Customer Hotline Article - From the Customer's Perspective

[jeffalbro]

I just posted a new article on my website. Check out "Press 1 for a Human - Best Phone System Practices for Connecting with Customers " at http://www.interaction-engineer.com/...m-programming/ .

It's written primarily from the customer's perspective. I have no experience in call centers, but I have read "Call Center Management on Fast Forward". (Great book!) I wrote the article based upon problems I had found in phone trees and queues I had run into in my own experiences. I'm curious what an industry professional thinks of my recommendations.

Thanks!

-Jeff

[smack]

Jeff-

Well, interesting article. Curious to know what businesses you have had your experiences with. I can see some of the pitfalls you have outlined from a customer perspective and know that the center I am in actually trains our CRMs to handle customers whose experiences have not been pleasant due to one or more of the concerns you detailed.

Two questions...how were your test results from the doctor's office and would you really want Yanni as the first music option?

[jeffalbro]

>Well, interesting article. Curious to know what businesses you have had your experiences with.

Large computer companies, HMO's, credit card companies, cable companies etc... Companies I have had to fix problems with in my regular life.

I'm not sure I want to name names. I don't want to alienate the companies that need my help the most : )

>I can see some of the pitfalls you have outlined from a customer perspective and know that the center I am in actually trains our CRMs to handle customers whose experiences have not been pleasant due to one or more of the concerns you detailed.

Well, that's good that they are trained to handle those situations, but have you tried to make sure they don't happen in the first place, or do you not have any control over that?

Is it an outsourcing call center?

-Jeff

[smack]

Maybe that feedback or dialogue was not what you were looking for. It is a well written article that does address some of the most common feedback that we hear from focus groups from customers as to areas that the "service" interaction can improve on. It is neither ground breaking nor show stopping commentary.

The solutions that you have outlined within the article are steps that companies currently take to avoid the issues themselves, however from time to time a company will experience just that, an issue that is abnormal to their projected call path, pattern, or mode of operation. That is where preparing your staff comes in handy. I do not know of any company that sets their system up to fail, however there are companies that fail their system.

In addition, you have some other thought provoking articles on your website. I have added it to my list of websits to check out monthly. What's in store for March?

Best of luck.

[jeffalbro]

Originally posted by smack

Maybe that feedback or dialogue was not what you were looking for.

In the original posting I was looking for feedback on to suggestions in the article. In my reply to you I was looking for more understanding on how management decisions are made with respect to the phone system.

It is a well written article that does address some of the most common feedback that we hear from focus groups from customers as to areas that the "service" interaction can improve on. It is neither ground breaking nor show stopping commentary.

It shouldn't be, really. It's a list of what I think of as best practices and why they should be used from a customer's standpoint. Companies should already know about many or most of these. My biggest issue is that a considerable percentage of companies don't seem to be thinking about things from the customer's perspective in the choices they make in setting up their phone systems.

The solutions that you have outlined within the article are steps that companies currently take to avoid the issues themselves, however from time to time a company will experience just that, an issue that is abnormal to their projected call path, pattern, or mode of operation. That is where preparing your staff comes in handy. I do not know of any company that sets their system up to fail, however there are companies that fail their system.

I guess I just don't understand what you're saying here. Are you talking about preparing the customer service representatives or the phone system programmers? The tips in the article were about making sure customers don't get angry before they reach the CSR. Could you give me an example of a situation you are talking about?

In addition, you have some other thought provoking articles on your website. I have added it to my list of websits to check out monthly. What's in store for March?

I'm working on a few different things, including an article about best practices for contact center e-mail response systems. Much of the article will be about appropriate use of form letter responses.

Thanks for the feedback!

-Jeff

www.interaction-engineer.com