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Comprehensive Phone Guide

Outline
Overview
Scheduling
Phone Operation
Transferring Calls
Rules of Thumb
Answers to Some Basic Questions

Overview

Operators must be ready to provide help to anyone from C-SPAN junkies to graduate students and professional congressional researchers to our own members. It is the job of every Project Vote Smart intern or staff member answering the phone to provide the caller with a pleasant experience. No matter what tone of voice the caller uses, remain polite and professional. As a phone operator, you are speaking on behalf of the Project.

You may be asked to answer any of our three phone lines: MainLine, CandidateLine, and HotLine. For more detailed instructions on each of those phone lines, please reference those pages.

You will need to be able to find answers to a variety of questions; being fluent in our site makes this easier, see Navigating Our Website and Research Tips.

Scheduling
For most of our phone duties, there is a phone Calendar sent weekly via email. If you are scheduled for primary or lunches and are not going to be in the office, make sure someone is covering your shift. If the replacement forgets, it is the primary shift holder's responsibility.

If you have Lunch Duty:

How to Start and End a Phone Call

Beginning of call

The phone rings once and you answer it:

Vote Smart:
"Thank you for calling Project Vote Smart. This is __________. How can I help you?"

Basic End of Call

Vote Smart:
"We very much appreciate your call today and hope you will share us with people you know. Have a nice day, good bye."

Phone Operation

One or several of our phone lines should be set to ring on your phone. You can tell what line is what by pressing feature * 0. The feature button is the one that says "feature," or the one that looks like a satellite going around a planet. Then press the line buttons and it will tell you what line shows up where and any feature buttons (like Vote 1, Hotline 1, Transfer, etc.). Make sure you have a transfer button and you know where it is. Also, make sure you know how to use the "hold" button.

Transferring Calls:

Before transferring a call, make sure you ask the person their first and last name and what organization they are from/what the call is in reference to. If it is a member calling, it is important to ask what city and state they live in. Consult the PhoneList to find the proper extension. If you must transfer to someone in another office, dial 9+1+ and the office number.

To Transfer Calls: press transfer key on your phone > dial the 4 digit extension of the person you wish to reach > inform them what the call is about, wait for their "ok" > hang up if the person does not answer their phone within 2 rings = the person is not at their desk. Simply press blinking key again (brings you back to the caller) inform them that the primary person was not at his or her desk. Inform the caller that you will transfer him or her to another person. > press transfer key again > dial another 4 digits for someone else who could take the call > wait for them to say they will take the call > hang up.

In general, phone calls should be directed to the following staffers (We do not transfer calls to department directors):

• Department Staffers in the Montana Office
• Candidate Attacks: Ben
• Questions about Elections or Candidacy: Ben
• Questions about VoteEasy: Oren or Masha
• Speeches: Katy
• Interest Group Ratings: Jason/Katy
• K-12 Civics Education: Katy (not really, but kind of)
• Voter's Self-Defense Manuals/USGOM: DevComm staff
• API, Subscription questions or problems with service: Office Manager; Data issue: the appropriate department; Technical problems: Shultz
• National (10-week) Internships: Office Manager
• Member Internships: Hannah
• Members Wanting to Set Up Recurring Donations: Eric
• All other Members or People that Want to Donate: DevComm staff

If the Vote Smart employee you are attempting to reach is unavailable, take a message being sure to get the following information:

1. name
2. email address
3. reason for calling
4. phone number
5. relationship to PVS
6. affiliated organization (if applicable)

Email this message to the appropriate party immediately, so that they may deal with the issue.

Calls for RK, Adelaide or Kristen...response "Richard/Adelaide/Kristen are unavailable at this time, but I can take down your contact information and reason for calling and can give this information to them when they return." Be proactive about getting him or her the message ASAP. Never give out Richard's personal email address, home phone number, or office phone number without permission. When in doubt as to what to do, ask someone. In the unusual case of a call which should be transferred to Richard and when he is in the Montana Office: dial 9 before you transfer. Do not dial 1 and the area code - this will not work for Montana numbers.

Rules of Thumb

Our Top Goal is Non-partisanship

Partisan is defined as an adherent or supporter of a person, party or cause or as partial to a specific party, person or cause. Bias is defined as a particular tendency or inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question.

A caller may make biased statements, you cannot respond in any way to partisan remarks.
Don't interpret any information.
This means you cannot rephrase or reword anything from the database or from reference books, nor can you agree with the caller's phrasing. Interpretation allows for bias; if the caller is confused, offer to reread something slowly but DO NOT PARAPHRASE! Always read things word for word. There are several manuals that define congressional terms and legislative procedures from which you can read if a caller needs further explanation. If a caller asks for information about Project Vote Smart make sure to touch on the points mentioned in the Long Answer section, and offer to send the caller our Voter Self-Defense Manual (U.S. Congress only).

Be polite, respectful, considerate, and helpful.
Some callers are angry and frustrated, and all are looking for help. Some have never heard of Project Vote Smart and don't know what we do or whether they can trust us. Occasionally, you might receive a rude or prank call. Do not take it personally. Be tolerant, patient and professional. Always give problem calls to a supervisor.

Keep calls brief.
The time limit for a hotline call is 3 minutes.
The time limit for a mainline call is 10 minutes.

If you can tell a call is going to go over the allotted time, tell the caller that you can take a special request. To take a special request: make detailed notes of the caller's questions and get an email address to send a response. If the caller does not have an email address ask him or her to call us back. The reason for these time limits is that if all of the lines are busy, a caller will get the Hotline message asking them to call back. This is undesirable. Further, many of those who have come before you have found that it is faster and easier to locate answers to questions and solutions to problems when not on the phone.

If the caller starts to ramble, ask if he or she has a specific question you can help with. If not, politely say:

Or

Or

We do not fax, mail or call anyone back from the Hotline with answers to their research question - unless they are a member!
Never respond to a caller with: "I don't know." and don't use abbreviations (PVS/PCT/VSDM)
Instead, say:

OR

These are classier ways of saying "I don't know," - and we are a classy organization.

Answers to Some Basic Questions

"What is Project Vote Smart?"
When you answer a call, this is one of the first questions you may be asked.

Short Answer:
Project Vote Smart is a nonpartisan, non-profit, political research organization. We provide the nation's first Voter's Self-Defense System. This system allows ordinary citizens to access biographical information, issue positions, voting records, public statements, performance evaluations from special interest groups, campaign contributions for current elected officials and candidates seeking to replace them, and information on voter registration.

We were established by national leaders from both sides of the aisle including Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Michael Dukakis and Barry Goldwater.

The Project is supported by the Ford and Carnegie Foundations, and has received praise from the New York Times, CNN, and PBS.

If the caller would like more information about who we are and what we do, you can use the Long Answer.

What information do we have?
If the caller is looking for information we collect, it is available on our web page. Many people who call the Hotline will have access to the Internet, and you can help to guide callers to the helpful resources on our site. These are some of the features of our website that will help them:

• Legislation, which monitors the status of major federal legislation
• State Key Votes, which monitors the status of major state legislation
• Voter registration forms for each state
• Candidate filing deadlines
• Local Election Offices and absentee ballot information
• Ballot measure descriptions for each state, where applicable
• Links to federal and state government agencies, political parties and issue organizations.
• Outreach programs for News Media Partnerships and Vote Smart Classroom.
• PVS membership and internship opportunities

If a caller wants Voter's Self-Defense Manual:

• name, mailing address, number of copies (see below)
• number of copies - members (up to 25; more than 25, ask Membership/Natl Director); non-members ("a few" - no more than 3; but ask membership first - may be able to accommodate for students/education purposes)
• Give the information to Membership
• If they ask "when will I receive this information?" - We send these manuals out in bulk, so it should between 2-4 weeks. If they have a serious problem with this, put them on hold and ask Eric exactly when the next mailing is - unlikely we can make exceptions.

If a caller wants to know about VoteEasy

• Winner of the best there is at the 2011 Webvisionary Awards
• An interactive tool for voters to instantly see which presidential/congressional candidate they are most compatible with. To use VoteEasy now visit www.votesmart.org.
• Using innovative technology to simplify voters' pre-election research, this web-based tool allows voters to answer the same key issue questions Vote Smart asked the candidates to address on the 2012 Political Courage Test, and watch as the tool matches them with the candidate who best aligns with their views.
• Questions span 13 major issues, including the budget, economy, health care, and immigration.

The Sacramento Bee has called VoteEasy "the eHarmony of political web sites," and according to GovTrack it is "the most compelling voter info resource ever seen."

About E-newsletter

• The e-newsletter, Common Ground, is our monthly electronic newsletter that provides brief updates about Project Vote Smart, elections, and other political information. Just another way to keep yourself up-to-date with factual political information. [Make sure you have their email address correctly spelled if they say 'OK']

About Becoming a Member: ($45 is the suggested donation amount, but we will take any amount of money. $5 etc)

Because we are funded exclusively by small individual contributions, as a donor, you are considered a member of Vote Smart which includes benefits such as:

• The opportunity to visit and/or volunteer at our research headquarters at the Great Divide Ranch in southwest Montana.
• Receive free copies of our annual publications such as the Voter's Self Defense Manual, which is actually takes a candidates' public record and puts it in a pocket-sized, hand-held format.
• As a member you will be the first to receive updates and new info on all of our programs and services.

[Transfer call to Hannah (2233) or Eric (2225) if caller is interested in learning more]

If a caller has other questions, being familiar with these pages may help: HotlineResources and Navigating Our Website.

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• 2013-03-27 12:01:41
• Owner: MashaShapiro
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