Can you hear me now?
Angus Loten reviews an Accenture survery (2006) released earlier this month that shows differences in the ways men and women handle customer service. The online survey of 1,000 people found that women would tend to ask to speak to a manager, while men would rather hang up and call back later. Women were also found to be more likely to complain about having to repeat information or about a CSR's tone or manner.
This finding is not particularly surprising. Lacohee and Anderson's survey (2001) found that women say that they enjoy being on the phone more and that they spend more time on the phone. Lacohee and Andersen also found that women were more proactive and men were more reactive in their interactions with the telephone. Therefore, it should not be surprising that women will complain about having to repeat information to several people when they are staying on the phone to speak to several people. The Accenture reports do not specify whether there was any correlation between asking to speak to a manager and complaining about repeating information, but it seems like a safe bet.
No one likes poor customer service, and there are often cases where switching providers for a particular product or service is not a viable option. An article by Marek Korczynski argues that front line customer service professionals are undergoing constant verbal assault by "abusive" customers. Perhaps a more useful survey would be to test the efficacy of the two approaches: hanging up and trying again vs. talking up the chain of command. Unfortunately, companies that provide customer service can not control which method callers use. Like men on the telephone, they can only react.
This finding is not particularly surprising. Lacohee and Anderson's survey (2001) found that women say that they enjoy being on the phone more and that they spend more time on the phone. Lacohee and Andersen also found that women were more proactive and men were more reactive in their interactions with the telephone. Therefore, it should not be surprising that women will complain about having to repeat information to several people when they are staying on the phone to speak to several people. The Accenture reports do not specify whether there was any correlation between asking to speak to a manager and complaining about repeating information, but it seems like a safe bet.
No one likes poor customer service, and there are often cases where switching providers for a particular product or service is not a viable option. An article by Marek Korczynski argues that front line customer service professionals are undergoing constant verbal assault by "abusive" customers. Perhaps a more useful survey would be to test the efficacy of the two approaches: hanging up and trying again vs. talking up the chain of command. Unfortunately, companies that provide customer service can not control which method callers use. Like men on the telephone, they can only react.