#216 - Get Out of Wrap TV - show 92

[00:00:21] Hello, welcome. February the 11th, show 92 of Get Out of Wrap TV. It's been a minute, so it is good to be back with you all. Today's show is brought to you by Better Outsourcing and The Forum. The guys at Better are trying to do things better. They're such a positive gang. They really are.

[00:00:45] Rich Knox, supported by some superstars up there. Definitely check them out. Have a look at their content. It brings a smile to your face. And The Forum, what can I say about The Forum? Chris, Phil, Dave, Penny, Ian, so many awesome, awesome people who I've done lots of lovely work with. Thank you. Thank you very, very much.

[00:01:11] Hey, we're off already. Darren Gracie, good morning, sir. How are you? Ha ha ha. Spencer, it's Spencer here. Spencer Collins. Now I will be talking about Spencer later. About you, Spencer. We caught up yesterday. Some really inspiring and insightful stuff to share.

[00:01:32] Oh, yes. Alan is here. Alan Donaghy. Hello, my friend. How are things in the world of golf and the contact center supporting them? Oh, everyone's rocking up. Scott. Scott Williams, WFM expert, mental health advocate and all round good guy.

[00:01:52] Oh, here she is. Nerys. Nerys Caulfield, the one, the only. How are you? Good morning to you too. We definitely are overdue a catch up. Oh, wait a minute. Peter Dunn. Pete is here. Lovely, lovely Pete Dunn. Brain and heart the size of a planet. Currently looking for a new role.

[00:02:19] If you have a contact center. If you have a contact center and you want to transform it or if you are a vendor and want to massively improve your credibility from the get go, then Pete is your man. You absolutely need to be in touch with him. Aaron, Aaron Sharples. Good morning. Good morning, sir. Oh, this is great. It's great to see you all. It has been a while, hasn't it?

[00:02:46] As is always the way with my, it's like my health and safety. If your comments are not showing, I'm not ignoring you. I promise. Please just refresh LinkedIn. Sometimes the connection between LinkedIn and StreamYard, which is one of the platforms they recommend doesn't always work, but hopefully they're all coming through.

[00:03:07] Thank you.

[00:03:37] And of course, we are now at the start of the week that culminates in Valentine's Day, right? So my question for you all is, other than your family, what do you love? What is your passion? What is the thing that, well, how do you answer this question? Quite simply.

[00:04:00] I will kick off. I don't think it's any surprise. Mine is football. I could play football every single day. I'm already looking forward to playing walking football, which my dad's played up until recently. And I've seen a couple of tournaments. It's very interesting. But yeah, for me, other than your family, what do you love? And of course, I count Hugo in my family, right?

[00:04:27] So, okay, we're off. Aaron says, Manchester City. Good for you. Good for you. And I'm sure that love started when they were down there playing Rotherham and Gillingham. Nerys says, musicals. I do love a musical, which was very strange as a football loving lad growing up. I would be at school singing, singing the songs that I'd watched in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

[00:04:53] Spencer says, I'm in love with Roger Voice. In brackets, don't tell my wife. Well, family, we've already said family other than family, right? Pete. Happy birthday for Friday, MT. Yes, it's well. It is also my birthday on Friday, but that has been moved by request of my wife, Bev, to Saturday.

[00:05:17] Yeah. Christian Fleetwood Redmond says, West Brom and Quavers. Up the baggies. Marianne says, music. Dara says, hello all. Great to be here. Dara Keenan. Definitely follow his content and read his book. Love the American football. The only thing I do every Sunday at 6pm. If I can get away with it, Dara, after watching football, I then will watch American football.

[00:05:45] And I stayed up for the Super Bowl, but fell asleep at the start of the third quarter. Woke myself up because of my snoring. And I'm very glad the Eagles won. Very, very glad indeed. Kerry Sudo says, all kinds of sport, but football and pole fit are my two at the moment. You are going to have to educate me. What a pole fit. And Aaron says, 38 years ago, mate.

[00:06:14] What, my reference to Man City playing Gillingham and Rotherham? I'm sure it wasn't that long ago. All I'm saying is, you're a fan and not a fan that's come along since they've been awesome. Big game tonight, which I will be watching. Man City, Real Madrid. Pete loves paid employment. Wink, wink. Darren Grace says, boxing. Oh yeah, I love boxing. Boxing, gaming, comics, anime and acrobatic gymnastics.

[00:06:44] I think we've mentioned, haven't we, our daughters do acro, as it's called. Yeah, so love that. Dara's happy that the Kansas City Chiefs lost as well. Get out of rap, dogs and paddle. Yes, oh, we are going to try and get a game of paddle in, aren't we? What's it called? Yeah, paddle. But thank you, Spencer. That is very nice of you to say. Scott says, dream would be to own a store that covers my other loves.

[00:07:13] Music, hashtag, sorry, in parentheses, vinyl. Plants and coffee. That is awesome. There was a really good coffee shop near Waterloo that seems to have shut in. It was right up your street. It was loads of plants, quite minimalist inside. And it had just vinyl everywhere, vinyl records. Okay, also love and hate. Man United in equal amounts, says Dara.

[00:07:42] Learning a lot, leaning a lot more towards the hate these days. Well, look, my love of Tottenham will never, ever, ever change. But my God, it is hard work supporting them. Hard, hard work. Don't get me started on that. Kerry says, pole fit is a fitness version of pole dance. Basically having to flip yourself upside down and whatnot. Deadlift your own body weight and stuff.

[00:08:11] Game changer for the abs after having babies. I, not in a club, but just seeing people doing that is very much like acro. The, yeah, your core strength is, must be insane. Yes, Spencer, I did mean pickleball. Sorry. That's paddle though, is it? Alan Donnie says, golf, music and Everton football club. Not necessarily in that order. Morris, acts of kindness. What a lovely thing to say, Morris. And good to see you, Morris Pentel.

[00:08:42] Acts of kindness, music, nature, art and fighting martial arts. Yes. We have, we've had boxing, martial arts. Al Hughes is here. Good morning. Morning, mate. Folks, finally made it. He's made one. Good to see you. What do you love other than your, other than your family? So for me, football, despite how rubbish they are at the moment, Tottenham will definitely be the winner.

[00:09:09] But there hasn't been one that I wouldn't want to have a, have a go at or like so far. So we're all very, very similar. Do keep these, do keep these coming. And it will be good to see. Hold on a minute. Spencer Collins says, I have to admit, I love eggnog. That is, that's a random one. Al says, music and kindness. Kindness has come up a couple of times. Isn't that nice? It's cool to be kind.

[00:09:37] Alan says, you think it's hard being a Tottenham fan. Walk, walk in the park back compared to being an Evertonian. Well, Alan, maybe, maybe true. But this season, I seem to remember you beating us 4-0. Like a lot of other teams, we are the butt of all jokes at the moment. And being in a very busy football community WhatsApp group, there isn't a day that goes by without some meme being sent about Tottenham. It's very hard not to be triggered.

[00:10:07] Okay, so let's move on to something that I think we, I'm really interested to get your opinion on, okay? Thinking about the times when, as you're a leader in a contact center, what do salespeople need to do better when approaching you? So maybe this is when you've put out an RFP or you're looking to upgrade some tech or you're looking to get a service in. That could be training.

[00:10:37] That could be consultancy. How do you wish salespeople showed up? What could they do better? Let me just, Al Hughes says, I'm a stereotype, haggis, square sausage and iron brew. I do love iron brew. Marianne says, try being a Cardiff fan. I have watched them play once. Dara, someone's got to say it. I love a good pint of Guinness. Unfortunately, don't get to have that love very often these days.

[00:11:07] Very true. Okay, so what do salespeople need to do better when approaching you? Nerys is kicking us off. Listen, not talk. Closely followed by stop talking and listen from Alan. And as he says, snap. Spencer, I'm not sure if this is related to this question or the one before, but expensive aftershave. Oh, approaching.

[00:11:36] So have aftershave on so they smell better. I'm assuming that's what you mean. So when I've been in the position before where I've been part of the team who are going to be buying some new kit or we know we need to upgrade a kit or we know we want to get some people in to help us with training or WFM or whatever it may be.

[00:12:04] There's a certain amount of, oh God, here we go. We're going to have to deal with salespeople. And I've also been on the other side of that, selling services from my previous employer. And I guess now I sell, get out of wrap and the team leader community. So I've been on both sides, more the customer than where I am now. But that feeling that you get where you're thinking, oh God, here we go.

[00:12:31] How can we help people that are out there who might have the best bit of kit we need? They might have the solution to our challenge, but how they approach dealing with us turns us off. So what can they do better? Marianne, there's actually read the profile first and whether you should even be contacting me. Yes, I think that's a good shout.

[00:12:58] We're all, we must all get messages every single day. Actually, the ones I get at the moment make me laugh because they're always asking who, please can you tell me who in Get Out of Wrap deals with marketing? Or who deals with your finance? Or who deals with your systems or IT help? Guess what? It's me. All the ones that say that they've researched the company and then ask a daft question.

[00:13:27] Well, okay, you haven't researched the company. Right. Pete Dunn says, stop with the nonsense auto pitching. Hey, insert name. Let's talk about how our product can transform your business. You have no idea if it can. Yes, very true. These approaches don't work, do they? Dara says, lead with providing educational content and allow me to decide whether I want to hear your pitch. That is brilliant.

[00:13:57] Tell me how to solve the problem I have before telling me that you can solve it for me. Soft sell works better for me than a hard sell. I would be very, very surprised if there are people out there that say, absolutely sell to me. You know that always be closing. Just be out there selling nonstop. Hard sell. Hard sell. Al says, take an authentic interest in my team business. Do your research. Don't generically throw sales pitches at me.

[00:14:26] Show me how and why your solution is a good fit. So whether it is partnership or team leaders in the community, I don't think I've ever used the same information to share. And that follows talking to people, right? So spot on there. Al Kerry says, we have four points all together. Oh, we're talking about football. Good. One team cheated and put out half of their first team. We play four leagues above. What? What?

[00:14:56] That's no good. Sorry. These comments must be coming through later. Hence Dungeons and Dragons, which one day, Peter, I'm going to join in because I do like a bit of fantasy. I've just never played. And who better to steward me through a game than you? Morris Pentel says, most pitches lie in the first hundred words. So maybe don't do that. Very, very true. There seems to be comments coming through again because Alan, I've got your one about golf

[00:15:25] music in Everton, an E of E, an E and R, a T, you know, an N. I remember one of those chants. So maybe to spin this on its head a little bit. Who has for you embodied when someone shows up and they've done it well? So they've done all of those things. They've listened. They've thought about your challenges and they've been educational. Is that or maybe a better question is.

[00:15:55] Is that what people are doing now? Do you see an improvement in how salespeople are showing up or does it still frustrate you? Spencer says it's so frustrating when a salesperson interrupts a conversation to take a call, isn't it? It feels like they're implying that I'm not interesting enough to keep their attention. I think one of the things I don't know if you've when you've been to the expo, it is like sales on

[00:16:24] amphetamines that people are trying to get a read on you as to whether they should carry on talking to you based on whether you are a decision maker, someone that might be buying. I understand it. They've only got a limited amount of time, but that can be pretty brutal and pretty short-sighted. You know, people, it's like speed dating. No, I'm not interested.

[00:16:50] Now I know you're not running a contact center. I feel like that's sometimes my standard approach when people are assuming that get out of wrap or the team leader community is some kind of contact center. And I often get approaches based on that. And when I say, actually, if I can be bothered to reply, I don't mean that facetiously, but you can't reply to all of them, can you? They're instantly not interested.

[00:17:19] When in fact, I might be able to help in other ways. Marianne says, be honest and get to know the company. So true. Get to know the company, the people, and appreciate where there are gaps and where they need help and where you can help. Nathan, who I had a wonderful, wonderful chat with yesterday. Nathan is absolutely one of life's good guys.

[00:17:44] He has committed to giving 10% of his revenue to charitable causes. You've all mentioned kindness. Oh no, sorry. A couple of you have mentioned kindness as something you love. We should all applaud Nathan and what he's doing. He's given to my London Marathon charity Action Aid a great amount, really, really helped us get to the total we're at now. And he's doing that across his community.

[00:18:12] So Nathan, much love to you, my friend. And some really interesting conversation about how we might work together and stuff like that. So I loved it. But to your comment, it shows a lack of understanding of the sales process. Yes, get a result. But the result might be to get the next conversation. Very true. Neris. Humble brag. If a salesperson has engaged me to do a contact center discovery, then they are definitely taking the right approach.

[00:18:41] As I take a very holistic view for them to then decide which tech stack is best. And there's no one better in the business. I don't think many, many people will argue with that. Neris at all. And you're also lovely to boot and might throw in a song as part of the whole process, which is always good value. Pay that. It's got worse. The very low effort use of AI on top of the existing automation options

[00:19:09] has led to more spam, more hard sell, less show me how you know me effort. What a wonderful, wonderful comment, Peter. And so true. It seems that people are using AI to accelerate how bad things. They're just trying to woodpecker you into submission. But show me you know me. I love that. Show me you know me. Do your work.

[00:19:36] And also, it might not be suitable. So say so. It's a bit hit and miss for me, to be fair, says Alan. However, the direction for sales teams has to be driven by their line managers. They tend to replicate that person's behavior. Maybe not look at them, but look at their leader. So, so true. These kind of... I do feel for them. And I think, you know, many of us have been there where you have, you know,

[00:20:06] a real target-based approach where it's hit the target or you're in trouble, drives the wrong behaviors rather than let's look at our customers, let's look at our offering, let's try and be helpful. Dara mentioned educational earlier. I love that. Let's be educational. Let's be a positive force in the industry. Then the output will take care of itself, right? Rather than hit your number, hit your number, hit your number.

[00:20:36] Al says, approaching me with obvious templated language and offers, which are clearly just cut and pasted to generate hot leads. I find this simply puts me off partnering. Really good word. The lack of real thought and language in those early conversations just says, I don't care enough. Very true. Take your time. Spencer, salespeople need to do better than approaching me like a seagull at the beach.

[00:21:01] Swooping in and out of nowhere, aggressively eyeing my wallet and refusing to leave, even when I pretend I don't see them. At least seagulls bring entertainment. Where's my free sample or magic trick? If every salesperson said to me, I'll teach you how to do some magic, then I would definitely listen. Nathan says, the challenge here might also be the quality of development of salespeople. That's such a good point. Let's face it.

[00:21:29] L&D budgets are usually slashed early doors. A lack of sales development and a lack of leadership development would inevitably lead to this. Such a good point. And fair play to Pete. When me and Pete worked in the same team, one of the many areas we were responsible for was sales. And it was Pete that drove the desire for knowledge, right? The desire for competency. Because it is a skill.

[00:21:59] You can't just wing it. Which was generally my approach. And Pete was the one that internally did that. We had no other support. We didn't have people. I think, you know, when we said, look, can we have some training? It was kind of what? Why? Just get out there and sell our product. Everyone thinks they can do sales and everyone has an opinion on sales. Which I used to find very frustrating. One of the reasons I'm no longer there. Okay.

[00:22:27] Some fascinating, fascinating comments. And I think it would behoove a lot of the tech vendors out there to spend time. Maybe even watch this little clip, right? But spend time engaging with us. Finding out how can we direct our sales teams better. Hang on a second. Just need some coffee. Okay. Now, very quickly, I just want to thank Jabra.

[00:22:55] Jabra have been awesome. This month, they are providing a set of their Evolve 2 earbuds as a prize in the February competition in the team leader community. And this is the second time. No, third. This is the third time Jabra have provided a prize in the community. So, I've set up a competition in the community.

[00:23:23] And the winner from a prize draw at the end of the month will win these. And they're meant to be better than Apple AirPods. AirPods? I'm not sure which one they're called. But thank you to Amanda and to Jabra for your support of the team leader community. They didn't ask me to share anything. I just said that I wanted to do it.

[00:23:44] They were just happy to provide them with no publicity at all, which I think shows you the kind of people that they are. They just want to help team leaders and give them something to be happy about. If you ever fancy, if your company ever fancies providing a prize for the community, we do them every month. Please just let me know. But thank you, Jabra, very much. Let me just catch up here.

[00:24:14] Maurice Pentel says, my job for the large call center companies was to take the art of the possible and connect it to today's challenges. When your suppliers analyze the existing processes and work with the clients designing the use of technology. And I'm sure. Well, I know you are great at that, Maurice. Allow enough time, says Al, between your contact attempts for me to read the first one and breathe.

[00:24:43] The persistent virtual banging on my door and repetition can feel aggressive. There you go. It's that woodpecker just battering you. Nathan says, recognize that selling is about people. Seek to get to know me. Chat and then see where it's at. It's like proposing on the first date. So true. Because also, you might get to a point where, okay, you might not sell your product or your service, right?

[00:25:13] But you've gained a good connection, a potential friend who might help you in the future somewhere else or with someone else. So don't take that kind of short-sighted, immediate view. Marianne says, I agree hugely with Nathan. What sales training is given these days? I remember when I was sales trained by a newspaper, I spent two full weeks just on learning structured selling and psychology of selling. There you go.

[00:25:42] I think those days need to come back. Spencer, the best way to stop this problem? Sales people need to approach me like a Wi-Fi signal, a strong, reliable, and only when I actually need them. Otherwise, disappear quietly into the background like that one bar of signal I lose when I'm about to stream something important. Kerry says, I hate the passive-aggressive final message. You clearly aren't interested in growing your sales this year, but a response would have been nice. Oh, yeah.

[00:26:11] Yes, we love them, don't we? Thanks for annoying me today. Dara says there's an interesting parallel between how you sell and how you lead your team. If you focus solely on short-term gains, you'll be driven by immediate financial targets, prioritizing conversion rates over people. But if you take a long-term approach, you'll invest in relationships, both with customers and your team, allowing them to drive sustainable success for your business.

[00:26:41] I love that. Absolutely love that. Okay, I mentioned before we're going to be talking about Spencer. Spencer has helped all of us, I think, be more inclusive and to consider people. Oh, Darren is here. Hold on, I will get back to this. But Darren says, Darren Crook, stop contacting me like we're mates when we've never met. Oh, do you know what? That's prompted me, Darren.

[00:27:07] One of mine is when they try and hook you in with the RE. So it makes you look at first glance like they're replying to a message you sent. So, yeah, that is an absolute trick. Darren Gracie says, in my entire career, only three businesses that I have worked for have invested in sales methodology and training. My daughter trains for 25 hours a week to perform three acrobatic gymnastic routines.

[00:27:35] These routines only last between two minutes and two minutes, 30 seconds. When she isn't competing, she is training to perform at her absolute best when competing. I love that. The comments are spot on. There is a severe lack of training and development in sales with the exception of a small percentage. It's cut off the end of your comment there, Darren, but please do add it on. But I couldn't agree more. That kind of you're all on to something. But that is so true.

[00:28:03] And I've seen our girls also that the hours they put in for a small routine. And then we, you know, like I said earlier, we kind of wing it. Now, I had a great chat with Spencer, who, as I was saying, has enlightened all of us and given us a real firsthand perspective. On what life is like engaging with companies and services when you are profoundly deaf.

[00:28:31] And we've all come to know and love Spencer. And yesterday I had a chat about something that Spencer is now doing. And I wanted to share it with you. It's not this isn't a partnership or I'm not being paid to do this. But I wanted to share something that has, quote unquote, from Spencer, made him love life again. It's given him independence. And that is something that's called Roger Voice.

[00:28:59] You can download this app and you can see for yourself because me and Spencer have done it together. It is an app that allows Spencer to communicate with companies like we do. And if the company or the contact center also has the app, it's transformative. And Spencer shared with me yesterday, just booking a hotel.

[00:29:26] And the person on the other end of the line at the hotel, when Spencer said to her through typing and then it being shared through a voice that he was profoundly deaf. She was amazed.

[00:29:42] And when we're thinking about AI and what it's doing, one of the areas I'm really keen to explore and an area I'm focusing on is how it can increase inclusivity, how it can be used to help people become become freer. You know, Spencer used the word freedom yesterday. He said he felt like an eagle. You know how good he is with pros.

[00:30:12] So I would recommend checking out Roger Voice, getting in touch with Spencer and seeing how your contact center can better support people who are either deaf or hard of hearing using AI because it is fantastic. And this is what we should be using technology for. Spencer, I'm sorry if I've mangled it.

[00:30:39] I don't do it as much justice as you. It's wonderful to see you so passionate about a project and totally, totally understandable because of the impact it's had on you and your life. So I just wanted to share that. Please do check it out. And as I say, this is not something that's in the paid partnership.

[00:31:03] I just want to share something that is a very, very positive part of AI and what AI can do to open up companies and services and society for those that have had to struggle with some awful, awful systems in the past. Okay, back to I love we can work in partnership.

[00:31:30] You mean you want me to spend my money on your stuff? Very true, Nervis. We can work in partnership. It's a very one-way street partnership. From the selling side of things, it's also got harder to secure a sale, even with an engaged client. Everyone seems more risk-averse, asking for more detail, going through tenders, RFP, even on small deals. The effort involved in closing has got far higher since 2023.

[00:32:00] So true. And do you think a part of that, Pete, is that there is far more choice now than ever before? And sometimes that choice can be hard work, can't it? But I agree with you. And I'm not poo-pooing salespeople at all. As I said, I've been one. I kind of still am one. It's hard work. It is hard work. You're more than welcome, Spencer. I do recommend people checking out Roger Voice.

[00:32:30] Probably better to get in touch with Spencer and just find out from him what AI has been able to do to help him. Okay. We're now, we've got time because we've previously run out of time. We've got time for one of everyone's favorite little sections. It's the read-along.

[00:32:58] And I've got some really great stuff coming up with Steve Murrell very, very soon from Contact Babel. Starting from last November, we've been in regular touch. And he loves his part of the show, no doubt. Not no doubt, which you won't be surprised to hear. But what a lovely, lovely man he is. And thanks to him, we've had over 20 years of real insight from our industry. Let's have a look at this.

[00:33:22] We're going through the Decision Maker's Guide from Contact Centers from 2024. Current use of digital customer service channel solutions. So we have email management, web chat, social media, customer service. Has social media gone away a bit, do you think? You see there the percentage no longer planning, no plans to implement,

[00:33:47] or will implement after 12 months, or will implement within 12 months. Although saying that 54% of the respondents, and there were 400 plus, said they use it now. What surprised me? Web chat. Only 40... No, sorry. So what's that? 56% use it now. I thought that was higher. I would have thought that was higher. Email management software. This gives you, doesn't it?

[00:34:17] If you just lived in LinkedIn, you would think everyone had every bit of kit possible. Everyone had every channel. Everyone had speech analytics. Everyone had AI. When in fact, there are still a high, high percentage, circa 50% of contact centers out there that don't have email management software, that don't have web chat, that don't use social media,

[00:34:43] that don't have AI anywhere or speech analytics or any of this stuff. They're still very much in a Frankenstack Excel world. So that's great. Lots of opportunity for everyone. But it also shows just how hard some people are working. But is there anything in here that surprises you? I was... Al is just referring to Roger Voice. I love this. What a transformative experience. Thanks for sharing that from Spencer.

[00:35:13] I may reach out to you, Spencer. This could be something I could support through my client base where it fits. This is awesome. So exactly what I want from this show is people networking. And did you miss my last email? Snore, says Morris. Okay. So current use of digital customer service channel solutions.

[00:35:41] I'm surprised by... I would expect all of those three to be higher. Neve is here. Hello, Neve. Lovely, Neve. I'd be curious to see the size of the contact centers correlated against these stats. Really good point. And sometimes they do show that where they've segmented them into small, medium and large, but not for this one. But that's a really, really good point.

[00:36:09] Al says, I think improvements in accuracy of self-service portals and tools have reduced the need for web chat. I think that will continue to shrink as self-service improves over time. Interesting point. Interesting point. I hadn't considered that. Okay. Moving on. Percentage channel mix. So this is percentage of inbound interactions that are email. And you might find some surprises here.

[00:36:36] So if you look at the vertical markets, you've got services at 34%, all the way down to utilities, only 7%, which I found surprising. And maybe someone with utilities knowledge could explain or give their opinion as to why only 7% of inbound interactions are email.

[00:37:02] And the fact that I found interesting is how few people plan to replace upgrade. There have been so many developments across email and chat. Couldn't agree more. Daris says, doesn't surprise me at all. I deal with a lot of local authorities here in Ireland and they're still using cave drawings to communicate. Brilliant. Kerry, utilities, retail and FS are generally more advanced and tend to have more channels.

[00:37:31] I think it's fairly industry-based. Maybe just my experience. Thank you. Everyone should be looking to improve, upgrade their contact channels. Yes, they should. Aye. So what do we think of this one? Oh, he is here. Hello, Danny Wareham. Is it because they're forced to communicate via web forms? Yes. Good point. Straight in with an insight, Danny.

[00:37:55] One of the things is, of course, what this graph of the previous one doesn't really show you is what is open, what's available. Nathan says, is utilities likely to be lower? Because usually you want to get in touch when something has gone wrong. Water, flooding, electricity off, smell of gas. I don't want this adding to a queue. Very true. So is it because there's a need for more immediacy?

[00:38:25] To that point, Kerry says, because utilities never answer emails and proactively tell you not to email. Or maybe these are just my suppliers. One day I will share my experience with our local water supplier. It's bizarre, to say the least. Okay. Well, talking of email SLAs, let's have a look.

[00:38:46] From 2009 to 2023, how long, what proportion of emails are answered successfully and completely within these timescales? So less than an hour. We haven't seen any real improvement from 2009 to 2023.

[00:39:14] Darren says, we have all these, we have all the channels. Not sure we should, but hey, that's a story for another day. But there's also a demographic shift. Email for us is still prevalent, although ramping up self-service to try and make it easy for everyone. But it doesn't stop there. You have to get customers to try it and use it. That's often a difficulty, changing customer behavior. You have to signpost it and then make it super easy to use, navigate, or it will turn them back to the traditional channels.

[00:39:44] Thank you so much. Danny says, that's an approach that HMRC have done. Bad service to dissuade callers. That's not referring to Darren's point, but a previous point. Yeah, it's very true. I've had to suffer contacting HMRC recently, and those are hours of my life I'll never get back. But what I love about this graph, it shows quite a long period.

[00:40:10] And I don't think it reflects too brilliantly on us as an industry that there hasn't really been that much of a shift. Marianne says, most utility suppliers do not like email and put off people using it. However, Octopus Energy is totally different and answer emails very quickly. And they, as well as great marketing, have kind of stolen a march, haven't they, on their

[00:40:37] competitors through the levels of their service. Also supported by DDC, I think, as well. But yeah, so a great point. Does anyone think anything about this? Is this kind of length of period that we're looking at here? Are you surprised or not surprised that there hasn't really been that much change in email SLAs?

[00:41:03] You'd think with the advancements of technology, would you have hoped to have seen more of an improvement? Or doesn't this surprise you, even though we're looking at, you know, nearly a 15-year period here of dealing with emails and the speed with which we reply to them? That's interesting.

[00:41:30] For the past 30 years, says Spencer, I've relied on waiting for a response after emailing HMRC. But I've realized people prefer to pick up the phone faster than they reply to emails. All email is slow. And that view, I think, is a commonly held one and perpetuated by our way of dealing with them, I guess. Okay, Nerys has come up with some insight here. AI-infused emails are amazing.

[00:42:00] It's slashing so much time off an email, it should be having an oasis-like resurgence. SLAs should be within an hour if AI is in place. Love it. Love it, Nerys. Darren, it is amazing how little advancement in the speed of response, but I guess majority see it as an inefficient channel. So maybe the investment in channels hasn't been focused on it. Very true.

[00:42:26] And Kerry says, Octopus have a high proportion of emails handled by AI, to be fair. And perhaps then, to Nerys' point, this is the way forward. I will find that one for our next show. I do hope you can join me. I think it's next week.

[00:42:57] I will let you know. I wish there was a better way of getting these out rather than having to set up each event and invite you all. Let me just... Nerys says, Pete Dunne, in my experience, most, although they might dress it up in a structured web form. I will find the stack because it is in there. But thank you all very much. It's been great to be back. And your comments, again, are amazing.

[00:43:24] It's lovely to hear your views and to feel connected to you all once again. Oh, if you haven't seen them, I have been vlogging my training for the London Marathon. I'm super, super committed to the charity. I chose the charity Action Aid because they are a charity that works with women and girls

[00:43:50] around the world to get them away from violence and out of poverty. And not just because I have four daughters, but mainly because of the girls football team that I've had the pleasure of managing and coaching for the last four years. But it's a subject close to my heart. And I am trying to raise as much money as possible. You will find my Just Giving page on all of my video posts. Oh, Peter.

[00:44:20] Thank you very much. There it is. Peter's dropped it in the comments. Thank you, my friend. Even one, two or three pounds. I cannot tell you how much it makes a difference. That sounds so corny, but it's so true. It is the thing that gets me out training. I do not enjoy it. It is knowing that this is doing a lot of good for the charity.

[00:44:46] And also that I feel connected to all of you that have managed, that have kindly, kindly donated. So please do if you get a chance. You still got plenty of time. The marathon, and I've got a little widget on my phone. The marathon isn't 75 days I've got left. And I think today's day 36 of my training plan. So thank you all very, very much. Oh, Rachel, good to see you.

[00:45:15] Touches my heart as well. Thank you. Oh, great show. Glad to have made it. Yeah, me too. G'day. Luke's here. Great work, Martin. Thank you, Luke. And me and Luke are now connected on Strava. And I know, Luke, we are going to catch up because of your work on empathy, which will be really interesting. And I could give it a shout out here. Nathan, thank you very much. Keep It Up. Great advice yesterday. I am actually going to have a proper rest day today. So much love to you all.

[00:45:42] I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. Oh, Catherine is here. Catherine from Fab. Woohoo. Go, Martin. Thank you, Catherine. Have a wonderful rest of the day, a wonderful week. And I will see you all, I think, next Tuesday. I'll let you know. The comments are coming in thick and fast. Thanks, Mark. Well done on the running. Sorry about Sunday night. Villa fan Perry. Thank you very much. And your running is great as well.

[00:46:12] I am not wearing a T-Rex costume at the marathon. No, no chance. Thank you all very much. Have a lovely day. Bye bye.