What are you telling people?
Posted on January 29, 2010 with 2 comments
Computer technology, as complex as it is, you might find it interesting that the moving video on your screen, the MP3 playing on your computer, and even the text you are reading now at its most basic form is a simple matter of reading combinations of 1’s and 0’s. On or off. Very simple but how complex a thing. People communicate in a similar way. Either on or off. What do I mean? Have you ever been in a disagreement with someone and got the “silent treatment”? In case you hadn’t guessed that is “off”.
We communicate in the most basic form of either responding or not. Whether we say anything or not can mean many different things depending on the situation.
For example if I asked you “What is the meaning of life?” You might sit silent for a few minutes and are thinking what answer to formulate. Another example might be if I said “Take 3 minutes and say nothing.” You are then just being courteous and honoring my wish.
Akin to “saying something in conversation” is “saying something in conversation and yet not saying something” What do I mean?
If I asked you “Do you think I could walk around the block four times without tiring, walk in the door after unlocking it, sit down and the computer, write a good song, get up and then make coffee?” And you replied… “Oh hey, you are in pretty good health I’m sure you could walk ten times around the block no problem. And your memory? Well that is very good too; you’d remember those keys and have no trouble getting the door open. Oh and did I tell you I really like your coffee too? You make it with a rich dark roast that is just yummy. So I’m sure you’d enjoy that cup of coffee.”
Well? You answered my question and you did tell me some stuff… even complimented me in the process. But it is what you “didn’t say” that I’d find troublesome. You didn’t acknowledge the songwriting. You obviously would have left that out on purpose to not offend me, or in more reality, as not to put yourself in a position you didn’t want to be in. So in essence you said “Boy? You kind of suck at writing songs so don’t ask me that one again please”.
This past week I’ve discovered a kind of “not saying something” which has been around for a while now, but due to several circumstances this week rendered itself as focal point. Recently I subscribed to a songwriting magazine, put in a new hard drive in my computer, and had a problem with a piece of equipment at my work. In each of the cases I heard the same thing.
Having not received the magazine, not getting a confirmation email and yet seeing a charge to my credit card I began to wonder if I’m signed up. So what was my first course of action? I mean what would you do? I bet you’re saying “Get in touch with customer service!” Right? Absolutely. So I hop on-line and find there is no Contact US link, no site map, no way of communicating. There was an email address but I had written it about three weeks ago with my same quandary and heard nothing so was looking for a phone number. There was none.
Also this week I ran into a software issue. So I did what? That’s right, planned to contact tech support. Hey they gave me a number though… ALRIGHT! So I call it like their benefits page says I can for tech support on this product. After several menu items… pressing 3, 2, 2, 3 and etc. I hear “To keep tech support free we do not have live tech support, please leave your information at the beep and someone will email you. Or you can fill out an on-line inquiry at www…” This too was the second time down this road as I had a less important issue with this software a couple months ago and never received reply to my on-line form. Naturally I wanted to speak to someone in person but nope, not happening. I did get some email response which was an inquisition on my situation one lined question per email spread over a day and a half while I baby sat my email program. And which I finally said I didn’t have time to baby-sit my computer and lost precious time trying to get critical info off my computer… I have yet to hear back from him… going on three days now and wanted them to call me… I guess I hacked him off big time.
In the equipment breakdown at work I did find the problem and contacted the service company, a live person too… we’re cooking now. She wanted some purchase information to verify if it was a warranty issue. I was meant to email it to her which I did just that. Not hearing anything, the next day I phoned the person and asked... or rather tried to ask… I didn’t get it out that I was looking to see if she got my email and info. But she interrupted me stating “I haven’t heard YET. I just sent in the information and will get back with you.” She was obviously not keen I called. I explained I didn’t want to assume she got the information and two weeks later inquire why I hadn’t heard back and have her say “Well I never got your email”. Again however before I was even done explaining she laughed a cynical laugh and was already making her exit out of the phone conversation.
What are all three of these situations telling me? They are saying “We don’t want to talk to you, our customer.” They are telling me that “You are good enough to give us money but if you have an issue, well then we really don’t want to talk to you and so we make a filtration system so you can’t, or at least can’t in real time.”
So what are you telling people? Customer service whether it be that of your customer, co-worker, or even family member, one needs to take care in what it is you are telling them by “not saying” certain things. Just like in most problems, doing nothing is not an option, neither is saying nothing when folks inquire. It tends to hack them off and only makes the situation worse. You’d think companies would realize this and go back to the customer service pride of years past. When a company in any particular field does this, they will do well I’m sure.
We communicate in the most basic form of either responding or not. Whether we say anything or not can mean many different things depending on the situation.
For example if I asked you “What is the meaning of life?” You might sit silent for a few minutes and are thinking what answer to formulate. Another example might be if I said “Take 3 minutes and say nothing.” You are then just being courteous and honoring my wish.
Akin to “saying something in conversation” is “saying something in conversation and yet not saying something” What do I mean?
If I asked you “Do you think I could walk around the block four times without tiring, walk in the door after unlocking it, sit down and the computer, write a good song, get up and then make coffee?” And you replied… “Oh hey, you are in pretty good health I’m sure you could walk ten times around the block no problem. And your memory? Well that is very good too; you’d remember those keys and have no trouble getting the door open. Oh and did I tell you I really like your coffee too? You make it with a rich dark roast that is just yummy. So I’m sure you’d enjoy that cup of coffee.”
Well? You answered my question and you did tell me some stuff… even complimented me in the process. But it is what you “didn’t say” that I’d find troublesome. You didn’t acknowledge the songwriting. You obviously would have left that out on purpose to not offend me, or in more reality, as not to put yourself in a position you didn’t want to be in. So in essence you said “Boy? You kind of suck at writing songs so don’t ask me that one again please”.
This past week I’ve discovered a kind of “not saying something” which has been around for a while now, but due to several circumstances this week rendered itself as focal point. Recently I subscribed to a songwriting magazine, put in a new hard drive in my computer, and had a problem with a piece of equipment at my work. In each of the cases I heard the same thing.
Having not received the magazine, not getting a confirmation email and yet seeing a charge to my credit card I began to wonder if I’m signed up. So what was my first course of action? I mean what would you do? I bet you’re saying “Get in touch with customer service!” Right? Absolutely. So I hop on-line and find there is no Contact US link, no site map, no way of communicating. There was an email address but I had written it about three weeks ago with my same quandary and heard nothing so was looking for a phone number. There was none.
Also this week I ran into a software issue. So I did what? That’s right, planned to contact tech support. Hey they gave me a number though… ALRIGHT! So I call it like their benefits page says I can for tech support on this product. After several menu items… pressing 3, 2, 2, 3 and etc. I hear “To keep tech support free we do not have live tech support, please leave your information at the beep and someone will email you. Or you can fill out an on-line inquiry at www…” This too was the second time down this road as I had a less important issue with this software a couple months ago and never received reply to my on-line form. Naturally I wanted to speak to someone in person but nope, not happening. I did get some email response which was an inquisition on my situation one lined question per email spread over a day and a half while I baby sat my email program. And which I finally said I didn’t have time to baby-sit my computer and lost precious time trying to get critical info off my computer… I have yet to hear back from him… going on three days now and wanted them to call me… I guess I hacked him off big time.
In the equipment breakdown at work I did find the problem and contacted the service company, a live person too… we’re cooking now. She wanted some purchase information to verify if it was a warranty issue. I was meant to email it to her which I did just that. Not hearing anything, the next day I phoned the person and asked... or rather tried to ask… I didn’t get it out that I was looking to see if she got my email and info. But she interrupted me stating “I haven’t heard YET. I just sent in the information and will get back with you.” She was obviously not keen I called. I explained I didn’t want to assume she got the information and two weeks later inquire why I hadn’t heard back and have her say “Well I never got your email”. Again however before I was even done explaining she laughed a cynical laugh and was already making her exit out of the phone conversation.
What are all three of these situations telling me? They are saying “We don’t want to talk to you, our customer.” They are telling me that “You are good enough to give us money but if you have an issue, well then we really don’t want to talk to you and so we make a filtration system so you can’t, or at least can’t in real time.”
So what are you telling people? Customer service whether it be that of your customer, co-worker, or even family member, one needs to take care in what it is you are telling them by “not saying” certain things. Just like in most problems, doing nothing is not an option, neither is saying nothing when folks inquire. It tends to hack them off and only makes the situation worse. You’d think companies would realize this and go back to the customer service pride of years past. When a company in any particular field does this, they will do well I’m sure.