We got a big response to our Taylorism and the Modern Call Center blog entry. We asked whether or not readers thought using scripts in call centers were helpful for creating efficiency and consistency. Every reader who e-mailed us thought scripts were detrimental. Here's a sampling:

Todd Beck, Senior Product Manager for AchieveGlobal wrote:

"One of my favorite "scripts" stories comes from a company whose new senior executive stopped by to listen to a few calls. An irate customer screamed at the agent that, "Every time I call you guys, you make the problem worse." As coached (and rewarded), the agent carefully followed the script by reading the next prescribed phrase: "I can help you with that." Fortunately for AchieveGlobal, the executive immediately threw out the scripts, fired his training vendor, and called us the next day to train his reps on a more attentive style of service.

Scripts are like krypton to any stellar service initiative. By preventing the service provider from responding to the unique combination of each customer, each call, and each service provider’s own personality, scripts ensure mediocrity. Perhaps worst of all, scripts eliminate the service provider’s personal accountability. We know call center reps are smarter than that. Why constrain them to the lowest-common denominator?"

Reader Linda Goff wrote:

"After years in the call center industry, I would have to agree that scripting dumbs down not only the rep, but the caller. Feedback from callers in the last three centers I worked for was negative....It's hard to tell which customers dislike more - the scripting or the voice recognition."

And finally, solutions consultant Johnny Roland told us:

"Interesting conversation. If the key metric for call centers is solving the customer's problem on the first call, then listening, troubleshooting, and orchestrating a response are the primary skills needed. The scripted call is usually a thinly veiled attempt to sell something to the customer -- a tactic most consumers see through right away. It is an artificial way to try to create a "relationship" between two people who don't know each other. The customer dials a number and gets an "advisor" on the phone who is looking at a CTI screen pop that paints a picture of "who" this customer is. Always an incomplete picture. And it's a relationship that will only last a few minutes."