Automated Phone Answering Systems - Worst Possible Way to Communicate with Your Customers

Why have virtually all of America's larger companies adopted these absolutely horrible and hugely frustrating automated phone answering systems to deal with their customers when they call?

I don't know a single person who likes to deal with those stupid automated systems.

When you call a company with a question or a concern or an issue of any sort, YOU WANT TO TALK TO A REAL PERSON. Yet, you're forced to go through a long and usually frustrating list of "menu options" before you finally navigate your way to a real live human being. The message being sent is "We really don't want to talk to you. Please go away." Is this smart marketing?

I don't believe in these systems for any company, but companies that are in any kind of customer service business are really shooting themselves in the foot when they adopt these systems. The phone is still an important customer contact tool. It always will be. Why lose the opportunity to personalize this point of contact and use it to differentiate your service and make your company stand out? Automated phone systems are dehumanizing and impersonal. Are those attributes desirable ones for your brand?

I once worked with a mobile phone company that wanted to differentiate itself. At the time, all the competitors were dong "me too" advertising featuring the latest hot rate package (this many minutes for this much money). We did some research and consumers told us that the single biggest thing that this company could do to differentiate their service was to have "live" operators instead of an automated system. You'd think this would be a no-brainer for a phone company. NOT! They ignored the research results and adopted another differentiation strategy instead.

This opportunity remains low hanging fruit for any service oriented company. When people call you, have a real person answer the phone. Train your people to deliver consistently pleasant "on strategy" brand and service experiences to these callers. Your own people can be your most powerful marketing tools and they can make a strongly positive first impression if you let them. Don't let "operational efficiency" mislead you into making a foolish marketing mistake.