Phone Smarts: How to Reach Problem Solvers

By: Ron Burley | Source: AARP.org | June 16, 2009

Getting satisfactory customer service when you have a problem with a purchase is generally just a matter of getting in touch with the right person. But all too often, getting to the right person is like climbing Mount Everest on roller skates. No matter how hard you try, you just don’t get where you want to go.

In my 20-plus years as the fix-it guy for cast-off customers, I’ve developed a few tricks to get to the right people—the decision-makers, the curers of complaints. I do always start off with a call to customer service, just to give them a chance to treat me great. But five minutes on hold or a tossed-off “that’s our policy,” and I’m outta there. I open my bag of tricks.

The first—an oldie but goodie I’ve mentioned before in this column—is to call the sales department. Three good things will happen: The call will be answered right away; you’ll talk to someone who works for the company rather than a call center; and you’ll see what someone trained to make customers happy can do for you.

If calling sales doesn’t help, you’re going to have to reach much higher in the organization—most likely into the executive offices. Finding executives’ names is usually as easy as going to the company’s Web site and looking for the “About Us” page. If you’re going to all this trouble, don’t aim for anyone lower than the vice president of customer service. If you find no such person, go for the CEO, the president, or the chief operating officer—any of whom may have day-to-day control of the business.

Getting these people on the phone isn’t as easy as calling for a pepperoni pizza. Most of the time, executives’ direct phone lines can’t be found on a Web site or anywhere else. You can try simply asking the switchboard to connect you, but you may be routed right back to customer service.

I ran into just this situation recently when trying to solve a problem for a reader of this column. Predictably, customer service and the switchboard operator had brushed me aside. A mid-level staffer actually told me that my “call is not going any higher than this.”

Yet minutes later, I got to a problem-solver. The chink in the executives’ armor was the fact that the phone company usually issues corporate phone numbers in sequential blocks, which allows for simpler two-to-five-digit dialing between in-house extensions. The company’s Web site already showed me several non-toll-free phone numbers (I’ve changed individuals’ names, the area code, and the exchange, because I’ve given this company enough grief already):
 
Main Switchboard    212-555-3000
Investor Relations    212-555-3021
Public Relations    212-555-3011

It was a good bet. The company uses a block of numbers starting at 3000 and going up from there. The first half-dozen would likely be the main incoming lines. The numbers after that would be doled out to various departments. I was looking for the vice president of customer relations, Daniel Parmetti. I started dialing at 3005. Sure enough, the receptionist answered. The next three numbers didn’t answer. Then I got a couple of voice-mail boxes, none of them Parmetti’s, so I didn’t leave a message. I hit pay dirt when a woman answered my call to extension 3014.

“Susan Parker,” she offered.

“I’m sorry,  Susan. Sorry to bother you,” I said. “I was looking for Parmetti.” (Notice my friendly and polite tone.)

“Oh, that sometimes happens with this silly phone system,” she quipped. “I’ll connect you to 3031.”

A few seconds later, I was talking to Mr. P’s executive assistant. She listened intently to my story of a loyal customer mistreated and promised to get it addressed right away. Sure enough, less than an hour later, the situation had been taken care of to the customer’s satisfaction. Case closed. No waiting, no pleading, no fuss, no muss. So next time you’re given the heave-ho by customer service, just smile a little smile. All you’ll need to breach most corporate defenses is a little Internet detective work, logical deduction, and a good long-distance phone plan.