How to prepare your communication channels for the holiday season.
With the holidays approaching, most of you will be away from work, at least for a few days. You need to make sure that this vacation period does not have a negative impact on your communications with your customers and suppliers. Are you ready to leave with peace of mind and enjoy a well-deserved break?
At SBK Telecom, we cannot finalize your current files or modify your assembly line for the holiday season. However, we are in a great position to suggest what communication priorities you should cover before you go away. Here's our simple checklist to ensure that your unified communications are optimized during the vacation season:
1. Change your general greeting
It's important to inform your customers of any changes related to the holiday season: hours of operation, staff availability, etc. When your customers call your business, tell them about all the changes related to the long vacation as soon as the greeting starts.
Did you know that with SBK Voice it is possible to add an informative message that precedes the current Interactive Voice Response (IVR) message? No need to change it all! Discover how here. You can even pre-program these messages for a defined period months in advance!
2. Program absence message
A short message about an extended absence ensures that all your emails are followed up immediately and tells your customers to expect set deadlines. A small action that saves you a lot of explanations when you return from vacation! The procedure to follow via Outlook is simple. Don't forget to repeat the exercise for your social networks if they are part of your communication tools. ( Facebook, Linkedin )
3. Review response rules and ring groups
Throughout the year, incoming calls must be well directed and answered quickly. To ensure this even during vacation periods, we recommend reviewing the answering rules for the various IVR options based on employee vacations and availability. Different ring groups for different periods of availability will ensure that each employee's schedule is respected.
Thanks to the SBK management platform, you can program in advance the different response rules related to specific schedules at certain times of the year. Everything is done in a few clicks: follow the procedure. And you will always have the possibility to make last minute changes from your laptop if necessary.
4. Make sure calls are routed to the right communication tools
Whether you're working from the office, home, or the cottage this holiday season, it's crucial that you get your calls on the right device so your clients don't run into your voicemail while you're available.
You have the choice to leave all your devices active or to select only those on which you want to be reached. Desktop device or softphone on your laptop, mobile application on your cell phone, Teams integration: you can prioritize the devices you want to use and modify them according to your needs.
5. Seize the opportunity and enjoy it!
Inform of changes: yes, offer your best wishes: of course! Add "Happy Holidays" to your customer communications and take this opportunity to show real appreciation.
Whether it's to reconnect with loved ones or to take a well-deserved break, this time off allows you to get away from work and come back strong in the New Year. That is why the entire SBK Telecom team wishes you a very happy holiday season!