My wife recently experienced the depths of automated telephone systems when she placed a call to a well-known, national service provider to inquire about an unauthorized credit card debit.
Calling the designated national number, she became lost in a telephone tree with five choices, none of which addressed the issue about which she was calling. To make matters worse, if she pressed “0” (a logical choice to be connected to an operator/live person), she was returned to the very front of the automated message where the process started all over again. After three tries, she hung up.
Next, a call was placed to the local branch office of the organization. After another trip through a telephone tree, she managed to reach a real person who forwarded her to another office. There she was greeted with the message that “all our representatives are busy” and informed to leave her name and number and they would call her back…eventually.
Finally, a call to a third office managed to reach Katie, a real, live, competent person with a positive, how-can-I-help attitude. Not only did Katie take immediate steps to resolve the problem, she took pains to relay exactly what she was doing and how it would ensure the problem would not occur in the future. In every way, her performance was exceptional.
What type of service do your customers (both advertisers and listeners) receive when calling your station? Are they greeted professionally and receive prompt responses to their queries, or are they relegated to some type of telephone hell? How many people do they have to go through in order to obtain an answer/resolution?
The best way to find out is to ask your clients. The feedback you receive may surprise you.