I know business is bad, but my God, someone please answer the damned phone!

I’m on the phones all day, and I’m appalled by what I encounter.  As a good friend says, it’s “amateur hour.”

Called a company called WHISystems.  No execs listed on website, so I sent an email to sales@whisystems.com.  No reply after 8 hours.

I’ve lost count of how many companies I’ve called where I know the name of the CEO.  Put his name in the search function and “Sorry.  No such user.” Oh really?  He’s just the boss.

Another egregious example happens when I’m trying to do research.  I just want to talk to a living, breathing person.  But I invariably go to voice mail and almost never get a call back.  (Even though I’m an expert in crafting voicemails.)  In addition, I’ve found phone systems that just dump you into a general mailbox.

It’s clear to me that the state of phone systems in American business is worse now than it has ever been.  I know everyone is short-staffed, but they could respond quickly if they really wanted to.  I believe most business leaders are just blindly cutting cost without thinking of the impact on customer service.

So what SHOULD a company do?

The solution is so simple. Just do some role plays.

• A prospect
• A job seeker
• A prospective partner
• A friend or relative

Just have people play those roles and try to reach the right person.  I bet you’ll be shocked at the results.

Jeff Ogden is President of Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple” He’s also the author of two highly acclaimed white papers, How to Find New Customers and Definitive Guide to Making Quota, as well the ebook, Prospect Driven Marketing. Find New Customers helps business develop and implement programs to improve the way they find and acquire new customers using best practices in lead generation.