Fail: Automated Phone Menus, and Call Center Representative As A Skilled Trade

One of these days I’m going to stumble on a “find” again.  But if it’s a find over the phone, it’s going to have to include a real, live voice that is trained to make me feel confident that the reason that I called wasn’t in vain.

Lately I’ve had experience after experience (UPS, Bank of America, and Time-Warner Cable) with two call center pitfalls:  bad applications or structures of automated voice answering systems, and representatives who sound like they were hired off the street instead of with call center experience.

Remarkably enough there are still companies out there where you get to speak with a live human being once you’ve established what language you speak.  I used to work for one.  I may be crazy, but I would rather call one of these companies any day of the week and give them my business than a company that guides me through six keystrokes and then automatically hangs up on me.  Is the human touch more expensive for company and customers?  Absolutely.  But it’s the easiest and most effective method of customer retention.

The second component in the equation, however, is hiring skilled labor.  A lot of companies are of the belief that because all of us get plenty of practice talking on our cell phones, we could all be hired for call center work.  But if you’ve ever called a call center and experience a representative who gave you a play-by-play of what keys they were pressing, or said things like “Oops!  Oh, okay, now I think we’ve got it,” or “Just a minute while I find the right screen,” then you can empathize with the point behind finding skilled personnel who know the difference between cell phone conversations with their friends and courteous business interactions.

I know the latter inspires more peace of mind for me.  How about for you?