How many times have you called a business and encountered the “voice mail tree”? Remember how many layers you had to go through to finally reach a live person? I’ll bet more than once you hung up in frustration. You know that good customer service starts with having a person answer the call.
Now consider this: If your company employs that system, known as an Automatic Call Distributor, your customers and prospects are probably encountering the same situation and acting the same way, by hanging up.
I faced that one day, and it was not fun. Needing some information about my cell phone account, I called my provider. (I should note that I have switched carriers for an unrelated reason, but this incident still offers a lesson.)