On Monday, I put this question out to my Twitter followers. Mostly out of curiosity, and partly to help me in creating a brand new resource for Mommasterminds members.

I asked, “What contact method do you prefer to use when contacting customer service?” 

photo credit:
Jacob Bøtter

Personally, I like non-contact methods. So if given the choice, I’ll almost always choose an FAQ, then a forum, then a help desk, then live chat, email and finally the phone. In that order.

It’s not that I don’t like to talk to people. Over the years I’ve gotten much better at that. But customer service on the phone - ugh, you know how that goes. If it’s not voice mail, you get an re-routed and very often take up way too much of my time. Besides, it’s kinda hard to talk with kids screaming in the background.

With the other methods, I can at least help myself or get help,

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Leslie Truex, a member of MomMasterminds, was having trouble getting a project started. She finally decided it’s time to just do it. But how? Part of the reason it was difficult to get the project off the ground was because of limited time. That’s when she came up with this creative solution. I love it!

photo credit: zombiefactory

What she did was open up a telephone line. Invited people whom she knows can and are qualified to help her. They are asked to call in and leave a recording of their answer to a question she put out. Voila! Instant quality content. Nice touch Leslie.

So what do you do if you want to do that? Well, if you have an Audio Acrobat account, you can do that really easily. You can also do this a little low tech using regular voice mail. For example, I have a GrandCentral account that will take the voicemail and let me

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