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Make and Recieve Telephone Calls

The telephone that I use for work is a complicated phone and I don’t use all of its features, the basic features it has are the function to answer the phone and transfer calls to another person, it also allows me to answer a call from some else’s phone that is in my group. To transfer calls to another colleague I have to press R on the phone and then enter my colleague extension number for the call to be transferred. If I wanted to answer another colleagues phone I simple have to press *84 on the keypad and pick up the phone to receive their call.
I am able to adjust the volume of the ring and I am able to place the call on loud speaker. I am also able to turn on or off the microphone in the handset as well as view the list of the numbers that I called last. I am also able to create a directory of number on the phone to be able to make calls quickly, on top of this there are 12 preset phone numbers with quick dial buttons on the phone however the previous owner had set these up and I am unable to change them.
The phone is also capable of diverting the call to another phone and send messages between phones although I haven’t used this yet. Before making a phone call it’s a good idea to identify the purpose of the call as it would make me the caller sound more professional as I know exactly what I want and would waste no time with anything else, it would also allow me to have information that I can then use to prepare questions to ask and get the necessary details which I may require.

An example of this is when a colleague requested that I acquire some information regarding the prospectus of the local colleges I had to identify whom I was going to make the call to and what the call would be regarding, after speaking to my colleague more and gaining the knowledge of exactly what they wanted me to get I was able to identify that the purpose of this call was to contact the college and ask what lessons they would be providing that relate to the request made by my colleague.
There are multiple ways to acquire the telephone number of people in my organisation as I can use the local address book to get there details, for example if I only knew there phone number which within the organisation would only be their extension number, I could use that to acquire their name and location as well as the department they work in, and I could do the same with only their name. Another method of gathering the contact details of someone is either using the internet to look up their business and get the information from their or ask a colleague if these have access or know the individuals name or number.
I was request to book a venue for a stakeholder workshop for a colleague and they provided me with the specifics of the workshop but not where the workshop would be, they left that up to me to decide, therefore I had to determine which venue would best suit the requirements made. I spoke to another colleague that recommended Dillington House, however they were unable to provide any contact details for me. Due to Dillington House not being within the organisation I was unable to use the local address book so I had to use the internet to acquire their contact numbers.
After locating their website via a Google search I found the contact details for a Robin Kyd who arranged bookings. To finally make the call to the individual within the organisation I would simple enter their extension number on my phone and the call would be put through. On the other hand if I need the contact details of someone outside the organisation I would either have to research their details on the internet, this would include looking up their business, and getting their number from their website.
However this number may only be a general enquiry number and I would then contact them and ask for the relevant details I need. However to make the phone call to someone outside the organisation I simply have to enter the number 9 before entering their full phone number to make the call. An example of me doing this is when I had to make a phone call to Dennis Quick who works for Taunton Deane, I was given his contact details from a colleague when they passed a message along to me.
When I first made the call the line was engaged and I couldn’t get through, but when I rang again later that day I reached Dennis’s secretary who said he was available and transferred my call along to him, it was confirmed that I was speaking to the correct person when he introduced himself as Dennis Quick. The purpose of giving a positive image of myself and my organisation is to give me a polite, efficient and professional image otherwise people will not respect or take you seriously and if you have a professional image then this reflects well on the organisation.
If you have a positive image then communication between people both within and outside the organisation would be better and more efficient possibly allowing for the transfer of information quicker and efficiently. Summarising a telephone conversation before the call ends can be beneficial to both parties as it allows everyone to agree on what has been said and ensure there are no confusions this is especially useful when the telephone conversation has been going on for a long period of time and various things have been discussed, its easy to lose focus on what has previously been said and summarising overcomes this.
It also allows objectives to be clear and information fresh in the mind for both parties to write down or relay to another person or persons. An example of this is when I had to make alterations to a booking that I had made with a business called Monks Yard in Ilminster. After discussing with the person that was arranging the meeting on their end, I ended the telephone conversation by asking the person to repeat the amendments that I wanted them to make and once I was happy that he had everything correct by checking with the list that I had in front of me at the time, I thanked them and ended the call.
When a call comes into the office I’ll always take a name (full if possible and preferably) and the company they are calling from, I’ll try and obtain from the caller either what the problem is exactly or from which department the problem arisen from and if they know who within the department they spoke to. I’ll pass messages along to departments or relevant staff members and see what information can be found to resolve the problem.
If this is not possible try and locate a member of staff who can help from the information obtained from the caller e. g. A company was expecting a Goods Receipt Note via SAP a week ago, I logged into SAP and saw that I needed to send the Goods Receipt Note but as I didn’t have an training and didn’t know what to do, I located a staff member who I knew had training on this and could help me, I contacted her department and was put through to her and she talked me through the problem, however I hadn’t been set up correctly and couldn’t
send out a Good Receipt Note and had to contact IT and get it fixed, during this entire period of getting it fixed and finally sending out the GRN I kept the company informed on what happened and gave them an estimated time that they would receive the GRN. The organisational structure of County Hall is that of a hierarchical structure which uses clear reporting lines and it is easy to see what each team is called and how many people are in that team and how they relate to other people in the system.
The communication channels for us are different per team or department for me my phone is linked with everyone else’s in my team and I am able to answer their phone by entering *84 however I am not able to answer any other phone on the floor this way. I can contact anyone internally as long as I know their extension number as this is the main method of contacting anyone internally and I can call anyone externally by simply entering the number 9 before entering their phone number.
When I make a external call I introduce myself by saying my name and company that I’m calling from, if I know prior to the phone call which member of staff or department that I want to call I would request to speak to them. If I don’t know who I’m reaching I would explain why I’m calling and request help on locating the member of staff that can help me. When I’m connected to this person, I ideally should have some questions ready or know exactly what information I require.
At the end of the call I should summarise the call and recap information to make sure that it is accurate. If a fault was to occur with my telephone I would simply call the IT department and inform them when the problem occurred and how frequent it is happening, they would resolve the issue by either providing a replacement handset until it is fixed or locating the fault and fixing it at their earliest convenience.
When I received a call I should identify who the caller is and their needs to do this I should follow my phone call procedures and gather the callers name and who they calling from, with this done I have now identified my caller and go about identifying their needs. Sometimes the caller will not provide you with their name at the start of the call as for example in a telephone conversation I had with a man asking for a colleague who was away from the desk, after following call procedures I asked to take a message, once the caller had given me his message, I asked who the call was from and he provided me with his name.
Following procedures I will then ask the caller what I can help them with and they should briefly explain why they are calling, depending on why they have called and what my job entails I will either transfer them to another member of my team who can deal with their call, check the availability of a team member and inform the caller that they will call them back at a certain time or providing the information that they require to the best of my ability, although I will inform them that I am new and may not be able to answer all their questions.
An example of this is when I received a phone call from a lady who wanted to submit a complaint to our department, after taking her name and contact details, she proceeded to tell me why she was complaining and what she would like done about it.
During this telephone call I was taking notes so I could pass along her message when the call had ended, at the end of the call when she had finished explaining the problem, I repeated to her the points that I had taken and asked if these were correct, after making some small arrangements I summarised the information that she had given me and once she confirmed it was all correct, I informed her that I was going to pass this along to the relevant person and he would respond as soon as he can, I also informed her that I would call her when I had done this so she would know that action had been taken and it would also create a positive image of myself and my team. Giving accurate information to callers means when someone calls they have done so with the anticipation of getting their question or query answered promptly and professionally. Having up to date information available in a clear and concise manner will confirm in the callers mind that they question has been answered properly. For example if someone rang up asking for details on the most recent consultation regarding one of the teams projects and I gave them a out of date or incorrect document details then it would make a bad impression for the team and could affect their reputation as they may be deemed unreliable.
From a callers point of view they want their personal details kept secure and confidential by showing this when dealing with a caller I am showing them that I can be trusted with their personal information and from my point of view, I need to keep the information private and respect their privacy otherwise I could become liable for prosecution under the Data Protection Act and with the information that my team handles a lot of it is private and confidential so this is a daily thing. If any confidential or information to do with security is given out, then it is causing a threat to others. Types of information that could affect confidentiality and security are people’s personal details so in my case it would be personal phone numbers and addresses. Therefore to reduce the risk of breaking confidentiality the information should only be handled by those that absolutely need access to it and if anyone requests the information then I should ask the persons whose information it is if they can have it or inform the person asking that someone will contact them.
The Data Protection Act was setup to prevent confidential and security information from being given out and it is breaking the law if I was to do so. All these sorts of information should be handled by a maximum of 2 people and seen by no one else; this way no information will be revealed. After answering the call following the team’s procedure, I’d ask the caller if they know the name of the person they wish to speak to, if they don’t ask regarding which department. If they caller doesn’t know who to speak to then I would find out briefly, as they call may be regarding a private matter, what the call in about. Using the information I had gathered it would make it easier to transfer the call to the right person or department.
If the person the caller is trying to reach is unavailable either because they are out of the office or away for the moment, then I would try to located someone else that may be able to take the call and explain to them the name of the caller, and what they are calling about as this would save time for the caller as they wouldn’t have to relay the information again. A lot of the time the case with transferring a call is that the caller would either leave a message or inform me that they would call later, however with some calls that I receive the person they are trying to reach have left the desk momentarily and return while I’m still talking to the caller allowing me to transfer the caller to the person they were trying to reach. I would then inform the caller that I am transferring them to that particular person and explain why they would be more useful and helpful to deal with their request.
Another option would be to leave a message I would either leave a message on their answering machine or a note on their computer, I would leave the following details; who the caller was, full name, where they were calling from, the time that they rang and the details of the call and any specific details or requests the caller wanted the intended receiver to know. A problem that could occur and has occurred it when transferring a call to a colleague the connection to the caller has become lost during the transfer, To amend this I would simply call them back apologising for the inconvenience, also ringing them back would show that I am keen to help them and am trying my best to provide good customer service. I would then log the problem as a technical fault, however if the problem kept occurring then I would report the problem with the IT department.
Another problem that could occur is that I may transfer the caller to the wrong person this may have happened due to a system fault or a technical fault, though in my case it could be due to the fact that I’m new and could have made a mistake. If the caller went to the wrong number then the call would circulate around back to me and I would deal with the call accordingly. However if a call had been transferred to me by mistake then I would explain to the caller that unfortunately they had been transferred to the wrong person, though not necessarily the wrong department. I would apologise to the caller and ask for them to explain the problem and then transfer them to the correct person.
I would then take a note of the problem and if the problem continued I would contact the transferee informing them that they have transferred the call to the wrong person and if it persists then I would inform IT about the problem. When receiving a phone call from an individual I would follow my teams phone call procedures this would involve doing the following things. If it was my phone that was ringing I was answer it as promptly as possible with the greeting, “Isaac Young, Major Programmes”, If it was another member of my teams phone that was ringing and due to the layout of the office it is hard to tell which phone is ringing, It is procedure to wait for the phone to ring three times and if it hasn’t been answered by then, I would enter *84 on the phone to take the call and answer with the previous greeting.
Once I am connected to the caller I would obtain who the caller is and where they are from, by now the caller has usually mentioned the person they wish to speak to, if the caller mentions why they are calling this is noted when transferring the call and it is not company procedure although it is recommended that you ask what the call is in reference to. When reporting a fault to the IT department I have to be as exact as possible as this will help the issue to be resolved as fast as possible. Having an accurate account of when the problem first started and the frequency the fault occurred, what is actually happening, which can be obtained by the fault log that I have written down. I would request IT to provide a replacement phone while the problem is amended.

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