I had a very interesting experience. the other day I am registered with the state of California as a Small Business Enterprise (SBE) through DGS Dept of General Services. I have to renew my certification every 2 years and of course I couldn’t remember my ID or password. I called the number listed and got stuck in a loop that kept returning me to the menu and was no help. Finally after calling several numbers on their website I spoke to Cleta who was a lifesaver. She not only got me out of the loop but walked me through the whole process and gave me her personal number to follow up as I need to scan some documents for them. By the way this took an hour!!!!!! I asked about the voice mail and she told me they all hate it The people who designed it didn’t listen to the people who have to use it and did it their way; so people like Cleta get a lot of angry customers.
Today I had to call a provider to adjust a bill 10 minutes of awful music later I finally got someone who said ” Oh I have to look in to it and we should have an answer in 2 weeks call back then” Are you kidding???
92% of people feel their call experience is important in shaping the image of a company, of which 60% cancelled accounts with banks because of unpleasant call experiences.
By Rosanne D’Ausilio, TMCnet Call Center Training Columnist
In the last newsletter I talked about your brand and how you are perceived. What message are you sending with this kind of voice mail system or lack? The worst part is we put up with it and it has become an expectation. We figure they are all the same. We have lowered our standards and expectations of service.
The question becomes how do your customers feel about you and how you respond. It’s not just phone calls How do you feel when the doctor continuously overbooks and you have to wait an hour? Is their time worth more than yours.?
What are you doing about this/ Are you just saying oh well it’s the same all over or are you addressing the issue and determining how to best serve your customers who are “very important”? How quickly do you and your staff respond? How effectively do you respond? Do you use phrases like that’s our policy or there is nothing we can do , etc.?
I’ll be addressing these and other issues in e-book 8 on Customer Service due by the beginning of May. Check it out and think about whether your customers tolerate you or appreciate your service
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