A Service Call and a Five-Minute Meeting

June 2, 2026|Mary Jane Copps

One of the things I’m always doing as “The Phone Lady” is paying attention to my phone experiences, especially those that relate to customer service and sales.

A Small Customer Service Mystery

Several weeks ago, something strange started to happen when I recorded my personal voicemail message. You know what I mean … the one you’ll hear if you call the office and I can’t take your call.

When I recorded my message, no matter how slowly I spoke, it played back at a crazy-fast speed. The words crashed together and some of them were even missing. I was patient for several days, thinking it would sort itself out. Then I unplugged my modem a few times, thinking it might help. Nothing changed.

The next step was calling my provider, Bell Canada. Much like you, I do procrastinate on these calls because I can’t predict how long they’ll take or how complicated they might become. (I will say that my service from Bell has always been easy and efficient.)

I reached Diane and explained my problem. She was fully aware of the issue, which told me that other customers had been calling. She did put me on hold, but it wasn’t too painful. 🙂 When she returned to our conversation, she shared that it was a technical problem at their end and that she could not tell me when it would be fixed.

It was great to know the issue wasn’t caused by anything on my end; disappointing that there was no ‘fix date’.

On the following day, out of curiosity, I recorded a new message and … it was fixed! I was both delighted and suspicious. It’s made me wonder if Bell (and perhaps other providers) are considering eliminating our ability to create custom messages? Perhaps they are tracking the number of customers that are calling in because this option is wonky? If the number is low, they’ll abandon that service?

I’m curious, have you had this experience, perhaps with Bell or another provider? Let me know in the comments below.

An Experiment in Reaching People

The other experience that’s valuable to share with you relates to work I’m doing with a client, assisting them with validation in terms of expanding their client base.

As always, when doing these types of projects, I learn new things about what’s necessary and what works to reach people.

In my first few days on this project, my results were pretty dismal. I reached very (very) few people. I knew I had to experiment with different approaches in order to get the job done. Here’s what worked:

  1. Left a voicemail for the Director of Operations and Corporate Accounts, indicating I would also send an email and a message on LinkedIn.
  2. Sent the email immediately after leaving the voicemail with the subject line ‘My Voicemail Message Earlier Today’. The email included all my contact information, a link to book a 5-minute phone call with me, and a note that I was sending a message through LinkedIn.
  3. Sent the LinkedIn message immediately after sending the email, including the link to book a 5-minute phone call.

Much to my surprise – and delight – within 20 minutes, they had booked the 5-minute phone call later that week. Amazing! Our phone call lasted exactly 5 minutes. They were impressed that I was able to connect with them, and I gathered valuable information as well as a request for a follow-up in August.

Try This:

Depending on your reasons for reaching out to your target market, I encourage you to test the 5-minute meeting approach. Let me know what happens.

Real-time conversation skills directly impact leadership effectiveness, customer experience, collaboration, and business growth.

As communication becomes increasingly digital, many professionals spend less time practicing and using the skills required for clear, confident and effective real-time conversations. Explore new options for improvement.

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To celebrate 20 years of The Phone Lady, we're revisiting what truly makes communication meaningful. Every second week, we'll share a bit of wisdom to remind us that small shifts in how we speak, listen, and connect make a big difference. (You'll also receive access to our Exclusive Resources, including 4 ebooks.)

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What's The Phone Lady Doing These Days?

 

  • Delivering training to female founders on Validation and Sales + One-on-One Coaching
  • Ongoing one-on-one coaching with business owners
  • Sales skills for proactive calling for the national sales teams of several financial companies
  • Working with The Sales Coaching Institute as the phone sales coach and trainer
  • Skills training for inbound calls for North Amercian home care company
  • One-on-one coaching on both research and sales skills for new team member of a transformative leadership company
  • Communication skills training for veterinary assistants and veterinary technicians with Nova Scotia SPCA College for Animal Welfare

Do you or your team want to improve your communication skills? Do you have a communication question or challenge you'd like to discuss? This quick-to-fill-out form is easy to use. You'll hear from me very soon.