“For flotsam, please press 1. For jetsam, please press 2. For a sam directory, please press…” AAAARGH!
If you have a phone tree or other kind of automated phone system, everyone hates it. Trust me.
It does NOT help your customers. You might think it helps you, but you’re here to serve the customer, so it really doesn’t help you.
You might think it saves you money, but I’m here to tell you that’s a penny-wise and pound-foolish argument.
Hire real, live, human-being people to answer the phones and pay them a decent wage. Measure and reward their awesomeness by random calls to customers checking in on their experiences.
At least once every six months, give your real, live, human-being phone-answerers the day off and you perform their job so you keep in touch with real, live, human-being customers.
And you so can remember how hard it is. And how important it is. And how important those real, live, human-being phone-answerers are to your company.
Kill your automated phone tree system. Now.