Don’t Waste Your Customers’ Time
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It’s Amber here – wife to Mr. upNext Media, and all around cool person. Today I’m sharing my own thoughts on why you need to respect your customers’ time. It will be riveting, I promise.
Recently, two of my credit cards expired. One was a Mastercard and one was a Visa, and they were issued by different banks. Right on schedule, I was sent replacement cards. Each card a big sticker affixed to the front advising me to call a 1-800 number to activate the card before using it.
So far, my experience with each card was the same. My feelings on the interaction up until that point were neutral.
When I called the 1-800 number to activate my Mastercard, I got a computer-automated system that required me to punch in numbers. Eventually, I punched in enough numbers and I was told that I could use my card. Computer automated systems aren’t necessarily my favourite things to deal with, but on the upside I didn’t have to wait on hold or anything like that. It took me about 90 seconds and I was done. Voila, my new card was ready to go.
When I called the 1-800 number to activate my Visa, a computer answered and I had to press some buttons to decide who I should be speaking with. And then I ended up on hold, waiting to speak to them. I grooved to the music, but it wasn’t easy because every 30 seconds a voice broke in reminding me not to hang up. Don’t they know that when the music stops you become hopeful you’re not on hold any longer, and the automated voice just dashes those hopes? No, apparently, they do not.
Luckily, I was only on hold through one informational spiel about how they were recording my call and a couple of minutes of regularly-interrupted easy listening before a real person answered. She asked for my name, and she dutifully typed it in. Then she asked me if there was anything else she could do for me, and I said that I was good. And then she said that while we waited for my activation to finish, she wanted to share some information about an exciting service with me.
Do I need to say that I was less-than-enthusiastic about this service? Because I was.
She was hocking a purchase protection plan for my new credit card. As she spoke, the script started to sound familiar. Why? Because the last time I renewed my credit card three years ago I heard the same sales pitch. I declined it then, but that wasn’t sufficient, because I had to listen to it again. And listen I did, for a good five or six minutes before I was prompted to sign up.
I said I wasn’t interested. I was asked why. I gave my reason. The reason was countered, and a new pitch offered. I finally said, “I am aware of the benefits, and I am declining the plan.” At this point, I was told that my activation was finally complete and to have a good day.
I spent 10 minutes activating my Visa, and was forced to sit through a years-old sales pitch in the process. As lovely as it is to speak with an actual person, it’s not so lovely to have to repeatedly decline the same product.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to sell a product. It wasn’t the fact that someone tried to sell something to me that really irked me. It was the way it was sold. I was not informed that my card was actually activated until after I sat through 10 minutes of being on hold and hearing the hard sell. I was effectively held hostage, even though the actual card activation probably happened more or less instantaneously. And on top of that I was offered stale information.
If you are sharing information, make sure that it’s current and worthwhile. Ensure that your sales pitch is going out to someone who is actually ready to receive it. Listen to what your customers really want, and respect their time. You know, treat them like the real people they are. You’ll not only gain customers that way, but people who respect you in return.
As for me, I’m contemplating a new Visa card. As soon as I can figure out which bank will treat me like my time actually matters.
Catch up with Amber’s own efforts to respect people’s time and offer current useful information over at Crafting my Life.




