Art of Saying Thank You

Just got off the phone with my insurance company.

The message started as follows: “Welcome to (Company). Our menu has changed so please listen carefully-”. A few sentences of gibberish, it then said something like – “Press 5 for English”

Not only did I have to press 5 for english, I had to wait some more, listening to music, then a few clicks, then a voice came back and said “In order to provide Excellent service, listen to the following menu options…” – ok – I listened… and listened….

Finally the option to get a live voice came. I selected it. A couple of clicks, some music, then finally a live voice answered…”Thank you for calling (Company). How may I provide Excellent service for you today?”

Now I am tiffed. It wasn’t enough that the discrepancy on my bill was wierd and I coudn’t find the answer on the website. Then the recorded voice on the phone said I should go to the website to look for the answer. Then I had to listened to more options to get to a live voice. Now to have to listen to a 30 second Hello speech by a live voice. But I put a smile on my face, and started talking to the representative.

After concluding my business, the rep said – “Is there anything else that I can provide Excellent service for you today?”. “No”, I said, then she proceeded to to say “Thank you for calling. We are happy to provide excellent service 24 hours a day. Would you like to take a survey on how we provided Excellent service for you today?”

OKAY- Soooooo – I am sure you have had one or two similar experiences.

There is a true ‘Art’ to saying ‘Thank You’. How about just saying ‘Thank You’ with a big smile on your face.

I am not a wordy guy on the phone when it comes to business. But to me, a simple Cheerful “Hello, this is (rep) How can I help you?” would engage me (and cool me down) a whole lot quicker.

And for the closing, Thank you for calling (Company). would suffice. Anything more is redundant, and shows lack of consideration – I mean- I am already a customer, my time is valuable, and I know who I just called, and the reason I called is because their web site couldn’t help me.

I am also under the belief that if management actually had the rep ask me why I didn’t use their website, they might have been suprised to find out that it’s because the website wasn’t very helpful. But from my experience, QA monitors phone calls, they don’t necessarily pass along helpful tips to the IT or Marketing departments (we will save that rant for another day).

So what is my point in this rant? Simple. Over my career I have spent many hours repeating a script for various product support, marketing, telemarketing and retail companies. I never felt comfortable with the ‘corporate’ script no matter how well I memorized it (or was threatened to use it). It just wasn’t natural. Of all the training I spent money on and that these companies paid for, the best advice I have ever received was for free – and still works today: “Make sure you say ‘Hello, this is David’ and always say ‘Thank you for calling’ “. Thanks Mom.

(Just a side note: If you do happen to call me, and I do answer, you will probably only get a ‘This is David” at the beginning, and “Thank You” at the end of the call- because you already know you are calling me. It is my refined script, been working for me very well for the past quarter century.)