Your call

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

(read in digital voice)

Hello, (pause)

Your call is important to us. We are unable to take you call at this time. (what?)

If you wish to change your account details press 1

If you’d like to listen to your account balance press 2

If you’d like to make a payment press 3

If you’d like to hear these options again press 4

If you wish to talk to an operator press 0 – the expected wait time is: 17 minutes…..

I hang up. My call is not important to them.

What surprises me is that companies spend millions on TV advertising attempting to create an interaction with potential customers who aren’t listening. Then when people try to interact with the same company, they get given the machine – the finger.

Most companies invest in the wrong area.  Automation is only a benefit when it increases interactions with people. When it facilitates the conversation, not circumvents it. It’s a classic case of balance sheet marketing.

Everything big companies do here is wrong.

Start ups: Talk to your people. Give them a real phone number to ring with a real person at the end of the line. Be there when they call. Have a conversation. Make it personal. Over invest in this area.

4 thoughts on “Your call”

  1. Had an interesting experience with my car insurer last week. They (my insurer) obviously got some advice somewhere along the line that it was a good idea to have a real person answer incoming calls, because we hate pressing buttons, or feeling like an idiot talking to some voice recognition machine. Kudos to them…. well almost.
    I’ll admit I was shocked that someone real answered my call. When I told the lady who answered my call- and she wasn’t Indian- that I needed to check some policy details, she told me she would put me through to the “right department”. Hmmm.
    So, then I waited on hold for the “right department” for 18mins. Oh, yeah, they had the Acme/Generic/BrandX recording reminding how important my call was, that they were busy with many calls, my patience is appreciated, etc.
    I understand that insurance can be tricky, and it would be difficult to train someone in all facets of the game, but my question is this: Why not use 80/20 tow work out what 20% of things 80% of callers are calling about, and train the people who answer the calls to actually “take” the calls.

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