how to derail a call center script?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

They try to encourage that at my call center too. Using the caller's name etc. I never do. I *hate* it when operators do it to me and I don't know anyone thats not urked by it. No one in the office likes doing it. Its beyond me why companies keep trying. It actually peeves off some callers. ><

Companies insist on it because they *think* it helps the agents connect more with the customers, they also think the customers feel more respected in being called by name.

Who came up with these silly notions is beyond me.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Companies insist on it because they *think* it helps the agents connect more with the customers, they also think the customers feel more respected in being called by name.

Who came up with these silly notions is beyond me.

I find constantly being called by my name creepy.

"Hey Irv, you work here, right? Irv? Can you, Irv, help me find something, Irv? I'm looking for, Irv, your spray, Irv, paint. Can you, Irv, show me where it is? Irv?"

[Kogarashi]

It's probably because some social psychologist guru person or whatever told them, based on a study with a very small and biased sample group, that this improved relations overall, and the bigwigs bought it without actually interacting with peons and customers themselves.

I'm so glad the one nightmare call center job I worked didn't force us to do stuff like that. Though they had their own problems. Not only did we have a script that we had to follow in certain parts, we had to call the customer by first name, pitch a service from a third party company, and do our own dialing with handsets instead of headsets (because the company thought that autodialers and headsets made you sound detatched and impersonal). And they constantly stressed getting our numbers up, both in calls made per hour and in customers signed up per day.

The job was maing outbound calls for programs to get your degree in one year or get a GED or something, following up on signups via the internet to see who was actually interested (and qualified). We also had to sell legal service for people who were in debt (but not bankrupt). We got bonus points for getting signups for the legal service.

Oh, the stories. I've had to try to call "Bruce Wayne" and "Kobe Bryant" before. I've had names that were jumbles of gibberish (the name sheets were supposed to be prescreened somewhere else for obviously bogus entries). I've had people demand to know why I was calling for a 12-year-old. My Hubby (worked there too) got yelled at for stalking some guy's wife. I've had people not know they were signed up for this stuff, and others who went, "Oh, yeah, I just filled that out so I could get a free laptop/iPod/PS2." ::sigh::

And the supervisors were all those perky "you can always do better!" types. There were monthly competitions between employees to see who could set records for most calls per hour, most signups per day, most dials per minute (Hubby won that one because he has fast fingers), etc. One employee consistently held the record for highest signups-to-calls ratio, a record that appeared to be impossible what with management's insistence that we not skip any questions in the script or the sales pitch. And then the supervisors would be all, "Great! Now beat that record!" I wonder if they ever grasped the idea that there would be a point where it would be physically impossible to go any faster.

I hated that job. I'm sure pregnancy hormones didn't help.

[Andara Bledin]

Seriously, the company that provides my home phone called me three times last week asking if I want to switch my phone to them. One more and I'll switch companies out of spite.

AT&T, the company that (at the time) didn't provide my phone service called me so often and so insistently that after about half a dozen times telling them to stop calling me I threatened them with legal action if they didn't stop.

Then they took over my home phone service. I didn't realize that they were my provider the first time they called up, and I again told them I never wanted to hear them on the phone without my initiating it ever again.

I swear that cut my call traffic in half. (yeah, I almost never use the phone)

As for the call center scripts, try to get mailing information for quality assurance on the company you're dealing with and start a letter writing campaign telling them just how awful they are. After a few thousand letters telling them to stop using names more than 3 times per call, among other things, they might wise up and make a few changes.

^-.-^

[SpyOne]

So, for all the call center people out there: I hate having people who I don't know using my name. Especially not repeatedly. Most especially not incorrectly. But I have a name that is tricky for most people, so I don't like correcting it, either.

A long time ago, I saw part of something on TV. I get the feeling it was an infomercial, but all I can remember the host "selling" was advice on how to be a good salesman.
Anyway, one of his little catch-phrases was that "the sweetest sound in the world is the sound of your own name." Therefore, he exhorted his audience, learn the prospective customer's name and use it often, as it will pre-dispose them to liking you, and thus make them more likely to buy whatever crap you are hucking.

I immediately formed a corrilary to his rule: one of the most grating sounds in any language is the sound of your name being mispronounced. It is really bizzarrely disturbing.

And I get it a whole bunch, either from people reading my name-tag and mangling my name, or from telemarketers trying to guess what my last name is from a quick glance at their screen.
My first name is a little uncommon, but not really rare. Anybody who completed all four years of high school should be familiar with at least one other person with the same name spelled the same way, as they make you read Chaucer's Canturbury Tales at some point. So if you've heard of Geoffrey Chaucer, you know how "Geoff" should be pronounced.

My last name gives people a bit more excuse: it is very rare (about 2500 of us in the world), and it actually was originally Irish Gaelic, which doesn't even share an alphabet with English. However, over the years the pronounciation has "drifted" a bit, and it is now pronounced exactly the way that combination of letters should be pronounced under the rules of English. The only catch is that you have to pronounce all of the letters (no dropping an inconvenient consonant or vowel) and you must not pronounce any letters that are not actually there ("r" being the most common one people add, near the middle). It's only 5 letters long, and never has more than 2 consonants in a row, so how hard could it be?

Apparently very hard.


Point of the rant: if you aren't sure you'll pronounce someone's name correctly, it probably is better not to try.
For the curious: Heald, and it is pronounced just like "healed".

[Andara Bledin]

Anybody who completed all four years of high school should be familiar with at least one other person with the same name spelled the same way, as they make you read Chaucer's Canturbury Tales at some point. So if you've heard of Geoffrey Chaucer, you know how "Geoff" should be pronounced.

Forget Chaucer; too literate.

Geoffrey is the name of the Toys R Us giraffe.

My maiden name is Mobley. Not a particularly uncommon name, but about half the time people want to add a syllable with an 'r' right in the middle.

^-.-^

[edible_hat]

My last name gives people a bit more excuse: it is very rare (about 2500 of us in the world), and it actually was originally Irish Gaelic, which doesn't even share an alphabet with English. However, over the years the pronounciation has "drifted" a bit, and it is now pronounced exactly the way that combination of letters should be pronounced under the rules of English. The only catch is that you have to pronounce all of the letters (no dropping an inconvenient consonant or vowel) and you must not pronounce any letters that are not actually there ("r" being the most common one people add, near the middle). It's only 5 letters long, and never has more than 2 consonants in a row, so how hard could it be?

My dad changed his surname because most Australians can't pronounce his original name. So my name is prononces phoenetically, people still stick extra letters in there.

Although the most common one is only reading the first three letters and calling me Mr Williams.

[Slytovhand]

My dad changed his surname because most Australians can't pronounce his original name. So my name is prononces phoenetically, people still stick extra letters in there.

Although the most common one is only reading the first three letters and calling me Mr Williams.

Ok - curious (as I do names a fair bit, and find it really weird to do a name correctly and get told that most ppl get it wrong. I'm usually a bit how can they get that wrong??? but anyways...)

I give my Frank Wright name most of the time - not my 'real' one, but convenient, and easier than my Cymric name :P

Anyways... back to the OP... Yeah - that sucks! It's quite dehumanising and turning call centre operators into robots. I use a name occasionally (usually cos it's up on my screen) and then only once or twice (or more for a much longer call). But doing it a ridiculous amount of times is... well - ridiculous!

And the apologising..???? yeah - WTF is all that about? Other than some moron in QA who reckons making a customer feel self-satistfied is far more important than just getting the job done well.

Personally - I'd rather someone who's a bit short but very efficient and competent , rather than incredibly nice but crap. To me, the question is - do you want your stuff fixed, or your ego stroked.

And fortunately for me - I'm in a call centre where such QA's don't have that sort of marking (and I've got a rep for doing things well and knowing my stuff backwards...oh - and for not giving a toss about your problem :P)

Slyt

[Gurndigarn]

A long time ago, I saw part of something on TV. I get the feeling it was an infomercial, but all I can remember the host "selling" was advice on how to be a good salesman.
Anyway, one of his little catch-phrases was that "the sweetest sound in the world is the sound of your own name."

And I do wish people— especially salesmen— would stop believing that, because it isn't true in all cases. I have a more Japanese outlook in my name: it is not for general conversation with strangers. And using my name will not change the fact that you a stranger. It will only make me suspicious about your motives.

[Pezzle]

Yup I used to get written up at Best Buy if a manager came up to me mid sale and asked me to introduce him to X customer and I didn't know X customer's name. It makes some feel comfortable, and others feel creeped out -- I always tried to gauge the situation or use the "Oh I didn't catch your name, I'm Pezzle and you?" if they squirmed or seemed a little strange about it I just seemed to forget their name and thusly got in trouble -_- Wankers.

I personally don't mind, only if my name is used sparingly. I dont' like "Ok Pezzle well pezzle let's see what we can do for you pezzle ok pezzle?" as some are made to do.