A research call earns its first answer before the first question

By Rickie Doherty, ContactCentre.ie

When someone answers an unexpected telephone call, they should not have to solve a mystery before deciding whether to stay on the line. The opening needs to say who is calling, what the conversation is about and why this person has been called. Then give them room to say whether they can talk.

That sounds basic. It is also where a research job can go wrong long before the interviewer reaches question one.

Start with the real purpose

A survey opening should sound like a survey. Say the organisation behind the research and explain the subject in words an ordinary person would use. If the person asks where their number came from, the interviewer needs an answer that matches the actual list used for that job. A vague “you were selected” can leave the person less willing to talk, especially when they know the number was supplied by a particular group.

The wording has to fit the project. A voter poll, a business interview and a call to someone who has already asked for information are different conversations. A single clever opening pasted across all three will confuse at least two of them.

Make the first question easy to answer honestly

Ask whether now is a suitable time. If it is not, record the actual answer and the agreed next step. “Call me next week” is a promise to follow up, not a completed interview. The date, time and any context that matters should be visible to the person who calls back. Where a campaign permits it, keeping the same interviewer on that callback makes the conversation easier to continue.

Once the call begins, read the question as agreed and listen to the answer. A respondent who says “none of those choices quite fits” has given useful information. Squeezing that into the nearest tick box without recording their words makes a neat table and a weaker piece of research.

Give the interviewer a way to flag a bad question

If callers repeatedly stumble over one sentence, write that down and bring it back to the research lead. Do not let every interviewer quietly invent their own version. A changed question can change what the answers mean. The people making the calls often spot the problem first because they hear the same hesitation ten times in a day.

I run ContactCentre.ie, where we do telephone research alongside charity fundraising and other calling work. The practical lesson is the same across those jobs: explain the call clearly, keep the next step accurately, and listen to the answer the person actually gave.