead is qualified and warm, it is a person’s call to make. The agent is there to make sure that person is ringing the right ten people rather than all forty.
Fewer no-shows, without a morning of phone calls
Appointments, confirmations and reminders
- What happens today
- Somebody spends the first hour of every day confirming the day’s bookings, and the no-shows still happen because the calls that did not connect were never chased.
- What changes
- The agent calls, confirms, reschedules on the spot when the customer cannot make it, and tries again later on the ones that did not answer. Your calendar is up to date before anyone opens it.
- Where a person still belongs
- A customer who wants to change something complicated, or who is calling about a treatment or a case rather than a slot, is transferred.
The most repeated call in most businesses
Order, delivery and account status
- What happens today
- "Where is my order" is the single most common call in retail, logistics and services, and it is almost always answerable by looking at one screen.
- What changes
- The agent looks it up while the customer is still on the line and tells them, in their language. If there is a problem with the order it says so plainly rather than reading out a status code.
- Where a person still belongs
- Anything that has gone wrong, anything involving a refund, and any caller who has rung about the same order before.
Consistent, polite, and recorded
Payment reminders and follow-ups
- What happens today
- These calls are unpleasant to make, so they get made late, unevenly, and by whoever is least busy. The inconsistency is what causes the complaints.
- What changes
- Every customer gets the same call, at the same point, with the same wording, and a payment link on the spot. Every one of those calls is recorded and written down, which is what you need when a customer disputes one.
- Where a person still belongs
- Hardship, disputes and anyone who becomes distressed. The agent stops and transfers rather than continuing to ask. This is a rule you set explicitly, and it is the one we ask about first.
The outbound calls nobody has time for
Surveys, check-ins and win-backs
- What happens today
- Everyone agrees that ringing lapsed customers or asking recent ones how it went would be worth doing. Nobody has ever had the hours to do it.
- What changes
- The agent works through the list and has a real conversation on each call, so people answer properly rather than pressing 1. You get the answers, and a shortlist of the calls a person should make personally.
- Where a person still belongs
- Every unhappy answer becomes a task for someone on your team, with the recording attached.
Choosing one
How to pick the first call type
The pilot that goes well is almost always the boring one. Three questions settle it faster than a workshop.
Which call do you make most often?
Volume is what makes the difference measurable inside two weeks. A call type you handle twice a week will not tell you anything either way.
Could a new starter be taught it in a day?
If yes, it is a good candidate. If it takes a month of shadowing, start somewhere else and come back to it once the easy volume is off the team.
What does it cost you today to get it wrong?
Missed calls, no-shows, late payments, hours spent. Whatever that number is, it is what the pilot gets measured against, so it is worth agreeing on before anything is built.
Not sure which one to start with?
Describe the call. We will tell you whether a voice agent should be taking it, including when the answer is no.