“Voicemail Jail”
Do you remember that old term? When Auto Attendant capability first began to replace live switchboard operators, callers hated the idea. While it’s no longer a new concept, it is widely implemented and is often the first contact many customers have with your company. The Auto Attendant is part of your brand, your reputation. Is it working for or against that reputation? How do you find out and fix the damage?
Telephony is Obsolete?

Many CIOs likely regard their phone systems as ‘old hat’ technology and something to simply ‘keep running’. Yet the humble telephone is still the way that many customers choose to communicate. Your web site may be more useful than the old Yellow Pages listing but don’t force customers to use enquiry forms if they want to talk.
Nowadays, the ‘face at the door’ has gone and the phones are answered by an automated system. That way, customers direct their own calls to the correct destination. Great system?
That depends on how it is built and whether you are asking from the viewpoint of staff cost savings or improved customer service. Savings are obvious—so let’s look at service.
Are Customers Prime?
Another query. They certainly should be—we learn that on management courses. Yet do we follow this directive?
The big issue is that the Telecom or IT experts often design from the inside out. Your expert may well be proud of the 28 page IVR tree that adorns his wall, yet be unable to understand why customers have problems getting to the right department. Callers could not get the ‘X-Ray Department’. The problem: the IVR tree used the name on the door, which these days says ‘Medical Imaging’. The simple fix: acknowledge the customer and add ‘X-Ray’ to the tree as an alias for Medical Imaging.
Make It Quick
Callers dial your number and expect to be connected. You want to play them a greeting message first before asking what they want but don’t keep them waiting listening to a 2 minute mandatory greeting regarding COVID precautions. They heard all that last time—so they pressed zero and … the greeting restarted at the beginning! They hang up and call a different company. Is that what you want?
Recommendations
We recommend that senior staff actually try calling the company phone line to experience it for themselves—and we suggest ways of improving the experience.
The mandatory greeting should be short. If you MUST talk about your COVID precautions then make that an option. How about “Thanks for calling ABC Pharmacy. For our COVID compliance rules press #.”? Then go into the selection menu with the most used choices first. Frequent callers should be able to dial your number, listen to the start of the greeting to confirm they got the right company and press 1 for the pharmacist—end of story. Quick and efficient. Happy caller.
If you need a 2-tier selection then that might be OK but resist 3 or more levels. If you’re that complex then pay for departmental phone numbers.
- Short Intro message
- Get caller to destination swiftly
- Try phoning your number to get the real customer experience
- Don’t be proud of a 28 page IVR tree—remember KISS
If you’d like to comment on this article or explore these ideas further, contact me at peter.
This article was published in the
March 2021
edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:8 Issue:2
©2021 TMC Consulting