Who answers your phone?
There are now so many forms of communication - I don't have to list them at this point - and they're all good for different things.
But if someone is actually calling you - if they're taking the time to engage you in this older but more intimate medium - shouldn't that be treated as the highest form of contact?
It seems like every company knows how to mass email you twice a day, how to send you marketing materials in the mail, how to ask you to please kindly answer some questionnaire, and how to allow you to leave a voicemail in some ambiguous mailbox.
But too few companies seem to know how to have a live human being answering your phone call. It's amazing how many companies you can call where it's impossible to get a human voice on the line.
And some of the ones that do provide the human voice provide one that is not in the mood to help you at all. They might as well be the ambiguous mailbox.
Aren't we passed the Mad Men days of the powerless switchboard operator?
Shouldn't a company's first line of communication be a living, breathing human who makes the company seem caring and effective?
The telephone is (still) such a miracle but it's completely taken for granted.
I think companies that reinvest in the magic will reap some great rewards.
