Phones Trainer's Guide

Before you start, make sure you’ve created a new filemaker user and phone extension. It’s important the the trainee does most of the controlling filemaker in this process. Having them just watch you most of the time doesn’t help them learn properly.

Section One - Outline and explanations

We start by explaining the layout and structure of filemaker. I like to use the analogy of a rolodex. There are several rolodexes, each is used to store a unique set of info, like the job number and unique info for jobs, customer details, company, suburbs + travel times and so on. They are all related, and stored on the server. All changes made to each field (info box) is saved (pushed) to the server in real time. Unlike Word or Excel where a save is needed regularly, this is all live. (which leads to...) Accuracy and care is absolutely crucial! All changes that are made are live in real time. This includes deletions, and over-writing of fields by mistake. Discuss how each record is locked by that user until they finish editing the field. The information taken by us is used blindly by the Movers. It is very important that personal info, addresses, phone numbers are accurate and spelt correctly. Mistakes cost valuable time, and make us look bad. Grammar and punctuation can be key in making your info understandable. Discuss the difference between a “/“ and “-“ in addresses for example. Discuss how address fields are pure address only, notes is for anything else.

Section Two - Trainee Driving Filemaker

Start in the Schedule screen, create a new booking under trainee’s details, and fill in every field starting top to bottom. Discuss why the colours change on some fields. Show how some buttons appear and disappear for various reasons. When you get to the date fields, explain and show the difference between booked date on the actual job, and viewing date at the top of screen and calendar. Discuss who gets a credit account “OK to invoice”. Discuss how “Credit” is not the same as “Credit Card” i.e visa/mastercard etc. Email confirmation, send it to yourself, and go read it. Have they read the terms and conditions? Get them to scan through it, explain the reasons behind the exclusions. Done button, explain email behaviour of the done button for first press, then subsequent presses. Send confirmation manually. Go and find that job, both in detail screen and schedule. Discuss unique info per customer for finding (job number, then mobile, then basic addresses, then surnames). Find it using different criteria, starting with least vague down to “I only know the suburb and day” Once you’ve found the jobs lots of ways, discuss how we give out personal info when finding existing jobs, how we get an idea that we are talking to the correct person. Whether you would just announce all the details of the jobs you’ve just found - or maybe act a bit more suspicious.

Section Three - Proper Role Playing

Get the phone script, start role playing. Start with a complex story about your life, and discuss how to control the conversation a little bit. Make sure they are following the script word for word. Discuss how we allocate and find a time for an actual booking. Calculate job time, Load + Drive + Unload = Time. Does it match the expected averages for Medium/Large truck? Talk about phone manner, using upward voice inflection, not saying “no we don’t do that”, active listening to understand what the customer actually wants Discuss the colour zones for suburbs and how they show on the schedule. Run the role play at least three times, with varying jobs. Always relating the job back to the standard booking procedure and ways of estimating times. This should get you to the mid afternoon. Section Four - Watching what has been learnt in action For the rest of the day have the trainee listening to trainer take calls, and calling back web requests. Have the trainee do any credit cards that come in.

Day Two/Three.

Start with trainee listening to a few, then do easy web requests, then log into the queue and take calls. Make sure the trainee starts all calls by notifying the customer “Please bear with me, it’s my first day on the phones... I’m good at lifting, and now learning to do this.” Explain it makes a huge difference to the customer’s attitude. Be ready to take over if it all gets totally overwhel

ming.

Section Four - Filemaker administration

Talk about dummy jobs, driving blocks (1h or more), hold spots, how they interact with start times,

Duplicate customers - how to recognise them, how to combine and delete them, how to know which customer is the most correct one. Use the contact MWAV as an example.

Discuss who gets a credit account “OK to invoice”. Discuss how “Credit” is not the same as “Credit Card” i.e Visa/MasterCard etc.

Run the trainee through when to book in a 1P job in a 2P day (e.g. first thing in the morning or at the end, so one staff member can be sent) and when to say there are only 2P bookings available. Do the same for Large Truck days, explaining when we consider booking an M truck job in an L day acceptable and when we don't.

Fully explain how to add a company to a job, and how the invoicing works. Have the trainee create their own company, assign it to the job, and have them enable the ‘ok to invoice’ button. Explain how the ‘customer PO’ box works and what a purchase order number is.