#voicemail

When did you last telephone your own company? Have you ever called them on the main customers' line? Try it! Experience the utter misery caused by inadvertently installing a voicemail system that wasn't fit for purpose.

Two years ago, I sat in the boardroom of a large company, placed my mobile on the table and played to the entire board a recording of my recent attempt to make contact with them. It took 10 minutes to get through to a human voice. Of that, 4 minutes were spent navigating a series of options which didn't apply to my query. The last 6 minutes were spent listening to that anodyne muzak which only computers like, interrupted at 10-second intervals by a robotic voice telling me that all their operatives were busy. there was an unusually high volume of calls and assuring me that my call was important to them.

The directors sat there in a state of total embarrassment. They had had no idea what an ordeal it was to call their company. I reminded them that 52% of callers will not stay on the line for more than 1 minute, without a human voice. The system was costing them money, because it wasn't set up for the comfort and convenience of callers, only for the expediency of the company. "An unusually high volume of calls" simply meant that they didn't have enough people manning the phones.

Try it! Call your own company and if it's as infuriating as the example above you need to re-think urgently. This is bad business practice and it's costing you money.