Team Partners Telecommunications

Full Circle…Could Talking to Clients be the Future?

Posted on Feb 04, 2017  | Tags: phone numbers, calls, lines, call answering, mobile, phone systems

How many of you can remember telex machines? Companies used to have a special telex room, and an operator who had to spend ages typing on a machine that produced a ribbon like ticker tape that would be carefully fed into a machine that magically transported that message to wherever it had to go. And when a telex was received there was that time of waiting whilst it got “read”, before getting to you. And this wasn’t so long ago, certainly in the ‘70s, if not the ‘80s.

In those largely pre-digital days phones depended on landlines and anyone who travelled overseas and wanted to call home was used to having to sometimes book that call with the local operator and then wait several hours for it to be patched through. When man landed on the moon several parts of the UK’s GPO run telecoms network still had operator manned switchboards. In fact the Post Office, in the guise of Post Office Telecommunications, was responsible for our phone network right through until 1981…the communications landscape we know now and take for granted is very recent, has developed very rapidly, and will continue to do so. But how?

In last month’s blog we mentioned one impact of the digital revolution in that it made us all less dependent on a fixed workplace, but the bigger point  is that it completely changed the way we communicate…and, dare we say, not always for the better. The advent of the internet and, with it, email, has changed things further, as has the smart phone and texting, but, and here’s our challenge to you, for how long; what’s next in telecoms?

Could it be…speech?

Here’s our thinking: as humans we’re relational, we don’t really do well on our own. We tend to buy from people and organisations we like, know and trust. We like to have conversations and to talk to a “real person” about our problems and the questions we have. On the other hand we don’t like it when people hide behind a text or email and refuse to talk to us. It doesn’t help that we derive most of our impressions and understandings from someone’s tone of voice and the way they use words. So actually speaking and listening to someone is the way that we build relationships, and that’s where we think the future lies. We reckon that smart businesses that want to make the right impression and be seen to give really excellent customer service are increasingly going to be telling their staff to pick up the phone and speak to their customers, letting them know that they’re valued, and building relationships that emails never will. To do that efficiently they’re going to need phone systems and telecommunications that match and exceed their needs going forwards. Which is where we come in. We can make sure that no matter how many calls you make or receive you’re on top of it.

Why not give us a ring on 033 33 58 33 33 to discuss how talking to people could make all the difference?