Everything is so serious these days that it is nice to find some levity. This is good – a company recently tracked aspects of 75,000 tech support calls. They have some gender-related data (emphasis mine): Male callers: 64% didn’t bother to read the instruction manual before calling for help. Female callers: 24% didn’t bother to read the instruction manual before calling for help. Male callers: 12% just needed to plug in their gear to “resolve their issue”. Female callers: 7% ditto! Female callers stayed on the phone with tech support 32% longer than male callers. 66% of tech support operators said they preferred dealing with female clients, anyway. So according… Read More
Continue ReadingOdd Hold
I’m on hold this past week with my website hosting company with some questions about our account. I have a somewhat complex question/request for them which requires the customer service rep to put me on hold to obviously research it. I don’t mind being put on hold as I am ever hopeful they come back with the solution. However, I was a bit shocked by the hold music when she put me on hold the first time. The song was Another One Bites the Dust. I kept waiting for the dial tone as surely she was preparing to hang up on me. I was relieved when she returned. I explained… Read More
Continue ReadingCustomer Service – Dex Style
Unbelievable. I sent an email NINE days ago to Dex, the phone book company. They have an old listing for our business including a phone number and address we haven’t had for over 3 years. I was just informed of this fact by a customer who was trying to reach us from a coffee shop when he didn’t have his cell phone with him. The response from the Dex rep says much about customer service in this particular market segment. My initial email through their website form simply stated they had the wrong information for our company and I provided the correct information. The response I received: Thank you for… Read More
Continue ReadingMonologue Communication
JustSell.com’s latest newsletter has a quick-hit tidbit that caught my eye: Be careful to avoid working to get the needs of your paying customers and highly qualified prospects “off your plate”. These are the people who deserve your attention and time. Technology has allowed us to communicate by monologue – in one direction – sending or leaving a message in the written form (email) or oral form (voice mail) and then moving on until we receive a response. This can cause us to get lazy in our service efforts – creating gaps of needed care and attention and subsequently weakening relationships that might otherwise build stronger barriers to competitive entry.… Read More
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