Who sold you this then?

Asked about his dislikes,  a person being interviewed on the radio this morning answered without hesitation, 'any company that offers a telephone menu'. 

I am sure we all have horror stories of calling Mumbai to try to sort out an account query and being faced with a series of options read out by a disinterested recorded voice, probably after you have already listened to some stuff about calls being recorded for training purposes. At this point you don't have any idea how many menu items there might be, or if the next one might be more relevant to your enquiry. So you repeat the list and opt for the most hopeful option. Unless you are hands free, this often involves removing the phone from your ear to access the key pad. Then you might get a sub menu - and even more levels - before another recording announces that 'we are experiencing very heavy traffic today and you are in a queue'. Some might helpfully add you are number 43, with occasional updates in between bursts of tinny music. And you may even be invited to key in a 15 digit account number before they will talk to you. By the time you reach a robotic sounding agent you are already irritated, more so when they usually are not empowered to resolve your enquiry, before brightly asking, 'is there anything else I can help you with today?' implying they have already been of some assistance. Worse still, increasingly a text message arrives shortly after inviting you to provide feedback on the call.

Today's questions are - who decides to buy and install these systems and does marketing have a say? Does anyone care what the customer wants? Oh and why so much interest in recording calls for training purposes?

It is very likely the customer would prefer to be connected to a contact, someone with both  a christian name and surname, who can answer questions or find out the answer and call back if it requires some research. Someone that is more interested in what the customer wants and not totally absorbed with post codes and first line of address before deigning to talk at all. Research shows that customer retention is far more cost effective than recruiting new customers. So why instal systems that show total disregard to building and nurturing customer relations? Creating a rapport with customers builds trust, confidence and opens the opportunity to pitch products that could be of benefit to the customer. Repeat customers who have a good service experience can be useful advocates for your business - word of mouth recommendation is a powerful marketing tool. It makes sense to make it easy for customers to talk to you - not introduce barriers to communication that give a poor experience.