Imagine this for a moment. You call into your local bank or financial institution outfitted with an interactive voice response application that is set up to quickly and properly direct your call. This scenario could possibly go in a couple of directions – good or bad.

Your call flow then offers what seems to be a list of generic options – none of which are really what you are looking for. You repeat the menu again, only to be frustrated when nothing matches what you are calling about. The next and seemingly only option left is to just press zero, hoping to get to a live agent. This process translates to lost opportunity and lost money, not to mention an unhappy customer and agent.

What if that experience could be significantly different – even enjoyable? Imagine you call into your bank and are greeted in a more natural conversational manner. You hear something like “Thank you for calling. Please tell me how I can help you today. Say: check account balances, verify deposits, speak to a banker, or something else.” You are able to talk in a more natural fluid manner to ask for what you need – and most likely you’ll get somewhere. As always, you can opt out for an agent, but you are more likely to hang on the line and be routed properly.

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