Some people use a PBX or a KSU system in environments such as retail. And some instances, the most used feature or most liked feature of any telephone system is the ability to page. However, excessive use and overuse of paging in inappropriate uses can drive customers away if you allow “Open Line Friday*” every day, or allow someone to page and page right after the last page.
*referring to an alleged theme on a major conservative talk radio show that supposedly callers can call in without a narcissist yepping in those 3 hours on such days.
I can’t tell you how Open Line Paging can drive someone with sensory disorders crazy.
Here’s the deal.
Instead of investing in expensive walkie talkies to talk behind the customers back, here is some guidelines in paging.
- If you have a central extension (such as a customer service desk, where its always manned by someone monitoring the telephone), have that be the go to extension.
- Instruct employees to dial zero to request a page.
- Have a structured speech. Such examples
- “[Person] Telephone call on [Pickup access code]”,
- “[Person] please dial zero for the operator”
- “[Person] Please call extension [number]”
Make sure the person is paging has an appropriate tone of voice, do not talk like a high school cheerleader, and do not page so you can hear yourself.
Also in this change of process, make sure you update your Class of Restrictions, Class of Service or COR or COS so the people don’t continue to page at their station or extension. Block access to paging and only enable it to the operator’s or central point of contact’s extension.
Automated paging also will turn away potential customers. Stores like Lowes and Kohl’s have automated paging systems where a user dials an extension to ring out to the automated paging. The real problem is when no one gets to the customer fast enough and the paging system sends more authority. And if you’re going to do “codes” outside of medical centers, reserve that for the walkie talkie. What does “Code 34” mean to a customer when its blasted at like 20db or something crazy like that?
Ok, gotta chime in my biggest paging pet-peeve. Yes, of course it’s the regular clerks who barely know how to speak proper English to the customers, and vomit that same dialect over the paging system. But, no, my biggest paging pet-peeve is the “page page, CLUNK” of the handset being hung up. Even if your set doesn’t have a release or drop button, please, for the sake of the customers, depress the switch hook to drop the line before hanging up the handset!!!! This small action only takes an extra fraction of a second and makes the pages sound so much more professional!
On the other hand, some of the best paging I’ve ever heard has been at a major hub airport, I don’t remember if it was Denver or Minneapolis. “Paging Delta passenger John Doe, Delta passenger John Doe. Please proceed to the nearest white courtesy telephone for a message.” These pages were clear and stuck out from the routine TSA recordings, “Security is our priority, please report any unattended baggage…….”
Is this Jason, or the Joe the UCX Guy?, hahaha! He kinda makes the same statements on his site in re to the first paragraph. I don’t mind the loud clicks. Retail is a dying breed, and if you got a p*ssed off clerk that’s angry about their co-worker or manager, a nice loud click (albeit unprofessional) can be a great revenge.
The guidelines written was based from a volunteer experience at an area hospital. Operators would be the only people who had rights to page over the loudspeaker (likely a COS/COR for attendants.) They would quietly come on and come off, probably dialing a FAC from their 302 C or D consoles. The pages were discrete because a) they used headsets and they probably used the Release key. No pings or rings or beeps ether, even in a Code Red or Blue situation.
I didn’t realize non-scripted paging was still existent today at airports with the advent of crackberries, iPhones, iPads, etc. I remember reading in a book that Around 1987, Apple had attempted to buyout Apollo (once a workstation hardware maker) and the deal was canceled. They decided to go cold feet after the execs headed out east to start talking. So how did they find out the news while they were 3,000 miles away at Logan Airport, en route to the HQ in the Boston suburbs? Some officials at Logan specifically paged the people of interest to report to the desk to answer an important call. The Cupertino crew had to call Logan as they knew their group would be arriving and wanted to let them know ASAP that they didn’t want to go further in any acquisition. Not to long after that HP decided to buy them out instead.