“Your call is important to us…”

Okay, we’re all going to do this together. And we can do it the easy way or we can do it the hard way.

If you have an IVR (Interactive Voice Response system) on your phone when customers call your business and if any part of the recording says, “Your call is important to us,” you’re going to re-record the IVR greeting. Promise me you will stop the madness!

Even if you have “Your call is important to me” on your business voice mail greeting, I want you to commit right now that you will end this foolishness and re-record your greeting.

Go ahead. Make a note on your calendar right now so you don’t forget – “Check IVR system greetings.” “Change IVR greeting so we’re no longer telling customers ‘Your call is important to us.’”

This is my mission in life. I want to abolish “Your call is important to us.” I never want another customer of any business to ever hear that phrase again.

Why?

Because it is stupid.

It’s a dumb thing to say to a customer. Worse yet, it’s extremely condescending to your customer.

They’re a customer! Of course their call is important to you!

At least the call better be important.

Oh, I know. Some of the biggest companies in the world have “Your call is important to us” on their IVR systems and probably some psychologist somewhere advising businesses has said, “It’s a subliminal message. You must include it!”

But I don’t buy it. Did I mention it is a stupid phrase?

You see, if you’re not making your customer FEEL as if their call is important, then telling the customer their call is important isn’t helping you one bit. We’re not going to suddenly believe it just because you said it. Or because the recording said it.

“Your call is important to us..” is unimaginative and demonstrates that your business lacks any originality and merely copies what others do. You’re a “me-to” type of business. Ho-hum.

The lack of originality coupled with an impersonal recorded voice saying, “Your call is important to us,” followed by the customer holding the line for 5, 7, 11 minutes or longer is just plain insulting.

Yes, I’m feeling a little bit like Howard Beale in the movie Network. “I’m mad as hell and I don’t want to hear it any more!”

However, I can hear what you might be saying. “So Bill, what should our IVR say instead of ‘Your call is important to us..?’”

Anything.

Say anything else. It doesn’t matter.

Or just remove that phrase entirely.

Better yet. How about coming up with something original about how you really feel about your customers?

You could say, “We’re really glad you called us today.”

You are glad they called you and not the competition, right? Or are you still denying you have competition?

Or say, “We’re looking forward to assisting you shortly.”

Oh heck, put a little passion into it and say, “We love when customers call us and we’re standing by to help you.”

Be pleased, glad, happy, or thrilled that a customer is calling your company – and let the customer know it!

It doesn’t really matter as long as you stop saying, “Your call is important to us.” Stop stating the obvious. Stop trying to convince the customer how important you think they are. And start expressing something really sincere. Get your customer to actually feel something.

Because this copycat routine just isn’t working for me any more.

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I help business owners improve customer service, create memorable customer experience and engage employees, through evaluation, benchmarking and training. If you have a business problem you’re trying to solve, let’s talk.

Bill Leinweber
Bill@LandmarkExperience.com
(513) 227-9037

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and sixninepixels