Why do business owners continue to invest in automated phone mazes when we all know everyone hates them? Mom and Pop or multibillion dollar company, growth is dependant on customer satisfaction.

It is beyond belief that as many times as we all have hung up on automated phone service, that business owners still think it is better to have a machine answer questions than to have a live, friendly, intelligent human being answer the phone who can quickly take care of a clients needs on an individual basis.

Haven't these business owners had to deal with voice mail hell? Don't they hang up in frustration when they hear "Press 1 for English press 2 for Spanish, Press 3 for locations, press 4 for business hours, press 5 for our web address, press 6 for payment locations, press 7 to leave a message, press 8 to return to the main menu press 9 to speak to an operator." Then when 9 is pressed you hear "All agents are currently serving other customers. Your call is very important to us. Your estimated wait time is 15 minutes."? AUUUUUUUUGH!

The automated phone system purchasers, seem to assume that their clients somehow feel this is good customer service! That their customers see this as personal service. But the fact is this is one of the worst customer service ideas yet! Frustrating and inefficient voice mail can cause prospective customers to hang up in disgust.

The most offensive automated phone systems go so far as to make sales calls at dinner time! Telling you to call the company and ask about their products. How many of those have you listened to all the way through? How many times have you called the company back and placed a big order?

This article was written for the victims of these systems. No... not the customers...the business owners.

I can think of at least 10 calls that I have made in the past month that could have resulted in a sale for the company if someone had just taken the time to answer the phone. Ten phone calls that will not be made again. I am one of the silent lost customers. I won't call back. I won't write a letter of complaint. I simply will not come back.

There are at least 30 companies that I will never do business with because of the kind of service I get on the phone. (They all had competitors who were willing to speak to me personally on the phone without making me wade through 15 minutes of button pushing sludge.) Can you hear me now?

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About the Author

Ms Gossland is the owner ofhttp://www.customlime.com; a relationship marketing business, specializing in customer service training for small businesses, corporate gifts and greeting card marketing programs