"Thank You For Calling, How Can I Help You?"
Have you ever had a really bad customer service experience? There is nothing worse than calling a company and having one of those "tone" people answer. It makes you not even want to call at all! I always picture a heavy-set lady wearing too much make-up, filing her nails and smacking on gum when I get a rep like that. I don't think many phone reps understand that their consumers don't want to talk to them either! Just because they call doesn't mean they were just dying to talk to them and wait on the line so the rep could fumble around to solve their problem.
On the other side, it is not much fun making the call for collections. I know I shouldn't really call it collections, but if you are behind, we will be calling to get your account caught up. Even though we have a wonderful program to assist our sponsors, many of them consider us "solicitors" so it is hard to keep another mind frame. Let me on a bunny trail for a moment...
Do you know what I really enjoy? When I get a call from a company trying to sell me something I already have. A few months ago I had a guy call me from Dish Network. After convincing him that I already had the service (which took a very long time) I took the step to be sociable and asked him if his shift was almost over. He went from sounding frustrated to having a little more sunshine in his voice. Come to find out he was in Denver and was off at 7. I asked what he was doing after work (HEY! Stop it! I know what you are all thinking and I am married! Shame on you!) Anyway, he sounded a little depressed and said that he had no plans and would probably just go home. Go home?! I told him that he was lucky to live in Denver because they had so much fun stuff to do there... clubs, karaoke... that hit the spot. We started talking about karaoke and he started getting really excited. I also informed him that there are no rules about partying on a Tuesday and he agreed. When the conversation ended he told me I made his day and he knew I was a nice and fun person. It was great to know I made his shift a little brighter that Tuesday and thought about what karaoke club he went to that night.
See, what most people don't understand is that we (I speak for the world of phone reps) don't want to call you in the middle of your baby's nap or right when you are walking out the door. We want to make the conversation as pleasant for you as possible. When you come home from a hard days work and are "bothered" by a phone call, you should remind yourself that making those calls are our hard days work. And when you get interrupted while enjoying dinner with your family, you should try to be a bit kinder... because they probably won't get to have dinner with their family.
On the other side, it is not much fun making the call for collections. I know I shouldn't really call it collections, but if you are behind, we will be calling to get your account caught up. Even though we have a wonderful program to assist our sponsors, many of them consider us "solicitors" so it is hard to keep another mind frame. Let me on a bunny trail for a moment...
Do you know what I really enjoy? When I get a call from a company trying to sell me something I already have. A few months ago I had a guy call me from Dish Network. After convincing him that I already had the service (which took a very long time) I took the step to be sociable and asked him if his shift was almost over. He went from sounding frustrated to having a little more sunshine in his voice. Come to find out he was in Denver and was off at 7. I asked what he was doing after work (HEY! Stop it! I know what you are all thinking and I am married! Shame on you!) Anyway, he sounded a little depressed and said that he had no plans and would probably just go home. Go home?! I told him that he was lucky to live in Denver because they had so much fun stuff to do there... clubs, karaoke... that hit the spot. We started talking about karaoke and he started getting really excited. I also informed him that there are no rules about partying on a Tuesday and he agreed. When the conversation ended he told me I made his day and he knew I was a nice and fun person. It was great to know I made his shift a little brighter that Tuesday and thought about what karaoke club he went to that night.
See, what most people don't understand is that we (I speak for the world of phone reps) don't want to call you in the middle of your baby's nap or right when you are walking out the door. We want to make the conversation as pleasant for you as possible. When you come home from a hard days work and are "bothered" by a phone call, you should remind yourself that making those calls are our hard days work. And when you get interrupted while enjoying dinner with your family, you should try to be a bit kinder... because they probably won't get to have dinner with their family.
posted by Nic at 7:03 AM
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