This was an automated response out of the teachers I had during my Catholic school education growing up.   When I was 9, it didn’t make sense.   I would ask, "Can I go to the bathroom?" and the angry nuns would say, "I don’t know… CAN you go to the bathroom?  I would hope you could after 9 years of life."    Wanting to avoid conflict and just win the permission to use the bathroom I would come back with a very confused, "What?"  This prompted the automated response, "Ask a Silly Question… Get a Silly Answer."

The problem is I didn’t ask a silly question.   I just didn’t ask the question the way she wanted.   Had I used, "May I go to the bathroom" I would have been rewarded, but this was never passed on.   It took me years to figure out how to correctly ask.   Every time I asked, "Can I…."  I was given the automated response that did nothing to help me.    Businesses have used this automated response to reduce customer service costs and to streamline the customer service process.   The problem is nothing is solved and issues are not resolved this way.    I am not sure which feels worse.   Being nine and having to pee so badly you are contemplating making a deal with the devil in exchange for a bathroom pass (deals with the devil are frowned upon in Catholic School.) or being a customer who needs help but isn’t respected enough to be given an actual answer.     It doesn’t matter which feels worse, both are awful, not necessary experiences and avoidable

Coming to join the team at Grockit was a no brainer, but what made it so much easier was the way that Grockit approaches helping it’s customers.   Grockit believes in taking care of our customers during their GMAT Test Prep experience.   When a customer has a question, we answer it.    When a customer has a problem, we want to solve it.   Even on the busiest days, when our days are packed with meetings, we still take time to make sure our customers questions are answered.   Are we perfect?  Not even close.  Do we have the right answers every time?  Not yet.   It is are approach that we believe in.  You can not automate customer service.  You can not automate the desire to care for your customer.     The desire to help your customers is what stops you from putting in an automated response.   Technology can just as easily destroy your business as much as it can help your business.   If the best use of technology is to make your business more efficient, it has to be weighed against the costs of losing personal touch and genuine customer care.

I  can not echo Seth Godin’s sentiments better, "Permission has never meant ‘access to my email.’ It’s a privilege, one that you earn or lose."    I see this as a two way street.   I want to be able to contact my customers and ask them for help in growing my business.   I want to be able to ask them what made them choose Grockit over other test prep companies.   I want to be able to ask for a referral from my customers.    How would I feel if I wrote to a happy and satisfied customer asking for help and I got an automated response from them?   "Thanks for emailing me, I have your email.  Don’t write back, I won’t read your response to this email and I didn’t read the last one either.  HAVE A GREAT DAY!"     It wouldn’t just be  surreal, it would be absurd.  I would be pissed.

Written by David Marino