This switch must have triggered a process in the telecommunications giant because, within a couple of weeks, I got a call from someone in an Indian call advising me of a special offer where if I spent more than $70 per month, I was entitled to a 20% discount on my phone bill. First of all, I was asked if I did spend more than $70 per month. I knew the answer but I quizzed the lady why should would have rung if she did not already know the answer. She said she knew that I spent more than this amount, so, why the question. The fact that I got a call from an Indian call centre initially frustrated me, but being quizzed about bill information caused me to be downright cynical.
Then was asked to confirm that I wanted this discount to which I replied no. Why should I confirm I want a discount for being a loyal (over 10 years) customer. Don't waste money having a customer service representative call me, JUST GIVE ME THE DISCOUNT IN MY BILL. Instead of the Moments of Madness I was confronted with, it could have been a Moment of Magic to see a discount in the bill.
Later I got a great little marketing email to add to my call centre frustration with all the latest offers on new phones. TOO LATE!!! So my next step was to unsubscribe from the email marketing. I clicked on the link at the bottom of the email and was taken to a Telstra page which stated that it may take up to 5 working days for my opt-out to be effective and I would continue to be contacted about important service related matters. Then I was sent an email indicating that the e-mail/letter I sent requesting to be removed from email communication had been processed but I had to contact Telstra directly for my phone to be removed from the marketing database and to allow up to 30 days for your opt-out from Telstra marketing to take effect. Finally, there was additional non-relevant information about opting out of premium services which I am not subscribed to and is therefore totally irrelevant to me.
One can only hope that there are plans for Telstra to begin the long journey to Outside In. It appears from this experience that there are a lot of unnecessary processes that could be immediately eliminated which would result in immediate and significant cost savings.
They could learn so much during the complete Outside In journey such as:
- How to align your processes to successful customer outcomes
- How to eliminate moments of truth and save money
- Know your customers
- How not to give your customers a reason to leave