Dealers criticised for slow call answering
Posted by: Neil Murphy | Posted on: April 23rd, 2013 | 0 Comments
A new survey has found that the UK’s motor dealers risk losing business because they are leaving customers hanging on the telephone for almost 40 seconds at a time. Previous research has shown 90% of callers will hang up within 40 seconds if forced to listen to silence while on hold.
The survey of 3,630 companies by PH Media Group found that automotive dealers are below par when it comes to call handling, leaving callers on hold for an average of 38.22 seconds, 5 seconds longer than the average for other business types. The survey also found that 34% of UK businesses leave callers in silence, 26% play music and 26% subject callers to beeps.
Talking about the findings, Mark Williamson, Sales and Marketing Director of PH Media Group, who carried out the survey, said, “These results represent a significant challenge for the automotive trade and could pose a serious threat to profitability. Callers are simply unwilling to wait on the end of the line while subjected to silence, muzak or beeps so firms are putting themselves at serious risk of losing business. Good call handling is often overlooked as a key sales and marketing tool but the telephone still acts as an important touchpoint and first impressions count. If each caller enjoys a positive experience, customer service standards will go through the roof.”
The motor trade were not the worst offenders, as signmakers came out worst from the research, leaving their callers on the line for 72.64 seconds in an average call, however motor dealers have some way to go to catch up with garden centres who log an average time of just 17.44 seconds.
As part of the study, PH Media Group also audited each company for factors including time taken to answer a call, the number of tiers a caller experiences before reaching the necessary department, use of consistent voice and music, professional and personalised voicemail and out-of-hours messaging, giving them a score out of 100. Automotive dealers averaged just 32.
Williamson concludes by saying, “Good customer service is paramount for motor traders so it is important to evaluate all aspects of call handling to ensure calls are dealt with appropriately. Inevitably, not every call will be answered within a matter of seconds, so when callers do need to be placed on hold for any length of time, informative and entertaining audio messages can help to maintain their attention and decrease perceived waiting time. Brand congruent voice and music are also vital in order to present customers with a consistent image of the company, reinforcing brand values and establishing a reassuring, coherent presence.”
