Your Fast Guide to Get human: Answer the phone This Fast Guide is an extract from the following article in The New York Times, which says it is time to completely re-consider your call-handling strategy and simply let a human answer the phone… The New York Times February 26, 2006 Under New Management Your Call Should Be Important to Us, but It's Not By WILLIAM C. TAYLOR “This month, Paul English transformed his righteous indignation into a full-blown crusade. (Editor’s note from Phil Dourado: Paul English is the guy who attracted one million visitors to his web site and achieved press coverage around the world last month when he published a series of ‘cheat’ codes that you can punch into your phone to get straight to a human being at some of America’s largest companies). He started Get Human, which he calls a grass-roots movement to "change the face of customer service." The accompanying Web site, www.gethuman.com , sets out principles for the right ways for companies to interact with customers, encourages visitors to rate their experiences (the site is to issue a monthly best-and-worst list), and publishes many more secret codes unearthed by members of the movement. As of last week, the ever-expanding cheat sheet offered cut-through-the-automation tips for nearly 400 companies. The Get Human cheat sheet makes for entertaining — and mystifying — reading. Want to reach an operator at a certain major bank? Just press 0#0#0#0#0#0#. Want to reach an agent at a big dental insurance company? Press 00000, wait through a message, select language, 4, 0. Want to reach a human at a leading consumer electronics retailer? Press 111## and wait through three prompts asking for your home phone number. It would be funny if it weren't so depressing — and such bad business. Countless chief executives pledge to improve their company's products and services by listening to the "voice of the customer." Memo to the corner office: Answer the phone! How can companies listen to their customers if those customers have such a hard time reaching a human being when they call? The obvious defense is that it's prohibitively expensive to offer the personal touch to millions of curious, confused, angry (or even enthusiastic) callers. The trouble is, companies tend to be better at cutting costs than at identifying missed opportunities. Richard Shapiro is president of the Center for Client Retention in Springfield, N.J., a business that dials out to customers who have dialed in to toll-free call centers and asks them to evaluate their experiences. He argues that customers who interact with human beings are more likely than other callers to volunteer useful information, try out a new product and come away with a strong sense of loyalty — positive outcomes that are eliminated by excessive automation. "You create more value through a dialogue with a live agent," Mr. Shapiro said. "A call is an opportunity to build a relationship, to encourage customers to stay with the brand. There can be a real return on this investment." It's a point that too many cost-conscious companies seem willing to overlook. In an era of fierce competition, when customers have more choices than ever, the toughest business challenge isn't to keep expenses down. It's to keep loyalty high. Anything that a company does to make its products and services a little more engaging, a little less ordinary, can pay big dividends. Anything like, say, answering the phone. “ End note from Phil Dourado: Here’s the mission statement from Paul English’s blog on www.gethuman.com . Sounds pretty compelling to me: “We are a consumer advocacy site focused on improving the face of customer service. This movement is powered by over one million consumers who are angry about bad service. We demand high quality, prompt, human customer support, by friendly, qualified people who we can understand, and who can handle our call without putting us on hold or transferring us again and again. We will reward companies with good service by buying more products and services from them, and telling our friends and families about them. We will punish companies with bad service by cancelling our accounts with them and instead using one of their competitors who has better service.” Sounds like a massive opportunity to me. Break ranks from the mass of large companies who are letting their customers down and investigate the benefits of re-designing your call-taking strategy.

Your turn. In the spirit of raising performance thresholds in customer service, if you have a Fast Guide of your own to share with eCustomerServiceWorld's Best Practice community, email it to PhilDourado@eCustomerServiceWorld.com.