No one likes calling customer support. We’ve all had experiences where we waited on hold forever, been transferred multiple times, talked to support staff who didn’t understand what we needed, and on and on. Some industries are especially notorious for this, including telecoms, airlines, and financial institutions, but it’s no fun regardless. A company by the name of Fonolo (a cloud-based call-back provider) posted a blog on the worst companies to call. Even though large institutions, like the ones we just mentioned, dominate this list, you might be surprised to learn that retail is #4—even ahead of government at #5!
How bad is this dislike? Well, according to Shep Hyken’s 2022 Achieving Customer Amazement study, “42% of customers would rather clean a toilet” than call customer support. If that statistic doesn’t put this all in context, nothing will. Given how poor the over-the-phone experience is at so many businesses, it’s no wonder.
Like all other aspects of the customer experience, businesses should strive to deliver excellence in all things, regardless of whether the customer communicates with you in person, through email, or on the phone. So, what are some steps you can take to ensure your business does just that?
Friendliness
One of the worst first impressions employees can give a customer is the feeling that they don’t want to be there. Low energy, annoyance, or anything similar is a surefire way to tell the customer his or her business isn’t valued. Instead, employees should greet callers with enthusiasm and maintain that level of positivity throughout the conversation. Be ever mindful of how overworked your employees are, as if your staff is expected to handle face-to-face interactions as well as over-the-phone, this can be difficult to juggle.
Call Backs
Speaking of, Hyken recommends finding ways to shorten hold times, including the use of “technology that informs the customer about how long the wait will be with the option to have a call-back.” If you operate a retail store or restaurant, this kind of system may be overkill, but the idea of call-backs is still a good one. If you have incoming calls that need to be placed on hold, employees ought to ask for a call-back number so that customers aren’t forced to wait on the phone.
Have the Right Answers
Few things irritate customers more than misinformation because that guarantees they have to call back again (and again) to sort out their issues. It’s important for your employees to take ownership of any concerns that come their way to ensure that problems are solved rather than shrugged off. As Hyken observes, “The goal is for the customer to call only once, as in first-call resolution.” In the situations that call for extra work to resolve a problem, or that require more research, that’s fine—they just have to set expectations for the customer and be proactive about reaching back out once they have the right answers.
Like all other components of delivering a superior customer experience, phone skills require training, evaluation, and practice. At The Brandt Group, we take this area just as seriously as we do the in-person experience, which is why we always recommend mystery phone shops to our clients.
Our team of mystery phone shoppers will call your business and interact with your employees to uncover what they’re doing well, and what needs refinement. We record the audio so you can listen to those conversations after-the-fact, and we also have our shoppers complete digital evaluations for easy reference. Mystery phone shops won’t just shine a light on how well your staff is doing, but also on how well your overall business processes work.
Long hold times? Missed or unreturned calls? Rude service? These are all bad for the customer experience, and you can’t afford that. If you want to show your clientele that you care about their experience, start by taking charge of your over-the-phone customer service. Let’s make it great together, starting today!
