Customers feel phone frustration

Finding herself at wit's end as she tried to reach a northern Nevada business by phone, Roz Parry set out five months ago to see how badly area firms handle customer service by telephone.

Her findings after a survey of 80 companies? "The results were amazingly poor.

Seventy percent of the companies I called had a poor rating, and some were so bad that, if I hadn't been conducting a survey, I actually would have hung up on them." Parry may not be an entirely dispassionate observer as she's conducting a seminar in Reno later this month on telephone courtesy and customer service.

But her survey spotted problems.

Badly conceived telephone automation systems in companies large and small are particularly damaging, Parry said last week.

"Through automation, they're alienating customers," she said.

"They're losing their relationships with their customers."

Among the problems she encountered during her survey:

* Automated systems that don't allow the caller to reach a human ever.

* Automated systems with too many options.

"After five, forget it," said Parry.

* Voice-automated systems that don't recognize the words the caller is saying.

"Trying saying 'Reno' for an airline system.

You'll be amazed what you get," Parry said.

But humans also contribute their share to lousy customer service on the telephone.

Among Parry's findings were companies that let the phone ring four or five times before anyone answers, receptionists who put callers on hold before anyone can say hello, and companies that routinely cut off callers while they're transferred or placed on hold.

Other annoyances found in Parry's survey:

* Customer-service employees who talk about personal matters while the customer waits on the phone for an answer.

* Employees who tell a caller they're busy with a customer and ask if they can return a call to the customer.

* Receptionists who cut off callers before they've finished a sentence.

Whether the problems arise from automation or humans, Parry said managers need to take responsibility for poor customer service on the telephone.

Too often, she said, new employees with limited knowledge of company operations are placed in key positions to interact with callers.

And because those positions often have high turnover, training may be scant.

The impression created by a customer's first contact by telephone is critically important.

In many instances, Parry said, customers make up their minds about a company in the first 30 seconds they're on the phone.

The seminar Parry is teaching, sponsored by the Nevada Small Business Development Center, will run the morning of Feb.

20.

The cost is $45 a person, or $35 each when three or more from the same organization attend.

For registration, call the small business development center at 784-1717.