Service Untitled

I was watching a friend of mine struggle with her cellphone the other day. She was on  hold with a company that had no hold music. Apparently, her cellphone will automatically disconnect you if it doesn’t hear any noise on either side. Needless to say, this was frustrating for her. But for me and subsequently for you, it was beneficial.

A less annoying version of this can be implemented to help discourage “dead air” in call centers. My idea was this: you can set your customer service represenatives’ headsets to beep (so the caller cannot hear it) after a set period of time with nothing being said. If the customer is on hold, it won’t beep, but if the customer is still active on the call, then it will beep.

This reminds the customer service represenative to either start talking or to put the customer on hold while you research. That six to ten seconds of “dead air” can make customers wonder if they have been disconnected, forced to ask if you are still there, etc.

This is a fairly simple solution that solves a very annoying problem. Simple solutions like these can be implemented all around your company. It is just a matter of observing what is a problem and thinking about possible solutions. If you think about it concisely and pro-actively look for improvements, they will turn up.

What simple solutions have you used for your business?