Those AI Assistants in Customer Service: You Have to Learn How to Get to a Human and Much More

 Way back in 2024, one of those glut of surveys noted that 43% of contact centers were already using AI technology. Of course, with the business' stock price depended on cost-efficiency that probably has significantly increased. 

That is the present. And that will be the future. You're not going to halt this trend. But you can get the hang of managing it so that you can reach the human you need to speak to without the mounting frustration too many are experiencing. And when you do you can limit the amount of overwhelm the situation could create for you.

Here are the three steps. 

Step one: Practice a variety of responses to the prompts over the phone. That's how you can uncover the one which lets you through the gate without having to provide more and more information which is irrelevant to the issue. 

For example, with an insurance company I discovered that if I don't provide the policy number I wind up quickly on the line for talking to a human. With a computer printer service department the "find" was withholding the serial number.

Step two: This is when you do get to a human. Frequently they lack listening skills. This evening, after I quickly made it to the line in a call to an insurance company to sign documents for a new policy, I explained in detail this: The link had been sent to my smartphone which was unable to process the task. Please send the link to my email for my laptop. Know what the human said? "You want to open a policy." When I corrected her she said she was just reiterating what I had said. 

When (not if) this happens to you:

 1) Request that the supervisor handle the transaction

 2) Mandate that the supervisor retrieve the recorded interaction

3) Document and see if any regulatory agencies still exist to investigate how your time is being wasted by negligence in listening skills.

Step three: The plaintiff lawyers and litigation funders among you can contemplate class action lawsuits for how AI in customer services is creating a public nuisance. Motley Rice successfully helped California do that with lead paint. This kind of innovative lawsuit by the plaintiff bar could create business for elite defense law firms ranging from Kirkland & Ellis to Paul Weiss. Jones Day had been busy for years defending public nuisance.

In coaching I am tutoring too highly socialized professionals how to get done efficiently what they need in customer service. Time is money. No time should be invested in being traditionally patient and polite. 

Rattled by the uncertainty? Faith-based Coaching. Special expertise with transitions, reskilling and aging. Psychic/tarot readings, upon request. Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova (Text 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com). Yes, test out the chemistry.