So, it’s Sunday morning and you are flipping through the classified ads in your local paper trying to find a job. You come across a company currently looking for a Customer Service Representative for a travel insurance company, and they start at fourteen dollars a hour. You quickly send off your resume and cover letter. You get the job and in training, you realize how high the turnover is, and wonder why people are quitting so quickly? You thought that this was a “gravy job.”
After working there for a month you realize that all the CSR’s at the company has to go through training, but who trains the customers? CSRs ask the age old question “how can I help you” and even the most experienced employee can be caught off guard by the responses. The following is a “crash training” guide for customers to keep in mind before communicating to various representatives of companies (and even family and friends).
1. Know the reason for contacting them. Spending the first five minutes saying “umm” can be frustrating.
2. Be prepared to communicate. Oftentimes people call various companies in the middle of dinner and are unable to stop shoveling the food into their mouths while trying to communicate.
3. Do not ask what has taken so long for someone to answer the phone or attempt. Or try to carry on a conversation about the length of the wait time. Honestly, you are just causing a longer wait for others and no answer will be good enough.
4. Do not ask “are you the only one working?” Likely response, “No, sir. I just enjoy taking on double my workload and working through my lunch break while battling diabetes and low blood sugar.” Clearly, something has came up which is the reason for not having adequate staff, and if you are not controlling the scheduling your inquiries can reopen healing wound.
5. Learn to read between the lines. Although every company has standards (be it either high or low), when you encounter an exceptional CSR that is not capable of your request, but still tries to defer you from speaking with their manager. Sometimes, it’s because the manager received his promotion by knowing the right people, and the current CSR will tell them what they need to tell you.
6. One number does not fit all. When calling Dell computer, do not inquire about your gas bill. They cannot help you. Take the time to find the correct number of your providers.
7. Talk to one person at a time. Carrying on multiple phone conversations may seem to be efficient, but it’s not. Just because you have a home phone and a cell phone does not mean you must use both at the same time.
8. Do not resort to name calling. Although it may feel good to call some people “idiots” and “retards,” but it most likely won’t make them help you any faster or better.
9. Limit the background noise. It is not the right time to call anyone when there is loud music and people screaming in the background. If the call is very important, step outside (or anywhere else that is quiet).
10. Please, please, please do not use the bathroom while on the phone!
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2 comments:
This is a great blog entry! Great sense of sarcasm and humor, I laughed the whole time. I used to work at a doctor's office and would run into a lot of the same problems when patients would call. Somehow even if your office only treats arthritis patients people seem to think that they also treat things like IBS, poison ivy, and other unmentionables. So, I feel your pain! Thanks for a good laugh today!
WOW!!! Having a customer service background I can totally relate to this post. I've always wondered about the logic behind getting on the phone only to rant and rave about how long the hold time was...you have me now say what you need and stop tying up the line for the next person. It was sad the times that I would take to listen to a persons' rampage when it became apparent that I was probably the only human being they'd had contact with that. But, hell no wonder if this is how you talk to people on the regular! I love the idea of customers having training you need to send this email to any and everyone you know and then have them do the same. Maybe if enough people get the memo something will change. It's so funny that the term has been coined "common sense" because when you think about it it's not that common at all. People do & say stupid things all day everyday and truly think they make perfect sense-SAD!
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