Blog: Call centres, 'bad lines' & silent calls

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John

Our Service Lead Kirsten Howells talks about helping call centres to accommodate people who stammer.

If there's one thing STAMMA's passionate about, it's making sure that people who stammer get the same treatment as anyone else. Using the phone can be tricky for lots of people who stammer, so it's important that this is considered in call centre procedures and training for staff. There are simple steps an organisation can take to ensure customers with speech differences are being considered. 

At STAMMA, we have a helpline of our own so we know that 'silent calls' and 'bad lines' are a recurring feature of call centre work. Some people who stammer find it very hard to speak on the phone, particularly at the beginning of a call. Call handlers can easily mistake this for a 'bad line' or a dropped connection and hang up when, in fact, the caller is just someone who stammers working hard to speak. 

Being hung up on when you're trying to talk can be humiliating, upsetting and downright frustrating. Particularly when all you're trying to do is book an appointment, pay a bill, ask a question or report a stolen credit card. The experience can leave some people who stammer feeling ashamed, embarrassed or fearful to call back. 

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Bhupinder

An easy solution

STAMMA have recently worked with a call centre at Money Wellness to help them make sure they're creating space for callers with speech differences. Money Wellness is an organisation providing free debt and money advice, and as part of that work, they reviewed how they deal with silence on calls and decided to make a change. They introduced a new sentence to their script which their advisors now use when the phone connects but nobody speaks:

"Take your time. I'm listening. I'm here."

Within the first three weeks of introducing the new sentence, Money Wellness were delighted to receive four spontaneous feedback comments from people who told them they stammer and how great the advisor had been with them. Here's a flavour of those comments:

"10 out of 10. The lady who I spoke to first was absolutely great considering I have a stammer and was embarrassed about the situation. She made me confident whilst I was on the phone to her. Cannot thank her enough for her help and the way she dealt with me, and everyone else who I spoke to after was great as well. So yeah, 10 out of 10 from me."

It really goes to show how one small change can make a big difference for individual callers.

By reviewing how ways of working might be preventing people with communication disabilities and differences from accessing their services, these small changes can also help service providers meet their anticipatory duty under the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act.

Script

If your organisation is looking for a more structured approach to dealing with silence on calls, try this more detailed example script:

Resources

For more info and support, see our Stammering & Customer Contact page. You can also email us at training@stamma.org or call our helpline on 0808 802 0002 and ask for a member of the training team to call you back.