Secret Prompts By-Pass ‘Voice-Mail Hell’

It’s a familiar scenario for all of us to heave a sigh when we have to call our cell phone company…or health insurer…or bank….or cable company.  We know it is a time suck.  We’re sent off into the auto-voice ozone for…well, for Verizon Fios, it averages 14 minutes.  For Microsoft Tech Support, 9 minutes.  Best Buy averages 15 minutes. 

Paul English is a geek that assembled a renowned work-around list for the customer service lines of major corporations.  Paul’s list gives you the secret prompts it takes to go straight to a human when your issue doesn’t fall within their audio FAQ.  It is a popular site.

Here are some examples:

 Bank of America  704-386-5687                                                                                                                 

This is their ‘Executive Relations’ line.  It is different from the line you use.  Feel free to use it.

 AT&T  888-387-6270                                                                                                                                          

Use this number.  It connects directly to a representative who assists you personally without transferring you.  No voice mail.

 United Airlines  800-864-8331                                                                                                                

Ignore the talking voice.  At each prompt, press 0 three times.

Comcast  800-266-2278                                                                                                                                  

Press *# at each prompt, ignoring the message. 

Key Bank  800-539-2968                                                                                                                                

Press ‘0’ at the first prompt.  At the second prompt, press 5.

 Another trick, if you don’t know the company’s secret code, is to say nothing.  Often, the system will repeat the question 3 times and if there is no response, pass you through to a person.

 There’s a lesson here.  These are large corporations.  Corporations that profess to care about customer service.  Corporations that can certainly afford to offer customer service.  Yet we’re all hungrily reading these secret techniques to get through to them.

 So how is the customer service for your company?  You spend quite a bit of effort attracting, nurturing and serving new customers.  How are they treated when the call with a question that doesn’t quite fit the FAQ?  Who do they talk to when they have an application question?  How are they treated by accounts receivable people when they fall behind? 

 As sales and marketing professionals this is our responsibility.  Other departments develop policies to guide their mission.  But we are the ones whose mission is to keep the company and the customer together. So if the policies don’t work, we owe it to our customers to speak out.  To change it.  To publish the ‘secret work-around codes’.

If your company has less than stellar customer service, and you know it, you are no better than the folks in the list above.  Think about that the next time you sit on hold, frustrated with the poor service.

Then speak out until you are heard and it changes.  Poor customer service only exists if sales and marketing enable it.

You can find an entire list of companies and their secret prompt codes at Paul’s site, www.gethuman.com.  I hope you aren’t on it.

What IS ‘Good Service’?     How does yours rate?

I had an interesting experience with an orthopedic surgeon that was a customer.  He had been invited to speak to our sales force, sharing his perception of sales reps that visited his clinic.  As he spoke to us, he made the statement that in terms of reps, good service was difficult to find.

After his talk, I asked how many of the sales professionals in the room felt that they offered good service.  Every one of them raised their hand.  In fact, every time I’ve told this story, every rep raised their hand.

Why is it, when we all believe we provide good service – a valuable customer could make the statement that good service is difficult to find?  Either he doesn’t recognize good service.   Or we, as sales professionals, don’t.  And he is the customer.

So in the privacy of this blog let me ask you.  Do you provide good service?  Why do you say that?  Can you write down, in terms of your industry and your customers and your competition, what good service is?  I suggest you write it down, because it is more elusive than you may think.

In fact, many of your customers don’t think you provide it.  So if you DO know what it is, you should capture it and make sure you communicate it and live up to it.

After you’ve made your list, check this one.  We’ve identified 40 ideas for good sevice.  If you have ideas we haven’t listed, share them with us  the comments box and we’ll post them in the forum.

Elements of Good Service

                1)   Frequency of visits.    Be specific…what frequency?

                2)   Product Knowledge.  

                3)   Knowledge of Product Applications .   Not just what it does, but how your customer uses it, when and for what.

                4)   Attitude in their offices.  

                5)   Staff Relationships.     How many names do you know?  Do you know something personal about them?

                6)   Buyer Relationships.      What makes you think you have a relationship?

                7)   Management Relationships.         Have you met the top executives or physcians?  Do they know your name?

                8)   Communications.      How do you communicate with the decision maker?  How often?  Why?

                9)    Follow-up.                 Do you always find a reason to follow-up after a visit?

                10)  Timeliness.                

                11)  Service and Support (time in the office when you aren’t presenting).

                12)  Do what you say.

                13)  Ideas for the business.

                14)  Referrals for the business.

                15)  Network for the business.

                16)  Understand terminology.

                17)  Understand how their business is differentiated.

                18)  Present product options in terms of revenue, profit, productivity.

                19)  Add to the morale of the company through your own attitude when you arrive.

                20)  Respect confidentiality.

                21)  Reduces our risk of trying new things.

                22)  Reliable supply.

                23)  Personally stand behind the product performance.

                24)  Protect the company from over-inventory.

                25)  Recognize and appreciate individual efforts within the company.

                26)  Share in company successes.

                27)  Take responsibility for promptly correcting miscommunications and problems.

                28)  Readily available.

                29)  Easily accessible by phone, online and in person.

                30)  Effective and creative use of technology to promote support and communication.

                31)  Prompt introduction of new products and promotions

                32)  Break the rules for the buyer’s benefit.

                34)  Knows their kid’s names.  Knows their spouse’s name.

                35)  Knows their favorite hobbies and interests.

                36)  Knows where they went on their last (or favorite) vacation.

                33)  Knows their boss, but doesn’t go around them.  Knows their staff, but doesn’t ignore them.

                34)  Keeps them up to date on happenings in the business, market and industry.

                35)  Respectfully introduces them to executives at the company at trade shows.

                36)  Understands their concerns before defending your policies.  Champions their business.

                37)  Understands how their company uses your products, when and in what volumes. 

                38)  Anticipates their needs (product and otherwise)

                39)  Have proven yourself trustworthy.

                40)  Typically makes them laugh when visiting.