You already know by now that I am old, and you are too if you recognize the title to the post. The hilarious Liky Tomlin did a routine on the Laugh In show of a telephone operator. (You're also old if you know what a telephone operator is.)
Anyway, she demonstrated really bad customer service skills and it was very funny because we've all experienced bureaucracies and bad service. It's not really funny while it's happening though, just later when you commiserate with your friends. And commiserate you do.
Consider sometime the amount of money you spend to get the phones to ring. Most advertising is aimed specifically at this goal. From your radio, TV, and print to your website(s) which is even tracked to verify that the caller got the number to call from the website.
You might even have spent money and the most expensive resource, time, to train your staff how to handle the incoming phone calls.
But have you ever mystery shopped yourself? You will find that much of the time, you are not putting your organization's best foot forward.
Take me for example. I call multiple dealerships every day and I am astounded at how poorly some dealerships route my call to the person I am trying to contact. I hear things like "yeah", "i don't know if he's here...", "why are you calling?", "what is your name?", "who were you calling for?" (that one after I've sat there several minutes alone). Most times, I phone a person's cell phone because I know they will answer if they can, and if not, I can leave my own message. If I leave a message with reception I don't know if it ever gets to the intended party, because I end up calling again. So either the message isn't delivered or the person chooses not to call back. Either way there is a broken process in your organization. And that doesn't even get at the initial aggravation which is the lackluster performance of the person answering your phone.
Every time your phone rings it should sound like a cash register. It is money. Whether it is buying a car, setting an appointment for service, or ordering parts, the caller wants to spend some money.
Do you have the right person, system, and process to be absolutely sure your customers have a chance to speak to the person that will help them spend money in your store?
You'll never know unless you call and test it. And nothing will change unless every person who picks up a phone is accountable to perform to your standards of excellence.
