Every man knows the importance of getting a good hairdresser. Your hair is not something you should be playing with. Your hairdresser should be talented, know what you are looking for when you walk in, and be someone you can get along with. So, moving to a new location recently, I ventured out to find a new barber last night. On the advice of some friends, I went down to the barbershop a few blocks away. The hairdresser did a proper job, but he wouldn’t stop talking. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this. I just wanted my hair cut, I didn’t go in to hear about his fascinating weekend gun shooting in New Hampshire. All I could do was put on a fake smile and an even more fake laugh at his bad jokes.
Now, it is important to know that I am on the extreme end of the spectrum, I really dislike small talk, and it is also my downfall, especially working in the area of marketing. However, it is also important to know that I am pretty good at it and fully understand the importance of small talk. Small talk is a big part of our daily work life: casual chatting, waiting for others to join a conference bridge, even just saying “how are you?” to the receptionist at the gym. Why do we have this urge to make small talk? Is it our constant desire for human connection? Maybe it’s just a common courtesy. Or as an extension of that, maybe we just want to give reasons for people to love us. We say things like “how is the weather in Florida?” just to create a report so they know we are not “all business”.
This human connection, this little talk, is the difference between man and machine, no matter how big and high-tech the machine is. But is it? For example, take a programmed IVR to ask “Hello, how are you today”, handle an emotional response grammar, and respond appropriately before proceeding with the routing or self-service application. So, for example, take a trained CSR to ask “Hello, how are you today” and respond appropriately. Does it matter ?! Chances are, the CSR doesn’t really care about how your day is going any more than the scheduled IVR does.
However, most, if not all, CSRs start a conversation by asking “how are you today?” While IVRs rarely do. I’d have to imagine, common courtesy aside, that this phrase must actually improve the relationship and the outcome of the call. It establishes that human connection, which makes people believe that the representative will be more understanding of the reason for your call. After all, if an agent costs an average of $ 0.50 per minute, the cost of dialogue is as follows:
“Hi, how are you today?” – 2 seconds
“Im fine thanks, How are you?” – 3 seconds
“I’m fine, thanks for asking …” – 2 seconds
7 seconds of call time equals $ 0.06. Now if there are 100 people in a call center receiving 100 calls per day, that’s $ 6,000 per day and $ 219,000 per year. Just to create a human connection. I realize it’s not that simple, but it just goes to show the importance of small talk. Would you be offended if a CSR responded and said “Hi, how can I help you?”
I think the case of Interactions is an excellent example of a changing environment. Unlike traditional IVRs, we have several complicated self-service calls, which agents have previously handled, such as password resets and tracking an order. I monitor several calls per day that start when the caller does not hear the opening message explaining that “I am an automated system that can handle complete sentences” and simply chimes in when he hears “How can I help you?” Because our system sounds so authentic, those people often say “Hi, how are you?” and our system usually responds: “I’m fine, thank you.” The caller usually laughs once he realizes that it is an automated system. However, at the end of contained calls (interaction jargon for calls that do not have to be transferred to an agent) a connection is often made. Many times people say “Thank you!” or “Thank you so much goodbye” and I’ve even heard “Have a great day!” Why are callers saying this? Is it because we are creating a human connection even if there is no human at the other end? Nice sci-fi stuff, right?
From this I can conclude that small talk is here to stay and is definitely valued, even if it is a struggle for many people. Even though most of us notice when there is a little frivolous talk, people are fine with it because they think it will enhance their human connection. What are your thoughts? Do you see a value in human connection?
