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I received a voicemail message yesterday from Alicia, my business banker at J.P. Morgan Chase.
This morning, I returned the call via her direct line. The phone rang several times, and I mentally prepared myself to leave a voicemail.
Someone picked up the phone – a man. “Good Morning – Chase Bank at Pinnacle Peak.”
Thinking I had dialed incorrectly, I asked for Alicia, and was put on hold.
A few seconds later, Alicia came on the line. When I started to apologize for dialing the wrong number, she stopped me.
“You dialed the right number. We just don’t have voicemail anymore.”
It turns out that Chase has made a corporation-wide decision to eliminate voicemail systems in all of its branch banks.
Effective this week, my branch has switched over to a new phone system. During business hours, I will get a live person who has been trained to answer the phone and take detailed messages, if needed. After business hours, all calls will go into one voicemail box, which will be transcribed and sorted first thing the next day.
Alicia says, “Chase feels that real, live customers deserve real, live customer service.”
This is smart marketing that, for me, just made Chase seem a little less like a corporate behemoth and a little more like “the bank around the corner.”
Have you encountered any positive communication changes with businesses like this lately? Have you instituted changes within your own business? Tell me about them!
Michele Miller is a writer, speaker, and consultant on ways to capture the heart of the female customer. The co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth, she consults with businesses of all sizes across North America
I can’t think of anything else to say but WOW!
Oh – who are we kidding – I can always think of something to say. In this case – looks like the bad/sad/down economy is forcing some changes for the good.
WOW is right, Mary. I thought the same thing. And I just had the opposite experience with United Airlines and their efforts to prevent customers from talking to a live person. In fact, I had to use a friends Premier Status number just to talk to someone, and that wasn’t much help either.
They need to go farther than that, Michele. I applaud having a real person answer the phone, but I want my interest rate lowered. When I asked to have that done, after being a business and personal customer for over 10 years, they said no. BUT…they said… we’ll give you a NEW credit card at 0% and you can move the balance of the old card over to this new card (which I did).
What kind of business sense is that?????
Banks need to be more tuned in. Talking to a real person is a good first step, but I bet a lot of people would take the voicemail if it meant reasonable banking fees and credit card rates.
Oh, I agree with you, Yvonne. They have a long way to go in the credit card department. But as far as customer service in their bank branches, I think they took a good step forward.
Love this. I had an issue with Paypal recently and their impossible phone tree. All of my friends are reading “The 4 hour work week” by Tim Ferris and trying to automate. And okay, I can see that. I understand the need to streamline, but I think it must be balanced by a lack of selfishness. How many of these uses of technology are simply means of avoiding you? or… in the case of the grocery store self-checkout… means of getting you to handle -their- work.
Balance.
I think it’s a very smart move…especially when few of us visit our local branch any more. It is reassuring to know that there are still human beings in bank buildings.
Now isn’t that special. Voicemails should be a thing of the past because it makes customers feel like no one cares. This is an excellent move.