How many times have you heard that phrase? That, along with the ubiquitous phrase about 'we monitor or record calls to improve performance' are the two phrases that folks who call 800 numbers seem to be subjected to most often.
Now there's a new Roper-Starch study that was conducted last year for the Prudential Insurance Company. The firm talked to 1000 respondents. 71% of them said that they almost always or often listened to too many recordings before reaching a human being.
One third of the respondents say that the recorded messages that they hear are often confusing or not right for the situation.
Lest you think that the answer is more operators, 41% found that they often get transferred to too many people.
WALLY'S COMMENT: Well, it's not news that customer service stinks or that voice mail systems have taken over the rudeness factor from human beings. It's gotten so bad, in fact, that it's showing up in advertisements.
One ad that runs in my area uses a voice that sounds like the standard voicemail voice to convey messages like, "the average wait time is three days." Or "if you're tired of waiting, press 2. It won't actually do anything but it just might make you feel better."
I've even gotten into the act myself, though not nearly as effectively as the writers of that ad. In many of my programs I'll talk about voice mail and simulate the message, "if you're ticked, press 1," "if you're really ticked, press 2."
Where do these problems come from? They derive, first of all, from a common and very human tendency to see the stuff inside the organization we know as more important than the stuff outside. That leads to systems being organized for the insiders. In the worst case, it looks at customers as an interruption of the important work. But there's more going on.
Many companies have reward systems for their customer service operators that reward handling lots of calls and settling them "satisfactorily." In most of those systems, a satisfactory settlement can be moving the problem off to someone else. With a reward system set up that way, it's no wonder lots of folks are passing you from hand to hand, racking up successful conclusions to a problem that never gets solved.
Other companies have tried to automate processes so far that you can't get to a human being even if you try. We've all experienced voice mail systems that loop you back to the top of the question tree, even when that's not a logical place to go. Or systems that provide no option to contact a human being, or allow you to contact a human being but extend wait times into double digit minutes.
There also is a major trend for companies to outsource all or a portion of their technical support or complaint handling. When call loads get high, it's common for many corporations to shift the loads to people who actually don't have the capability to handle any problems, but who are adept at stalling you or having someone call you back.
So, what's this mean for you? First, pay attention to how people are treated. Check out your web site and call your office occasionally to see what's going on. Clorox used to have a system where executives had to staff the 800 complaint and question lines occasionally. I like that.
There are two benefits to doing it right.
Benefit number 1 is hanging on to customers. The customers you hang on to have great potential because you don't have to keep investing marketing money in getting them. They're there and if you do things right you can sell them products and services forever and in increasing value.
Benefit number 2 is that paying attention to what your customers tell you is wrong with your product or what they would like to see in your product or what their major problems are helps you develop more and better products to sell to them and to others.
This article originally appeared in Wally Bock's Briefing Memo newsletter in July 1999.
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