Are You Contributing to Phone Rage?

We’ve heard a lot lately about the problems associated with road rage and air rage.  But according to a survey by Prudential, some of your customers may be suffering from “phone rage.”  Results from this survey found that some phone systems annoy customers more than they help them.

If you are like most consumers, this is not a surprise to you.

If you are not sure how your company’s telephone system is perceived by prospects and customers, check to make sure it’s not causing problems such as these:

•  71% of callers said that most of the time they must listen to too many recordings before they can talk to someone.

•  41% said they are too often transferred to too many others after they do reach someone.

•  40% reported becoming angrier by the minute when trapped in voice mail or left on hold.

•   33% criticized recorded messages as confusing or not right for their situation.

One supervisor of six customer service representatives at an office supplies company in Ontario is responsible for monitoring and tracking up to 500 incoming calls each day.

With the help of an automatic call distribution system and special software program, this supervisor has found that most callers will wait on hold for office supplies no more than 30 seconds before hanging up. Her employees answer 98% of calls within 10 seconds, which is much better than the industry average.

To make the ordering experience faster and easier for the caller, the company uses a Caller I.D. program.  Seconds before the customer service representative answers the call, the customer’s account information can be accessed quickly on the computer. Customers are pleased that the CSR knows who they are immediately and they don’t  need to spend time identifying themselves before ordering.

How do you know whether or not your telephone system is annoying callers?

To make sure your telephone system is not irritating your customers, call your company from a telephone outside your office and listen to how the call is answered.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the call answered in less than three rings?

2. Does a real, live person answer the call?

3. If the call is answered by a recording, is there an escape route during the first sentence, like “dial zero to reach an operator”?

If you can answer yes to two of these questions, your customers are probably happy.

A good way to find out how your clients feel about your telephone system is to ASK them!  Most people will be more than happy to let you know how they feel. You will attract more prospects and keep happy customers by making sure you are not contributing to phone rage.