Devoted to small businesses and those who run them

So I had to call in to pay a bill this morning and the phone system couldn't process it for me (I love technology), so I got kicked over to a call center rep.  Now, I always wonder what I'm going to get with these folks.  I am not much of a phone person anyway, and I seriously loathe the crappy customer service that all too many people "provide" these days.  I've talked to call center people about things and it sounded like they just woke up, hated their job, had hot pokers in their headsets or just generally decided to make a caller as cranky as they themselves felt that day.

In other words, I really, really dislike having to deal with customer service reps by phone. 

However, when I got this gal Stephanie, I was pleasantly surprised.  First of all, I could understand her.  I'm not an accomplished auditory learner (another reason I hate talking on the phone -- I get distracted by background noise on either end and feel like I'm going to miss something important, which gets me all frazzled and makes things even worse), so I have to have a clear connection and the person on the other line needs to speak clearly and not too fast for me.  CHECK.  We had a good connection and she spoke loud and clear. 

Plus she gave good customer service.  I gave her my account information, she confirmed a bunch of stuff, then I told her I wanted to make a payment, and she processed it for me.  She was cheerful (of course, she's on the east coast, so she's been at work for a couple of hours, so one would assume that she's more awake than me, but ya never know) and she was friendly.  She didn't shoot questions at me brusquely or lollygag through them like she was reading from a card that she didn't care about and really made it sound like she was happy to "serve" me.

Now that's good customer service!  In the end, my payment was processed, everything was confirmed to me, and the entire phone call was pleasant.  I actually hung up smiling, which is a big thing, because all too many times I deal with phone operators and they don't sound like THEY are smiling...it brings me down, and I'm sure it brings their other callers down too. 

So to Stephanie at the call center I called today: THANKS!  To small biz folk everywhere: remember to smile and speak clearly on the phone -- even when you really don't want to!  It may save a sale or keep a call about a problem from escalating into a crisis.  And it may lead to referrals, if you're selling something!