You know that telephone customer service is a hot-button issue when people are writing letters to the editor (scroll down to the bottom) to complain about it. But maybe you didn't know just how much it costs when incoming calls from sales prospects are mishandled.
In a fascinating article for marketingprofs.com, internet marketing expert Todd Meichiels quantifies this in stark numbers. He tells the story of a client who was paying big bucks for Google AdWords to promote their web site and drive calls to a toll-free number. But when he made a test call, Meichiels arrived in the sixth circle of automated attendant Hell, with no way to speak to a live person. Like most callers, he just hung up.
This company was paying $65 per click to get roughly 1 out of 10 visitors to actually pick up the phone and dial a call to the sales team. This amounts to $650 per call (actually much more, when indirect marketing costs are factored in), and that $650 call was immediately flushed down the abyss of the automated phone system. Any chance of a positive impression was immediately turned into a lost sale.
Maybe you're not using AdWords, but you're spending money to get people to call you by including your phone number on your web site, in ads, sales flyers, brochures, on letterhead and business cards and in the local phone directory. Maybe you don't use an automated attendant, but a poorly trained staff can do just as much damage as a badly designed call answering system. Do you need telephone etiquette training for your personnel? Why not pick up the phone and check it out for yourself.
