Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 6:00PM Want a live, human operator when you phone in? Here's how to get exactly that!
It’s very apparent to me that many—arguably most—U.S. companies are prepared to treat you or me very well when we show up in person—but really poorly when we contact them with a phone call. This represents a decision—conscious or otherwise—to favor in-person interactions over those at-a-distance.
In effect, companies seem hell-bent on not talking to us directly, save for robotic messaging devices, when one tries to approach them via an 800 number for future reservations or customer service. Silly as it seems, they appear understand what consumers desire in the way of human interaction when an individual presents him- or herself in person—but fail to recognize that we want the same thing even though we’re not physically there. [This post commented on the issue of this remarkable paradox a few weeks ago in “Five reasons companies with automated phone centers don’t really want to be bothered”.]
The simple fact is that today most toll-free customer service numbers—even crazier, reservation numbers—are automated and compel prospects, in effect, to serve themselves instead of being served. Why firms don’t understand that the telephone is the gateway for subsequent business—it really defies explanation. Automated systems may cost less money initially, but that argument would also be a point in favor of their use in many “live,” real-world locations as well--and we know that doesn't make sense!
A couple of things need to be understood. First, it doesn’t need to be this way. While potentially a little more costly to provide and manage, the reality of deploying real people at the other end of toll-free numbers is arguably more profitable in terms of enhancing customer relationships and promoting long term retention; both research—and logic—point in this direction. After all, what’s your business nose tell you is the right answer to the question: Which is better, being more profitable [even with higher costs associated with that profitability] or operating at a lower cost [but less profitably]?
Indeed, some successful firms have made a commitment to primarily use human operators, examples include Jetblue, Hilton Hotels, Carnival Cruises—but they accomplish this in a way that most people, even in business, find unexpected. Instead of a warehouse of cubicle-upon-cubicle of individuals manning a vast bank of phones, the operators of, say, Jetblue—are you ready for this?—work alone, individually, each at her [and it is mostly females] home. The technology today has gone passed automated systems and now favor a firm finding the right people to represent them--no matter were they reside--and work part-time from a remote location, a process called homeshoring. If you'd like to know more, here’s an article from Forbes that describes how exactly how this works.
Second, there are firms that handle such staffing needs on an outside, contract basis, freeing the principal company to, in effect, outsource this business function. An example of this LiveOps, a firm that handles the human side of phone and customer service for name-brand firms—and does so a variety of ways. What we’re talking about here is the phone center equivalent of outsourcing for a special labor service, what one might call a work-force “in the cloud”; the technical term here is “in-bound call routing”!
The point, in short, is automated phone systems are not really necessary and firms that use them fundamentally are ones that don’t understand that, for whatever reason, most customers prefer access to live humans. Here are my "operating" principles when it comes to dealing with Luddite-like companies, technology- and customer-service-wise—and how to improve my chances of reaching a real, live person when it seems like they’re trying to avoid me:
[1] When contemplating a purchase, say, on-line, I will always give my business to firms that offer a phone number for me to use—if only to refer to again in the future and potentially use at a later date. I will religiously avoid firms that don’t provide that information and gladly will choose to give the transaction [and all subsequent ones, for that matter] to a firm with an even a less competitive price compared to a company that wants to make it difficult for me to reach them in a live conversation.
[2] When given the opportunity, I’ll gravitate to companies that at least offer an alternative, human operator option early in the call process, instead of solely an automated, robotic system.
[3] If I’m forced to conduct business with a company that boasts a robotic, voice activated system, I’ll avoid it—i.e., a voice-recognition-based system--at all costs, preferring, if I must, to a dial-pad based automated one. I’ll hate doing even that, but less so than with a voice-activated one that usually works pretty poorly.
[4] When I am compelled to transact business with any robotic system, I’ll refer to a file I keep on how to “beat” that system—the tricks of the business that are available out there, mostly for free—and some of which are for sale, all of which goes to show how much customers are willing to avoid automated phone systems. [Think about it, people will actually pay money for insider tips on how to escape automated phone system hell from the companies they are customer of!]
To help you have some of the same information I’ve run across [please feel free to write me back if you have better or more comprehensive resources like these!!!] here are some short-cuts-to-getting-a-human-operator when you encounter an automated phone system:
Reaching a live customer service rep…
http://lauren.blogs.com/weblog/2003/07/reaching_a_live.html
Dial-a-human shortcuts: How to escape from automated phone-system hell…
http://www.everythingunderthemoon.net/dial-a-human-shortcuts.htm
gethuman: customer service phone numbers, shortcuts, contact info and tips for better support worldwide
http://gethuman.com/
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