In my present position as well as in previous sales and management jobs, the greatest part of my day is either calling new and existing clients or following up on calls to me. What is amazing is the lack of time and follow-up that a company will spend on listening and monitoring their set-up and call flow to see that it is working properly.
I know about the investment of time, money and resources for improving customer service and designing the contact center to either sell more stuff or keep clients. I am especially sensitive to recognizing what makes a good client contact experience vs. a bad one. Almost all centers remind you that the conversation is recorded to improve service. And now that you listened to this for the third time, is it any wonder you question whether service or anything else they offer will be improved.
Is anyone listening? That’s meant for the VP of Operations, IT Director, Contact Center Supervisor and/or the dealers or manufacturers that service the center.
I can still recall all the statistics and PowerPoint slides used by my colleagues at Lucent and Avaya as well as competitors, trying to sell prospects on their supposed best-in-class and of course number 1 cost-effective call center. This included many meetings with design teams, project management and experts, all with the common objective of installing the perfect center. Terms like ROI, understanding the client’s pain and boilerplate illustrations were at our disposal to convince the client we had the best solution. Please note that the customer was just as responsible for the final product he eventually approved and paid for.
This all makes sense and is of value. But now that the center is operational, is anyone listening to what’s going on? I’m talking about a week, a month, 3 months later and so on. How about a check-up, like the mandatory oil change?
On a recent follow-up call to a dealer that offers the entire scope of call center design, professional services, software and hardware platforms, the auto-attendant redirected my calls to the wrong party, did not allow me to go back to an operator or someone that could assist me, and left me hanging to listen to the phone ring. I hung up at 8 rings with a very negative feeling. This was my first impression of the company. If I was calling to initiate any discussion about their experience and knowledge of handling my customer’s calls, they would not get a second chance.
The next time I was redirected to another branch office. Someone did pick up the phone and referred me to the VP of Operations, whom I called and had to leave a voicemail. My message suggested he make some calls and traverse their system’s possible options so he can experience and understand what the customer is going through. Sounds simple? Sounds too easy? It's common sense that’s not so common.
Again, most systems record the client's experience to improve service. This assumes that callers can actually get to the right agent or person. How many times do you make that call and the response/options are longer than the question you have? It reminds me of the days that we guaranteed voicemail would never allow for a customer to be trapped in mail-jail. Now it’s like a mouse trapped in a maze that never ends. I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s nevertheless frustrating. Although my sample set is small, this is happening way too often.
In short, listen and understand your customer’s experience. It may be his last call to you.
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