The below email was sent to the Cit of Winter Springs on July 14th, 2004.   It took the "dais darlings" over a year to wake up to realize the City has a phone problem.    They were too busy watching their investment in "Tiny Town" to care about the needs of residing citizens.   

          By the way ---- "Tiny Town" lost another tenant do to the lack of revenue from decreasing sales of it's products.     Yet one of the most thriving new businesses in the City --- Buster's Ice Cream --- on OLD SR434 is experiencing tremendous crowds and sales.    Such a shame that people who invested the savings into a farce like "Tiny Town" have to bear the blunt of the City's poor planning and narrow minds of City officials.

          The below was TOO easy for the City's officials to follow.    They hadn't hired one of McLemore's consultants to intelligently look into the phone problems within the City, and goodness knows the City Manager doesn't have the experience to solve problems on his own without a consultant.

 Wonder how many hundreds-of-thousands of dollars have been spent so far in the communications area for the City of public distrust ?

Commissioner McLeod:

         

          This email is in regards to the July 12^th agenda item on the city’s voicemail system.   I am sending this to you because you were the person to make the motion on how to direct staff.   However, I am copying Mayor Bush on this because, from what I understand, he was the person to ask that it be placed on the agenda.

          My problems with the city’s voice mail system are not the fact that voicemail is being used, but that city management does not have etiquette rules for its staff members who use it.  There should be procedures and rules for the use of voicemail by ALL staff, especially those who deal with the public directly or on a daily basis.

          Today, when you call into someone’s voicemail at City Hall, everyone uses a standard greeting like -- “Hi, this is so and so, I am away from desk right now, but if you leave a message I will call you back.    No where in that type of greeting do you know whether or not that person is in the office that day or out of the office.     This is frustrating whether you need to talk to that person immediately or if you chose to leave a message.      

          In the IT support world, greetings are changed daily first thing in the morning to identify the person, to announce what date it is, and whether or not that person is in the office or out of the office.    If they are out of the office or tied up in an all-day meeting, the timeframe of the absence is announced, when the person will be back in the office, and who is the contact person (and phone number) in the staff member’s absence.    Also, a greeting may contain information that a staff member needs to work on the call before a callback (like “please give the customer ID off of your water bill”, etc.).

          Standard scripted greetings could be drafted especially for people who need certain information to work on a call (water department, recreation department, building department, etc.).   Changing voicemail greetings daily each morning does not take much time, should be easy to do, and can be done locally or remotely.   If they can’t, then the voice mail system the city has is an archaic one.

  

 So, here are sample greetings for those situations.

 

          “Hi, this is so and so, today is July 14^th. I am in the office today but currently away from my desk.   Please leave me a message.   If you need immediate assistance, you may press 0 (or whatever it is) to reach the operator (or whoever it is).”

         

          “Hi, this is so and so, I am out of the office from July 14 until July 21.    I will return to the office on July 22nd.    You may leave me a message and I will call you when I return, or if you need assistance you may contact so-and-so at this number and they will assist you. 

 

          “Hi, this is so and so, today is July 14^th.    I am in meetings for most of the day, but I will be checking my voicemail. Please leave me a message.    If you need immediate assistance, you may press 0 (or whatever it is) to reach the operator (or whoever it is).” 

 

          “Hi, this is so and so, today is July 14^th.    I am in the office today but currently away from my desk.    If you are calling in regards to your utility bill please give your customer ID and account number from your water bill when you leave a message so I will have your account information ready when I return your call.    If you need immediate assistance, you may press 0 (or whatever it is) to reach the operator (or whoever it is).”

 

          The other problem I have had with staff members is when I leave a message and my call is not returned until a day or two later.    Of course, I am not sure whether or not the person is in the office or out of the office. However, instances like that should never happen -----of course, some people in City Hall rather not speak to me, but that is still no excuse.

          In the IT support world, success is measured by callback response time and resolution.    Staff members have a responsibility to make a call back as quickly as possible usually within 15-30 minutes.    That means, staff members should check their voicemail regularly throughout the day and respond back as quickly as possible whether or not they have a response for the person calling.   

          So, the staff member could call back and let the person who called that they received their message and that they will call them within a certain time frame with a response.    At least the caller knows the message was received and that someone is working on it.

          Rules and procedures for voicemail greetings and guaranteed response time could minimize a lot of citizens’ frustrations.  This is a NO-COST option that may help resolve the problem to some degree. Of course, proper voicemail etiquette should be modeled from the top on down.    So voicemail etiquette not only applies to clerks at the front desk but to the commission and upper management as well.

          Again, my frustrations with the voicemail is not knowing if the person is even there, who can I call if they are not, and the response time of a call.     As you can see, my frustrations have nothing to do with the voicemail system, but with the staff members abusing it.

 

I hope this information helps you in assisting staff.

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