What customers want and how you can address it

I came across an entire article on how customers take to social media platforms out of the frustration that nobody is listening! Believe me, if your customers aren't there yet, you don't want to push them!! If you look at the root cause analysis of what customers want and the reasons for customer dissatisfaction, you will realize that most of it hands around slow response and basically, no empathetic ear to their issues. Instead of letting things aggravate, make it easy for them to reach out to you.

Ever confronted a situation when you called your telecom service number and you could not get through? What about when you tried finding some help with your microwave and had no responsible person to hear it? Here goes a normal scenario: You dial a service number. It faces either of these ends:

1. You actually get someone to listen to you. An ideal situation that makes me like the product better.
2. The bell rings, but on one picks. You call back after an hour but are not heard.
3. The call doesn’t connect. You desperately call a second number mentioned. No response. That’s the end of it. I don’t want anything to do with it further.

It is irritating when a call is not answered.

Firstly, you paid for the product and the company assured that it will work wonders. You deserve to be heard when you face any problem.

Secondly, you choose a service with the hope that this is the best of all alternatives available. Any glitch that you cannot bear should be addressed.

Thirdly, we pay for gadgets and facilities to simplify our lives. When we make a strategic investment it is supposed to make things easy for us, not difficult!

Fourthly, we are completely concentrated on our own everyday issues. No one wants ‘things’- that are supposed to work seamlessly- to frustrate us further.

Every person wants to be heard. More so, when he knows that he has paid for a service and he ‘deserves’ attention. It comes naturally to us and there is nothing wrong with it. But, besides being a customer, I interact with a lot of business owner. So I know precisely the reasons they inadvertently miss on some customer queries. Here are some repeated responses I get:

1. They call at ‘ungodly hours’. ‘I mean its 11pm. I am sleeping and I too have a life. But guess what? They want me to listen!’
2. Calls while I am driving. ‘I have already taken two calls in my car. If I take this one too, I won’t make it to the meeting I am headed to. Distances in Delhi are at blame!’
3. I am too busy strategizing my plans and spend. ‘Unwillingly, I end up missing on a few calls. I have to let go some conversations I didn’t remember what I discussed!’

So, even when they provide enough focus on customer service and invest on after sales support, owners or some of their company executive misses on some customers. ALWAYS!

While these issues are prevalent in almost all industries and true for businesses of all sizes, for the matter of discussion, I would like to discuss the possibility in one segment, real-estate. Real estate businesses have big ticket customers. Each deal is worth in lakhs and there are endless alternative agents and companies competing for the limited number of high paying customers. These points make it an interesting study as to how they ensure their customers do not face such issues as these. Here is what some real estate companies are doing:

1. One major problem is, when the customers call a number and an agent picks the call. But unfortunately, he is not the same agent who is handling the customer’s case. These companies are using the live call transfer facility, to transfer customer calls to the respective agent without disconnecting the call from the mobile phones.
2. Most of them are getting an automated answering and voicemails. With the advent of cloud telephony, incorporating features such as toll-free numbers, IVR service (Interactive Voice Response), and call center software has become significantly more affordable and manageable. This innovative approach ensures that even if representatives are unavailable to answer calls immediately, customers can conveniently leave voice messages. Additionally, the system records each missed call in a centralized location, regardless of the specific recipient, facilitating efficient call tracking and systematic responses
3. Another issue that bugs these businesses is, when they are on the move, they just don’t remember all the conversations and what a client specified in which call! To bypass this nightmare, they are getting call recordings on all calls to ensure you can get back to each customer accurately.

Call concerns have so far been ignored only at the peril of a huge unaccounted loss of earned business. Most companies don’t even consider that this problem is manageable or avoidable. With affordable telephony options that have come forth with cloud technology, it’s about time every business, big or small, enrolls itself into cloud telephony solutions. We, the customers need a better response mechanism. With advanced technologies and products there is no scope for excuses.