Customer Service by Telephone loses money for companies

Customers want four things when buying goods: 1) Price, 2)Delivery, 3) Quality, and 4) Service. You go into a shopping mall and pick the goods at the price you find and you have delivery instantly. Quality you expect for the price you pay. If any problem arises, you expect quick solutions and correcting of the suppliers' fault(s). A recourse many of us take when presented with poor or untimely customer service is to select a different supplier. That is a costly error by the original supplier. They have lost a customer, many times, forever.

I have been privileged, mostly in experiences of years past, to know many telephone operators-receptionists who just performed excellently for their employers and brought on and nourished the customer base. Betty Wolfe and her cohorts at Abex Denison, Norma Copen at GoodYear Atomic, two operator receptionists at American Health Networks, and an endless array of outstanding people doing exceptional work.

Todays telephone systems rate an overall grade of D- in my estimation. Companies save a few shekels by not having operators, but cost themselves many more dollars in lost business by the poor service offered, particularly by telephone.

Robert Townsend said it best in "Up the Organization":

P 183

Telephone Operators

If I ever design a head office, executive row will look like the cubicles of a Trapist monastery, and the telephone-switchboard area will look like a Turkish Harem. Money spent on offices for the management is largely wasted. If they are any good it will be apparent to anyone after a few minutes, no matter how plain or fancy their office is.

On the other hand, how would you like to try doing the telephone operator's job for a day? Remember, you're the company's first contact with the outside world--you've got to be alert and bright and helpful and quick. You've got to know where everybody is all the time. I'd spend money to make the switchboard girls comfortable. The best operators in the area would be lined up for the job.

"Up the Organization" 1970

I have personally wasted many hours trying to obtain customer service by telephone. If you finally make it through the maze, you often find the wrong person, or even become disconnected to begin the long and tortuous wait once or twice, or more, again.

Yes, this is a Rant! Unlikely to reach the persons who hire the operators or pay attention to their customer service by telephone.