Working World

“Thank you for calling. Please hold for the next available operator.”

“Your call is important to us and may be monitored or recorded for quality control.”

“All calls are answered in the order they are received; please continue to hold.”

“Please listen carefully to all eight options. Press 1 for …"

EEK! When you hear these sentences, you’re usually headed for voice mail jail, or voice mail “hell,” as others call it. We’ve all been there. (Some of us, too often.) “Voice mail remains a large frustration in this busy business world,” observes Nancy Friedman, a business consultant known as “Telephone Doctor” at www.telephonedoctor.com, a customer service training website.

“Corporate voice mail is getting much worse,” in the opinion of Karen Leland, co-founder of Sterling Consulting Group, Sausalito, California, and co-author of Customer Service for Dummies, Second Edition, published by IDG books Worldwide. “The reason is that fewer and fewer companies give you the option of an ‘out’ to speak to a real person. They make you go through so many layers to get to a real person, so many people just give up. Financial institutions are among some of the worst offenders. Retail organizations and catalog companies are among some of the best.”

Although voice mail is an essential communication tool, it must be used to make business more accessible and customer-oriented, not as a way to avoid customers or coworkers, Leland cautions. “But, if used effectively, voice mail can allow you to work more efficiently and productively, giving customers the quick answers they demand in our fast-paced business world.

“Like most technology,” she adds, “voice mail adds convenience, but it also alienates people, causing frustration and resistance. Most voice mail packages today come with a variety of standard technology options that allow the customer to get out of the system easily or to navigate the system easily. The technology is not the problem; the way companies choose to use it is.”

The Latest Technology
Most businesses find that installing an automated system is cheaper and more efficient than hiring a person to pick up the phone and talk to every customer. According to Microsoft Small Business Center’s Joanna L. Krotz (www.Microsoft.com), it costs $50 or more for a human being to answer each call, but only a few dollars for a combination of technology and human being, and pennies for self-service on the web.

Worldwide, “customer relationship management” consulting and customer care outsourcing, including automated technology hosting services, is expected to total $90 billion by the end of 2006, estimates market researcher IDC.

“The problem with most big (dinosaur) companies (vs. young growing or big dynamic companies) is they hire non-strategic bean counters to try to save money,” believes Paul English, creator of the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Cheat Sheet (at www.paulenglish.com/ivr). The companies think they’re saving money by thwarting efforts to help customers quickly get to a human being when they call a company for service.

“Guess what?” he asks. “If you don’t talk to your customers, they won’t be loyal to you, they won’t come back, they won’t recommend you to a friend, they won’t buy more products from you. Some companies have figured this out, and they’ve created wonderful products and services that customers love, and which allow them to make money. For example, Southwest Airlines and Nordstrom’s both have actual human beings to answer their phones.”

“It is sad,” comments Leland, who has used English’s Cheat Sheet, “that we need to go to a website to find out a way ‘around’ companies trying to keep us from talking to them.”

You're Not a Boss, So What Can You Do?
As an employee, maybe you can’t change the way your company handles its automated corporate messages or change the length of time it takes until customers talk to a person and not just a recording. However, you can improve your own voice mail messages and keep customers and clients coming back.

Nancy Friedman says that the most frustrating phrases that callers don’t want to hear are: “I’m not at my desk right now,” “Your call is very important to me,” “I’m sorry I missed your call,” — all obvious, all time wasters — and “I’ll call you back as soon as possible” — not always true; just saying “I’ll call you back” is sufficient.

Tell callers when you’ll get back to them, ask for their phone number and as much information as they can leave. If possible, give them the name and phone number of a co-worker who might help them in your absence.

As for including the day and date on your outgoing message, Friedman advises, “You might want to think twice about this. There are too many ways to slip up and not record each day, thereby making your recording outdated. I’d play it safe and not use a day or date.”

If you’re on the other end of the line, sending a message, remember that it’s your “electronic business card,” Friedman points out. The message should include your name, phone number, the reason for the call, and when you can be reached for a reply. Speak clearly and slowly, and leave your name and phone number at the beginning and the end of your message.

Of course, voice mail does indeed save time, points out Leland. “The customer can leave detailed information that the service person can act upon before calling the customer back. Plus, service providers who check their voice mail regularly get messages faster and more accurately than if they have to depend on a coworker who may or may not be readily available but takes incomplete messages.

“Voice mail is a customer service tool,” she emphasizes, “and its effectiveness or detriment all depends on how you use it.”

Are you using voice mail to enhance communication and make yourself more accessible to clients and customers? Are you prompt at checking and returning your messages? Do you make your message and your voice mail system as user-friendly and as convenient as possible? Is your greeting professional, friendly and informative?

Voice mail should be an added customer service tool to help you provide quicker, better service. Just like any communication tool, the user determines its usefulness.

Paula Bernstein is an award-winning Los Angeles writer whose articles on health and career issues have been published in American Health, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan. A former editor at the New York Daily News, she is the author of Family Ties, Corporate Bonds (Doubleday).