Customer Service vs. The Automated Phone System

In today's world of business our customers have placed the terms of engagement as a mandate for better customer service. So why do we feel that we need to rely on automated phones and support machines to dehumanize them. This is literally a slap in the face with nothing less than a steal bar. To make things worse when we hear the comments we ignore them because we are saving money, right?

With the lack customer satisfaction becoming a global epidemic maybe we need to listen a little harder when someone says "Your---- phone system sucks" I don't know about you but I hate automated systems. I hate being derailed from the reason why I called in the first place. I hate having to select options that have nothing to do with what my intentions were and no, I don't know my account number, nor the extension of the person I want to talk to. Hey! I want a warm fuzzy human that can give me real service and real answers.

As a consultant in small business customer service development I have found that customers respond much better to real people. People need touch, feel, smell, taste, and listen experiences. People relate to people and the message you are really sending with a robot system is we really don't care about what you have to say. Go away don't bother us. While that might be a real sentiment for a small minority of customers it surely can't be how you feel about the rest.

Studies have shown that us humans respond to these kinds of experiences with a more positive nature than we do to machines. These touches of human interaction actually are critical to building trust bridges, a key element in customer loyalty and retention development. To make my point let me ask you a question? Have you ever tried to empathize with a machine or still better yet have one empathize with you?

It's interesting that businesses view these systems as cost cutting measures when in reality they cost them far more than they would save due to unhappy and unsatisfied customers and clients. This actually is epidemic when you factor in our growing reliance on systems and software to make our management decisions and manage our customer loyalty and retention programs. No I’m not anti IT, but I am against over reliance.

Damage to the brand from negative experiences can take generations to heal especially those generated from bad customer experiences such as those often suffered with computerized phone systems and automated support systems.

It's interesting that businesses view these systems as cost cutting measures when in reality they cost them far more than they would save due to unhappy and unsatisfied customers and clients.

Damage to the brand (business image) can take generations to heal because of bad customer experiences such as those often suffered with computerized phone systems.

This applies to all business but especially to small and medium size businesses since there is a growing trend to adopt automated phone technology. Small and Medium size