Chapter 23

 Help Is on the Line

Remember those good old days when every call you made was greeted by a cheery voice on the other end of the line? The cheery individual was hired to screen your calls and direct you to the proper person. Oh, those were the days.

Okay, so maybe sometimes that person wasn’t too cheery or helpful. Like the times you were bounced around to different departments until you stumbled (probably by accident) upon the right party who could help you.

Remember the times you were greeted with the awkward option of: “XYZ Company, could you please hold?” Of course, when the receptionist asked this question, she never gave you the opportunity to say yes or no. It was simply rhetorical in nature because she was going to put you on hold no matter what your answer was, especially when she didn’t give you a chance to answer.

Oh, those were the days. At least if you were going to be unduly dealt with, it was by a human being who you could lash out at. Oh, those were the days.

Introducing . . . Voice Mail!

Remember the old Superman TV show theme song? Play it in your mind as you read this. Faster than a speeding mouth. Friendlier than an upset person. More efficient than the best receptionist out there. Voice Mail, everyone’s solution for quick and easy access to a customer service representative or a fast answer to a question.

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 Watch It!
For all the potential great benefits voice mail technology offers a company, you can overdo a good thing. More than one company we encountered used long-winded recordings to pass along information that was supposed to save both the customer and the company time. But the insufferable messages droned on and on and on with no escape hatch. Now, before actually helping you, we’d like to take advantage of the fact that you’re held hostage on this line. So let us tell you—in great detail—about some special offers we have on a warehouse-full of some really mediocre products that no one else wanted to buy . . .

 

Wasting a customer’s time in an attempt to save the customer time makes no sense. Voice mail strikes most people as impersonal enough without adding insult or imprisonment to the mix. If your customers are frustrated when they call for assistance, they won’t hang around to hear your messages or follow your instructions. And then they’ll start calling around for alternatives to your company.

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Now, if voice mail works the way it’s cracked up to, you won’t be longing much for those good old days. It’s when voice mail becomes a barrier too difficult to navigate that you yearn for the return of the good old days.

In this chapter, we’ll show you how to use voice mail so that you can recapture the fond memories of what it was like to feel welcomed when you called for service. If we do our jobs right, then 20 years from now after voice mail has been replaced by newer technology, your children will be yearning for the good old days of voice mail.

Hello Customer

Regardless of whether you’re still using the human answering machine or the electronic answering machine, you must make sure the process supports your overall customer service mission. By process, we not only include how the phone is answered, but also the different phone menu options customers hear when they reach out to contact you.

While voice mail technology does allow you to efficiently handle your customer service-related tasks, it can also serve as a barrier to customer satisfaction if it isn’t set up properly. Here are some of the barriers you want to avoid.

Too Many Menu Entries

The idea of voice mail is to make things easier for both the customer and you. Making the customer listen and respond to several layers of messages tends to irritate people and build a perception that the system isn’t user friendly. Most of us simply can’t remember more than three options. By the time the fifth option is presented we aren’t sure if the one that might be right for us was #2 or #3.

And even if you’re only given a few choices at a time, if you have to climb through several menu trees to get to the information you really want, it can be awfully tedious.

An example:

Thank you for calling XYZ Corporation.

Now suppose you press one for laptops. The next prompt says:

Now suppose you press one for model a. The next prompt says:

Now, suppose you press two for hardware. The next prompt says:

Can you see how this can be irritating, even though there are only a few choices at each level? Some people will be annoyed after the first round of entries. When you’re struggling through a series of menus, you probably think to yourself; “Hey, all I want to do is talk to someone. Get me out of here!”

Realize that 30 seconds in reality can feel like several minutes in the mind. You don’t want people getting irritated by a cumbersome process merely to access a customer service representative. They’re probably irritated enough just from having to make the call.

Granted, the multi-level menu listed in the above example will go a long way toward routing your call to the appropriate support person or recorded information. However, there must be a better way to handle this. Here are a couple of suggestions.

• On printed information accompanying your product, put a table listing the various call options next to where the support phone number is printed. For instance, to call for support on a new (less than 3 months) model a laptop concerning hardware problems, simply key in 1,1,2,2, when the voice mail system comes on. Make sure your system allows people to press the numbers without having to hear the entire menu. This will save a great deal of time and not force the customer to listen to the entire message.
• Assign a dedicated toll-free number for each product type or department. That’s relatively easy since you can now buy several toll-free numbers in a bundle. So you could, in the manuals where you print the support numbers, list the dedicated toll-free numbers for the various product/support functions. Going along with our example above: if you need service on a laptop model a that’s under three months old, call 1-888-LAPTOP3.

Avoid Unnecessary Steps

If you’re going to ask people to go through a series of menu options or input data, make sure that their effort will result in faster and more efficient service.

Ron once called his mortgage company regarding an issue. When the voice mail system greeted him, it asked for his account number. Ron was irritated because he didn’t have it handy and had to go hunting for it. He was hoping that all he had to do was give his name and address to the CSR and have him look up the account number.

Giving into the voice mail demands, he found the number and punched it in. After waiting another few minutes, a CSR answered, “How may I help you?” Ron asked her if she had his information up on her screen. She said no and asked for his account number. Flabbergasted, Ron asked why was he forced to enter in his account number if it didn’t do anything. The CSR responded by saying that the system requesting the account numbers didn’t work and she didn’t know why it was still asking for the numbers.

This is a classic case of having customers put forth effort that’s unnecessary. If you ask for account numbers or other information, it better be used to advance the service process.

Confirm Actions

When the automated system receives input from a customer, especially one with a long string of digits, confirm for the customer that the transaction was received.

Don once called a credit card company’s toll-free number three times to activate a replacement card mailed to him. The process was supposed to be automated and quick but after completing the procedure as instructed, the automated voice system never closed the loop by saying: “Thank you. Your credit card is now activated.” Instead, the system accepted all the input from Don—with many, many key presses on the phone—and . . . and nothing! Finally, on the third call, Don listened to the menu of choices and opted for a live operator (see the following section). The human representative confirmed that Don activated his new credit card twice already. When Don suggested that she mention his experience to her firm’s technology or marketing departments, she was polite in her brief response. Don is sure he heard her giggling madly as they disconnected the call.

Operator Assistance

Never develop what we call a closed loop system. We have heard and personally experienced instances where you would be trapped in a vicious voice mail circle with no way out. The only escape sometimes is to just hang the phone up. How many people do you think gave the company a second chance by redialing the customer service number? Maybe customers were forced to call back if they really needed the information. But the annoying process certainly did nothing to encourage customer loyalty. Remember, the Instant of Absolute Judgment can come at any time in sales or support transactions. So always allow the customer to access a live operator at any time. There are several reasons for this:

• The customer may not be clear about what option to choose to address his specific issue.
• The customer may not want to deal with voice mail. Some people hate it even when it works elegantly.

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   At Your Service
  On a regular basis, pretend you’re a customer and make a customer service call to your company. Find out personally how easy it is to access the voice mail system, how long it takes to get through to a CSR, and if the system is providing the right perception you want your customers exposed to. Many times, problems arising in a customer response system aren’t intentional. They just appear because the company isn’t aware of them. There’s no excuse for this. Constantly monitor your systems and make the appropriate adjustments. Customers rarely give you a second chance once they have had a bad experience.

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• The customer doesn’t have time to go through the menus.
• The customer wants to speak with a manager after a bad service interaction.
• The customer may not have a support question but isn’t sure how to contact the appropriate company resource.

Playbacks

Sometimes a customer will forget where he wanted to go and will want to hear that menu of options again or revisit a previous menu. Make it easy for your customers to playback previous messages.

Time of Delay

Voice mail systems might route a customer to the right person, but that doesn’t mean anyone is immediately available. Some computer technology can actually calculate and tell a customer how long the expected wait may be (and suggest a more optimum time to call back with a much shorter expected delay). If a customer hears that the wait is expected to be 45 minutes, she may decide on her own to call back later or possibly solve her problem through the company’s fax support system or Web page. Either way, she has the opportunity to decide and that’s what customers value the most, the freedom to make their own choices. Well actually, they value instant and competent service most of all. But short of that, they’d like some choice in the matter.

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 Watch It!
If your customers have to wait 45 (or 15) minutes on your help line before someone assists them, then your help line is in need of help itself. Think about how much the average person could accomplish in 45 minutes of her lifetime. And how much more they’d rather be doing anything other than sitting on ignore. Vigilantly check your systems to make sure they spare your customers from experiencing the injustice of terminal wait.

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Interactive Voice Response

Part of your voice mail can be set up to use an interactive menu to offer information on store locations and directions, hours of operations, and special promotions. Again, if you’re using voice mail to provide store hours and directions, please make sure the customer can replay the message or access an operator at anytime. There’s nothing more irritating than having to listen to a message that’s irrelevant to what you’re looking for, or to listen to a long message, finally get to the part you wanted to hear, and only catch part of that vital piece of the message. You then have to call and be tortured a second time. Ugh!

Ron was trying to find out which store locations of a certain office product chain carried a certain product. He called the first store location and had to listen to a message that seemed to last several minutes on how to get to the store. At the end of the message, there was nothing else. No operator access, nothing. To find his answer, he would have had to drive to the store. Ron bought the product from a competitor who was more than happy to tell him on the phone; “We’ve got what you’re looking for, so come on down!”

The store that lost the sale was guilty of two sins: A) Making Ron listen to directions he didn’t need, and B) Having no operator available to answer his simple question.

Phone Etiquette—Say What?

Regardless of whether you’re using voice mail or a human being to answer your calls, there are certain rules of etiquette that should be followed.

Voice Mail Etiquette

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Thank people for calling—Having your voice mail system answer by thanking you will go a long way towards building a comfort level with the customer. Example:

  “Thank you for calling XYZ Company.”

• Tape Disclaimer—Companies will usually tape the phone calls for educational purposes and analysis. If you tape phone calls with customers, you have an obligation to make them aware of this through a message at the beginning of the service call. Ron heard a great one as he was writing this chapter:

  “Your call may be taped to help educate and develop our customer service associates.” (to which we’d add, “ . . . to provide you with the best service humanly possible.”) Some systems will also offer you the option of rejecting the taping of your phone call if you desire—again, giving the customers the option of how they want to be treated.

• Operator Assistance—At the front end of the call, you should have a message that says:

  “If at anytime you wish to speak with an operator, simply press the # key.”

  Of course, your system has to allow for such a feature and we highly recommend it.

• Beginning Instructions—Explaining to the customer how best to use the system to get the answers they want is crucial for a positive interaction. For example:

  “Please listen to the following options and select the one that you are looking for.”

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   Watch It!
  No matter how good your message is, if your customer cannot understand it, then it means nothing. Everything starts with your customer understanding your message. A basic principle of communication states that all meaning exists in the mind of the listener. No matter how much effort you put into your service attempts, nothing gets resolved if your customers can’t understand what you’re trying to tell them.

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• Clearly Understandable Voice—The voice must be clear and the rate of speech must be slow so everyone can hear and understand the recording. Imagine the customer saying at the end of the message:

  “What did she say?”

If the customer cannot understand what you’re saying, then he will likely be routed to the wrong person. If you are servicing a multi-lingual market, this is especially important when customers aren’t that familiar with the English language. In fact, you might want to consider having the very first menu give the customer a choice of hearing their other choices in another language—whatever is appropriate to your market.

Human Etiquette

When the customer finally gets in touch with the human who can actually provide some help, another set of issues present themselves: effective communication between people over the phone. What follows are some recommendations for making those interactions as successful as possible.

• Thank you for calling—Have a bright energetic voice answer the phone by saying:

  “Thank you for calling XYZ Company.”

• Ask how you can help—This is handled by having the operator ask:

  “How may I direct your call?”

• When getting the party requested, do not transfer the call without telling the customer you’re doing so. When this happens, the customer thinks you’re being rude and inferring that the customer’s call was an intrusion on your day. You should respond with:

  “It would be my pleasure to transfer you to my colleagues in the service center.”

• Saying good bye—When ending a call, you must make sure there is no unfinished business and that the customer goes away feeling fully satisfied. You this by asking:

  “Is there anything else we can do for you, Mr. Jones?”

  If the answer is no, end the call by saying:

  “Thank you for calling XYZ and have a pleasant day.” or

  “Thank you for allowing us to serve you and have a pleasant day.”

Whatever you use, the most important word is thank you! And then, wait for the customer to hang up before disconnecting. That way, if there was any last second issue on the customer’s mind, you’re still available to her.

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 Tales from the Real World
In Chapter 12, when discussing refunds, we described how Hammacher Schlemmer, the retailer “offering the best, the only, and the unexpected for over 149 years” was willing to give Ron a full refund on a suitcase. What we didn’t tell you was when Ron called customer service to inquire about the refund, the CSR stated up front:

 

“Mr. Karr, we would be only too happy to give you a refund and pay for the shipping.”

 

Hammacher Schlemmer is not in business to give refunds. However, its promise to its customers is that it will guarantee the customer’s satisfaction no matter what. The CSR who took Ron’s call backed up this claim with his actions. Ron will never forget how good he felt in this transaction and will probably buy from Hammacher Schlemmer in the future. If the CSR handled Ron differently by giving him the impression of being a pain in the neck, then Ron not only would walk away mad, but he would probably hold it against the company for selling him a product he didn’t want.

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• Handling returns—When your customer requests a return and your policy allows for it, always say up front that you will be delighted to accept returns for credit or refund. It automatically puts the customer in a good mood for the rest of the call.
• Having to say no—Rather than restate what’s already been said, we recommend that you review Chapter 6. However, the bottom line is do not say you can’t or won’t do anything. Turn it around by saying what you can do to positively move the call forward.

Effectively providing service to customers via the telephone still depends on the most basic principle of all. Great service comes from someone in your company reaching out—with care, understanding, and compassion—to touch someone who needs help.

Whose Dime Is Being Used?

It used to cost you only ten cents to make a local call. Those were the good old days.

When companies review their service operations, this question always comes up: who should pay the phone bill? You have several options that you can mix and match to create the appropriate system for your company.

800/888 Numbers

For initial calls of service, you always want to supply a toll-free number. At least in the first three months of the use of a product or service. Toll-free numbers start with either an 800 or 888 area code. Just about all the 800 numbers have been assigned, so most new toll-free numbers will start with an 888 area code.

Toll-free numbers have their own information line. People not having access to your phone number will likely call 1-800-555-1212 or 1-888-555-1212. In addition, you must make a request that your listing be included in the toll-free directory assistance. Unlike a regular phone number, your toll-free number isn’t automatically entered into the database. Some companies don’t want their toll-free number listed and available to just anyone. It’s their dime, after all.

As mentioned earlier, toll-free numbers can be bought in bundles (several lines). You can also obtain vanity toll-free numbers. Ron’s toll-free number is 1-800-423-KARR. If you’re looking for a new toll free number, put your name or company slogan in the number if possible. If you do, remember to always list the digits after the word spelling. Ron lists his as 1-800-423-KARR (5277).

It can be downright annoying for someone to have to take extra time to learn the numbers that coincide with the letters being used. If your customer uses reading glasses and doesn’t have them handy, you’re really in trouble. Imagine forcing someone to find their reading glasses in order to call you for service!

Customer Support Phone Packages

For companies that don’t want to offer unlimited toll-free service at their expense, there’s another alternative. Some companies, especially software companies, sell service packages based on number of calls or time of service provided. For example, a customer may pay a flat fee for a package of, say, six calls during a year. As part of this package, the company may supply a toll-free number.

If you use add-on service packages, you must make sure the customer gets through immediately to a CSR. Someone paying extra isn’t in the mood to wait for service. Premium prices imply premium response. Getting immediate attention is probably the number one reason why your customers bought the plan. Again, it’s giving your customers the option of how they want to be treated—no wait service for a premium versus free service that might entail a waiting period.

900 Numbers

We bet that when phone companies started offering 900 phone numbers, no one figured they’d become so popular, especially in the areas of adult entertainment. But hold on, 900 numbers are proving to be valuable for mainstream businesses.

A 900 number offers people a “pay for service” system. Your cost for the call is dependent on how much time you spend on the phone with the CSR. These calls are usually expensive, with charges usually being in excess of $1.00 per minute. A lot of technical support centers use this feature. Companies also use it as a means of reducing the number of calls they must handle on a personal basis. Customers not opting for this type of expensive service can choose alternative methods, such as fax-on-demand (detailed later in this chapter) and service on the Internet.

900 numbers are a source of revenue for whoever uses them. Your company, if you decide to use 900 phone numbers, will receive a nice sum of revenue. In fact, you will gain a new partner in life, the phone company. You can obtain 900 numbers through independent brokers who lease them.

Remote Phone Lines

Technology now allows you to list local phone numbers in various areas and have the calls routed to your support center location. For instance, if you wanted to call XYZ Company for service, they may have a local phone number for you to call in Topeka, KS, even though their CSR is actually located in Miami, FL. This is a great tool for companies that are looking to establish themselves in certain geographic locations without having to take on the expense of opening another location. Today, you can never tell where the person you are talking to is actually located. Unless you ask, of course.

Whatever mix of toll-free, 900, and local phone numbers you use, be sure that your system supports the overall objective of your company and expectations of your customers.

Nothing but the Fax

Fax machines today offer you an array of opportunities to better serve your customers. There are several ways you can use the fax machine as a customer service tool.

Fax-on-Demand

Whenever a customer needs something he can get it 24 hours a day, 7 days week, 365 days a year without having anyone actually staff the phone lines. All the customer has to do is call your fax-on-demand phone number and press the appropriate number from the menu of options available. The caller will then be asked to enter his fax number. Within a little while, your customer is looking at the information he needs to continue using your products or to place a new order. While customers prefer a toll-free number, many are willing to pay the phone freight as a small and worthwhile cost of getting instant and complete information.

The equipment that’s required is a PC on your end that’s always on and capable of receiving incoming calls and making outgoing calls. It acts as a fax server for the information being distributed. Types of information a customer can access from this system include:

• Product lists
• Updated pricing lists
• Technical briefs
• Product specifications
• Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Service locations

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 At Your Service
If you aren’t a manager, don’t be alarmed. When we talk about lowering overhead, we’re not necessarily referring to job reduction. Yes, job reduction may be a by-product of technological advances. But to us, lowering overhead also involves identifying ways of utilizing existing resources to provide a better return on investment while maintaining or improving service to customers.

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The list goes on and on. A fax-on-demand system provides your customers with information in a timely basis without tying up phone lines and using expensive personnel. It also provides a written record the customer can use for the future, again lowering your overhead expense for support personnel.

Broadcast Fax

Broadcast fax means what its says, the ability to broadcast a message to many people at once. Imagine being able to send out 1,000 faxes after loading the document just once.

To use broadcast fax, you need the right equipment. Besides the appropriate software and computer, you need a modem pool. Your PC must be able to hold several digital boards (16–32) with modem connections. You also must have the fax numbers for all of the recipients programmed into your computer. Companies such as Sprint and others will do fax broadcasting for you on a contract basis.

Broadcast fax is ideal for companies that need to distribute information to hundreds, if not thousands, of fax machines at once. It can be used to send out timed updates or special alerts on promotions to distributors or franchises, or for press releases, earnings announcements, and so on.

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 Watch It!
When setting up a fax broadcast system of any size, be sure to monitor it carefully for wrong numbers and be vigilant about removing such errors. We have an elderly friend who received repeated attempts by a fax machine to connect to his residential phone at all hours of the day and night for three days. Great customer service companies review their fax logs and have a person dial the unsuccessful numbers to verify that a fax machine lives at the other end of the line, not someone’s great-uncle.

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Sequential Fax

For smaller communication jobs, you can use sequential faxing. All you need to do is log in the fax numbers you want the information sent to. Your computer will send the faxes one after another. If one number is busy, it will store the fax and try later with automatic retries. Reports that detail notification of deliveries are available. For fax jobs involving fewer than 50 faxes, this method is best.

You can carry out this task on a regular PC with one modem and the right software, such as WinFax Pro or FaxSTF. You can even time the faxes to go out at certain times of the day, like off-peak calling periods when the phone rates are low or during the night when you don’t mind if the computer and a phone line is tied up for a little while.

Like broadcast faxing, sequential faxes are good for product updates, promotions, change announcements (like change of address), and so on.