Recruitment firms’ call handling called into question

Recruitment firms’ call handling standards have come into question as a result of a major new study into telephone practice.

The research conducted by audio branding specialist PHMG, which audited 601 firms in the recruitment trade, discovered the large majority risk losing custom by subjecting customers to generic music and audio while on hold.

Typically, waiting on hold is seen as a major bugbear but 47% of recruitment firms still leave customers listening to nothing but generic music. A further 28% subject callers to beeps, while 18% leave them in silence and 3% force them to listen to ringing.

Only 2% employ brand-consistent voice and music messaging – viewed as the best-practice approach to handling calls – which is equal to the national average.

Mark Williamson, Sales and Marketing Director at PHMG, said: “Call handling remains a critically undervalued element of customer service and marketing. A previous study of 1,000 UK consumers found 73% will not do business with a company again if their first call isn’t handled satisfactorily. Therefore, it is important companies do their utmost to improve the experience. Recruitment firms appear to be performing better than the majority of British businesses in this respect, but there is still work to be done in providing an experience that keeps callers engaged and entertained.

“Generic music, beeps, ringing or silence convey a message that the customer is not valued, which will only serve to compound any annoyance felt as a result of being made to wait on hold.”

The research also found that 95% of recruitment firms do not even use an answerphone to greet customers calling outside of normal working hours.

It also seems call handling standards have not significantly improved when comparing the results to a similar study conducted in 2013. The number of companies playing repetitive music has increased by 17% during that period and there has been a 1% improvement in the number using brand-consistent voice and music.

“The trends over the past three years suggest recruitment firms believe generic music is enough to keep callers entertained but this can actually have the opposite effect,” added Williamson.

“Hearing is one of our most powerful emotional senses so the sounds customers hear when they call a business will create a long-lasting impression. Every element of a music track, whether tempo, pitch or instrumentation, will stir different emotions so traders should ensure they convey the appropriate brand image.”