Respect the customer – How do you communicate value?

Nothing says “We don’t care about you” like a robocall from a business that you actually use.

One such call came from a company that provides a real estate tax reduction service. They will advocate in court for a reduction of a client’s property taxes. When successful, their pay is half the amount that they reduced that year’s tax bill for the customer. There are many companies that provide this service.

I’ve been using this company for a few years, but we don’t have any sort of real rapport. Their service is just a commodity to me. I continue to work with them out of habit, that’s all. They’ve done nothing proactively to advance our relationship.

One day, my phone rang. Answering it, I was greeted by a recorded announcement from this company. I don’t even know what it said. I was so outraged that they would call me—an existing customer—using a robocall. It is almost phone-spam to just use a recorded message.

Did their blast marketing plan work? Not with me.

One-way communication on a company’s part does not foster a connection. It does not demonstrate that you respect the customer. In fact, it can weaken whatever bond may have existed. They just thought it was faster and easier.

In addition to the recorded phone message, an email came in a day or two later reminding me to submit my application. I responded in writing, announcing that I would never again do business with them because of that robocall. In the email, I stated: “Nothing says ‘We don’t care about you’ more than phone-spamming your existing customers with a recorded announcement.”

After that, I got a personal response. It was too little, too late.

Email may also be seen as impersonal because of its “blast” nature. However, it is quite beneficial to be able to send to many people at once, and is ultimately not as disruptive during the day. Taking the time to answer the phone, and being spoken at by a recording is dehumanizing. Any verbal contact must be made by live humans.

Another side effect from the overabundance of robocalling is that now other businesses struggle when trying to reach their customers. If they don’t already have a business’s number in their phone’s contact list, they may reject a call just to avoid robocalls and other telemarketers. This call avoidance causes them to miss out on communicating with the businesses and organizations they trust.

If you want to let your customers know you care about them, even just a little, speak to them directly like they are valuable to you. Show that you respect the customer.

This is a topic covered in our Improving Communications Customer Service curriclum. If you’re looking for ways to improve your communication skills, register for one of the public classes.

Other Resources:

Wikipedia: Robocall

Spam Calls 101

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels