We don’t mean to brag, but the Ruby® crew is pretty good at what we do — in fact, our clients consider us the best virtual receptionist team around, and that makes us beam with pride. Taking great messages is one of the ways we shine, and today, we’d love to share a few simple ways to Ruby up your message-taking skills.
Here are three ways to make your every message magnificent:
- Start typing as soon as your caller starts talking. Keep a word processing document, text doc, or blank email up at all times, and type what your caller says from the get-go. It’s a great way to keep your transcription skills in shape, and if you end up taking a message, you have notes ready to copy and paste. Handwritten notes are great, but if you’re using a computer, do yourself a favor and type notes — it’s much faster, and chances are it’ll be easier to check your spelling.
- Create shortcuts. Do you have a few favorite phrases you regularly add to messages? Our telephone answering pros do, and we love ShortKeys for just that reason. ShortKeys is a supercool, super user-friendly program that allows you to type a whole lot of words in just a keystroke or two, and — Bonus! — there’s a free version!
- Recap before you hang up. At the end of your conversation, paraphrase the content of your message to your caller. It can be as easy as saying “I’ll have her call you!” or “I’ll let her know that 2:00 next Wednesday is the best time to meet.” Recapping is the perfect way make sure you capture all the key details, and a recap shows your caller how how gosh-darned helpful you are. If you’ve taken a long or complicated message, try reading it back to your caller word-for-word: “I’d love to make sure I’ve noted everything correctly. Let me read this back to you…” One final touch: After your recap, give your caller the opportunity to make additions with a friendly, “Is there anything else you’d like me to include?”
Got any message-taking tips to share? Tweet us @callruby!
