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Say No to Call Centers
It's very rare to call a company and get an actual person. As customers, we've become accustomed to the automated messaging system. So for companies that look at it strategically, a human voice can actually become a competitive differentiator. In today's lead 1to1 Weekly article, that's what discount brokerage Scottrade did as part of its overall customer strategy.
So while technology systems are important for convenience and process efficiencies, the human touch is critical to building long-term loyalty. How does your company manage personal customer interactions?
Yes, the customer service at scottrade is great..
You call...
A real person answers the phone...
That person takes care of business, right away
At least that's been my experience at Scottrade.
Great to see a company that "gets it." Companies should realize that not every contact is a burden, but an opportunity
Excellent article. The importance of human interaction cannot be stressed enough. Here at ReadyTalk, we do all of our customer service in house in Denver, CO. We have a dedicated support staff as well as requiring that the rest of the company be available for support. No holding, no waits and no recordings. Our CEO even answers support calls if the needs arises. We are constantly complimented on the speed and friendliness of our customer support.
Nice article.
Live people is the only way to go if the goal is to keep customers. Call centers with voice mail are on a suicide mission.
It's a matter of design synthesis. The technologists measure their success by the installation of the product, not its use. Whoever is responsible for relationships (often a core part of the problem, accountability) are often not savvy enough (or have the cycles) to bother pushing back on the technologists to improve the technology experiences.
They're both suffering from what I call the "Experience Design Capability Gap"
That article was "RIGHT ON". I have been using Scottrade for years and agree totally. As a small trader, that is retired, I feel the relationship is very important to both me and my Scottrade folks in New York. I wouldn't switch for another online brokerage company if someone paid me.
When I have a problem or question I get the same attention everyone else gets.
Kudos to Rodger and all his great staff.
Part of the problem is how "dumb" the systems involved are. CSRs and customers alike use IVR systems, ATMs, CRM systems that are just too dumb. Instead of helping customers solve their problems or helping CSRs help customers, they collect and reproduce data and not much else. I think a more effective focus on decisions can make systems smarter and reduce the problems inherent in using them. In the end, even if you can speak to someone, it does no good if they cannot act so you have to empower them to do so.
JT
Currently our organization uses a multi-channeled approach in managing our “personal customer interactions”, with the use of a diverse customer oriented customer culture spreading across every department. By using customized contact management systems we allow for a collaborative effort in assisting our customers get real time answers. From our sales executives, to our support team every touch needs and has a value proposition that creates our differentiator from the rest of our competitors. Our commitment is a very simple one “Do you speak the language of your customer”, we know our customers and we have used this business intelligence to create new communication avenues such as webinars, newsletters, customer chats, forums, all which are secondary vehicles in communicating.