Is it just me?

I recently had an ‘is it just me’ moment.  My ‘is it just me’ moment was about voicemail.  I really dislike voicemail, I don’t like leaving it and I don’t like receiving it.
I had to wonder if this was an irrational moment and whether anyone else felt the same way.  Research shows that only 1 in 5 people will leave voice mail  and the other 4 are unlikely to even call back on another occasion.
So I started to ask people about their views on voice mail, on all aspects. 

Leaving, receiving and retrieving.

I found that there was a reasonably even split in.
* Hating to leave it
* Love to receive it
* Hating all aspects of it.
(yes I know that hate is a strong emotion to relate to voicemail but I wanted to be true to the people I asked and if that is the way people genuinely feel then who am I to criticise)

Leaving voicemail raised the following issues -:
* Feeling nervous about what to say
* Worrying about sounding silly
* Apathy about actually getting a return call.

Loving receiving voicemail came up with the following -:
* Feeling wanted or needed
* The excitement of ‘It might be an order’

Hating all aspects of voicemail -:
* The clarity of the message when retrieved.
* Callers not leaving the information needed to be able to call back or deal with their requirement.
* The pressure and stress that the blinking red light can cause.
* The unknown element of what the caller wants or needs.
* The possibility of an unhappy caller or a complaint, aggravated by having to leave voicemail.
* Uncertainty of, if and when the voicemail gets listened to and actioned.
* If the message retrieved is of such poor quality that a call back can’t be actioned, then there is a worry that the client feels ignored or neglected.
* Hating being a slave to the technical master (in this case voicemail)

I want to speak to a real live person!

The overriding comment that most people made was  ‘I’d prefer to speak to someone (a real live person!)  to be sure the message gets dealt with’
As well as -  ‘Lots of calls, lots of message leaving can be both demoralising and frustrating’
We agree!
Voicemail can portray a mixed image of a business, some might think that you cannot cope with their business as you are just too busy.  Some might think your business is too small to cope, if your office can’t even answer the phone.
All customers want to speak to ‘someone’ a real live person that can listen and understand their wants and needs. 
Even if the person they are calling cannot help immediately, they feel more confident they have been helped and that the right solution / relevant person will come back to them with the information they need. 
In terms of customer complaints, a customer situation where they are  forced to leave a voicemail can escalate the situation.  They may think you are avoiding them, or worse they may feel completely abandoned.  If they get to speak to someone (We like to think of the ‘someone’ as us, www.answer-it.co.uk a Professional Telephone Answering Service)  the customer can explain the situation,  the situation can be dealt with effectively as the main parts of the message are relayed and emotion in most cases is taken out of the equation. (By this I mean that if a customer complains to you the business owner it can be hard not to feel that your business (your baby) is not being attacked.)

So what are your thoughts on voicemail?  We don’t know about you but we are human beings and would rather interact with other human beings than a robotic machine who says it is taking my message. We’ve seen i Robot hmmm can we really trust the Robots?
So if you would rather that your customers had a fabulous experience everytime they call your business and you want to eliminate the need for them to speak to the robot then the team at www.answer-it.co.uk  a professional telephone answering service (that offers more than just taking a message) can help you.
We’ll talk about auto attendants another day!

Would your business survive a CRASH Test in customer service?

Contactability

As a business are you contactable.  Can customers reach you when they need something?  Or do they leave a voice mail or have to dial one of the many numbers listed on your business card?

Reliabilty

Can your customers rely on you for consistent service? Surely this is the key to turning them into advocates of your business and recomending you to a contact.

Acceptability

Are your terms and Conditions and they way you trade acceptable to your customers.  Is the way you resolve issues acceptable?

Speed

Do you act quickly in your business.  Are any issues resolved swiftly and without delay?

Helpfulness

We all like to think that we are helpful to our customers, but is it the right kind of help.  Is everyone in the business empowered enough to be able to help?

In recent discussions with various people about ‘Customer Service’ the biggest issue that people complained about was  not being able to speak to someone on the telephone.  People found it very frustrating either listening to the phone ring out or reaching a voicemail. www.answer-it.co.uk can help!

Road safety charity BRAKE in it’s guidance on Eliminating Driver Distractions, advocates a complete ban on mobile phone use, hands free or otherwise, whilst driving. Roz Cumming, Fleet Safety Forum Manager at Brake, said “It is all too tempting for drivers to let their mind wander from their driving – yet in a split second their distraction can cause death.’

The information goes on to question, if being on the phone for business whilst driving creates the right impression?  Speaking on the phone in the car whilst driving makes you sound distracted and frantic.  You are unable to consult relevant paperwork or take notes.  Consider how irritating it might be for the person you are calling, especially if reception fails and you get cut off.

Having considered the following research carefully and factoring in the statistic that only 1 in 5 people will leave voice mail, we believe that there is a much safer and far more professional approach than diverting the office phone to your mobile. Use a telephone answering service preferably the services of our fabulous team at Answer it.  However safety first and even if you do want to use a telephone answering service and you prefer to just use voice mail, make a change and be safe!  No telephone call, no matter how great the deal, can compare to the devastating effects that could be caused by you, speaking on the telephone whilst driving.  No telephone call is that important.

December 2003 saw the introduction of a fixed penalty for drivers using a hand held mobile phone whilst driving.  In February 2007 the fixed penalty was doubled and there was an addition of 3 penalty points.  This new law now includes an additional offence. ‘Causing or permitting a driver to use a hand held phone whilst driving.’

Obviously this puts the onus of responsibility, and therefore liability, onto the employer.  ROSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) points out that installing hands free kits, whilst not contravening the ban, does mean that employers may still fall foul of health and safety laws.  If an investigation was to determine that the use of the phone contributed to an accident they could still be held responsible.

ROSPA point out that in certain circumstances even driving hands free can be illegal.  Depending on the individual circumstances drivers could be charged with ‘Failing to have proper control of their vehicle’ or could even be prosecuted for ‘Careless and dangerous driving’

The Transport Research Laboratory conducted a series of studies that underlines the dangers of using hand held and hands free mobile phones when driving.

 In the first study the TRL research team concluded that in some aspects of driving the impairment of using a hands free phone whilst driving was worse than that of having the legal blood alcohol limit (80mg / 100ml.) This level of impairment, worse than this widely accepted benchmark of reasonable performance, highlights the increased accident risk caused by mobile phone conversations when driving. In closing the research states that. ‘Drivers need to be strongly discouraged from any mobile phone activity whilst behind the wheel’

The second study was intended to benchmark the impairment to driving caused by use of a hands free mobile phone against other in car activities such as adjusting the radio or temperature controls.  The research shows that drivers making a hands free call were more distracted, showed worse response time, poorer speed control and a marked reduction in situation awareness when compared to other activites.  The study also points out that there was a;  ‘distinct effect on the quality and character of the conversation.  The rate of talking, the number of pauses, number of errors and performance on verbal and numerical reasoning tasks all deteriorate when driving at the same time.’

 ROSPA’s guidelines to employers illustrates the need to raise awareness amongst staff of the dangers of using a mobile phone, even hands free whilst driving.  They recommend that mobile phones are switched off whilst driving and point out that good communication is still achievable without using a phone whilst driving.

We certainly believe good communication is still possible even with a mobile phone switched off, we have a great solution. www.answer-it.co.uk

 A Cambridgeshire police spokesperson said: “The law clearly states that it is illegal to use a hand held mobile phone whilst driving and we will continue to prosecute people putting the lives of other road users in danger. 
Driver concentration is paramount to road safety and care should be exercised when doing anything behind the wheel that could potentially distract you from the road.”

BRAKE – http://www.brake.org.uk

ROSPA – http://www.rospa.com

Transport Research Laboratory – www.trl.co.uk

It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it
It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it
It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it
And that’s what gets results

It ain’t what you do it’s the time that you do it
It ain’t what you do it’s the time that you do it
It ain’t what you do it’s the time that you do it
And that’s what gets results

You can try hard don’t mean a thing
Take it easy and then your jive will swing

That’s right it’s pop quiz time again! Totally inspired by Mark Rhodes a speaker I heard lately. – I’m not sure about you but having your ‘Jive swinging’ certainly sounds like a good thing to me.  Whether ‘taking it easy’ means you can achieve this, is another matter.

So what are you doing? And what results are you getting?
So we all know what we should be doing, and we all have the best intentions but we all have reasons (to put it politely) why we aren’t doing it.  I believe the most common reasons given includes lack of time.

Are you able to identify actually what is eating into your time?  If you can, can you change it?  I believe the telephone is a big time waster.  It eats into your day without you realising.  It is changeable and can be really manageable.

In business time really is a key factor.  We all have deadlines to keep and targets to meet.

A little ‘Did you Know’ for you – did you know that time is crucial with regards phone calls. A 2 hour time window of returning a phone call has been identified the closer to the start of the 2 hours means you are more likely to do business with that person or organisiation.  If you think about that for a minute just consider how rapidly voice mail can become out of date.  Then think about how often you check your voice mail…..

So how are you doing things?  Can you change what you are doing and get different results?  The ‘can do’ attitude is so important in business but it’s not only the ‘Can’ that is important it’s the ‘Do’ too.  As well as the time you ‘Do’ it in.

Until next time

Emma