by Greg Newell
http://www.delcoparkmeetingplace.com
©
2009
Put a real person on the phone. Please!
Times
are hard. There is no doubt about that and when times are hard, companies begin
to search for things that can bring them the success that they may be lacking.
Looking for ways to cut costs and implement savings throughout the company, many
organizations have turned to automated answering machines to save them time and
money. And, truth be told, there are cost savings with these systems. Many companies
no longer have a receptionist to answer the phones, they have replaced her with
a very fancy system with lots of options and foreign languages and professional-sounding
voices. Obviously, like most people, don't you just want to talk to a live person?
Have
you ever been talking to a friend and had them comment favorably on an automated
attendant phone answering device? Has anyone you know ever bragged about how efficient
they were, how valued they felt by that system or how it quickly and efficiently
got them to the right person? Probably not! Everyone has a story about punching
several buttons and never getting a real person on the phone, about being sent
in a circle through every button on the dial and then at the end of it they had
to leave a message that nobody ever answered.
So, why, then
do companies continue to use these systems when everyone knows that nobody likes
them? Obviously, business owners are like everyone. They get sold a product by
someone who promises that it will save the company money by eliminating the need
for a receptionist. They buy into the claims of efficiency wherein a caller can
choose with whom he wants to speak, push a button and be directed straight to
that person. Business owners are led to believe that having "push 2 for Spanish"
will allow them to tap into a new section of the market. The issue is this doesn't
ever happen the way we think it will!
Take a little time
during this down economy to actually track the success of your automated call-in
system. Call your business from the field. Determine the value of each option.
Track the number of calls that hang up before they get to the right person in
your system. Follow-up with your clients who do get through and seek honestly
their opinions about your automatic, robotic call answering system; see if they
thought it was a good service or nothing more than call filtering.
You
may find that having a friendly, live person answering the phone, listening to
the customer and helping them get to the right person in your company will improve
your customer service immensely. Every business owner should know that it is much
cheaper to keep a customer happy than it is to attract a new one. No customer
stays happy pushing buttons in search of help!
NBA
Benefit Provider - Sprint
together with Nextel
NBA
Resource Article - Customer
Service - A Lost Art?
NBA
Resource Article - Ten
Ways To Spend Less Time On The Phone
Reprint
of this article does not constitute an endorsement by the National Business Association;
the article is for informational purposes for our members and viewers of our Web
site.
