NTM's Phone Answering Strategy

Jack Noble, who will become Northwestern Travel's President & Chief Operating Officer on January 5th, 2004, comments on Northwestern Travel Management's phone service levels in response to USA Today's recent Phone Answering Strategy.

Many of our competitors and suppliers have chosen a different phone answering strategy, as published in the USA TODAY article at the web link below. Those companies have adapted an economic model designed to produce efficiencies by replacing people with automated answering and a push button menu of voice command information. It's a legitimate strategy with certain cost benefits. The good intention, of course, is to save money, however, in my opinion, personal customer service is being sacrificed.

While it is true that to succeed a company must constantly eliminate costs, Northwestern Travel Management will never even think about eliminating the cost of paying people to answer our phones and talk with our customers. At Northwestern Travel Management, there is no other need more important to the company than maintaining our reputation for providing the highest level of customer service.

We are proud of the fact that over the phone, and in person, Northwestern Travel Management employees excel at customer service, in all divisions and departments. Our phone answering strategy sets specific response-time goals for people answering calls, but equally important is the quality of the conversation - and that we regularly exceed your expectations.

We do listen to our customers' requests for cost-saving technologies. We have implemented products and services like self-booking, and voice and email messaging. We will consider whatever else comes along that will, in fact, reduce costs. But only if the technology supports our commitment to the highest level of customer service in the industry. We know this because an increasing number of you-our customers-continue to give us permission to stay in business each time you call.

To read the September 26, 2003, USA TODAY article "Automated Answering, Long Waits Irk Consumers" by Bruce Horovitz, click here.