Posts Tagged ‘Business Services’

Customer Service (or Lack Thereof)

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

In May we had decided to try a new software program and contracted with a well know, and well established company as we thought it would be quicker to deploy than take time from client projects to update the system we were currently using.

Within a week of making the decision and attempting to work with the company, it became apparent that this would not be a good fit as it took quite a while to get questions answered.  And we were just at the beginning of the implementation phase.  So I contacted the company to let them know we would not be proceeding.

I had put their system out of my mind until yesterday.  That is when we received a call from the company regarding us terminating the relationship.  This morning I returned the call and spoke with one of their representatives.  She asked why we decided not to continue with the software.  I said this is a perfect example of why we stopped; we canceled in May and it is now almost August and we are just receiving a call asking us why.

I then stated if we were in a situation where a client no longer wished to do business with us we would be on the phone with them in the afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest.

Exceptional customer service needs to be a core believe from the top down and permeate throughout the organization.  Everyone who comes into contact with clients or customers needs to be empowered to do whatever is necessary to make sure that clients and customers are completely satisfied.

This latest interaction with such a large company provides our computer networking and repair; and website development companies, with a good example of what not to emulate.  We can always learn.

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How Much is Your Time Really Worth?

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Recently I had a conversation with an executive from Clifton Park, NY. She was relating her frustrations about how there were so many obligations vying for her time. She then went on to say how much time she was spending on email.

This business owner spends a substantial amount of time out of the office and communication with her staff is vitally important.

After listening for a while I suggested a solution  which would save her about 30 minutes per day.  I informed her the change would be seamless and would not require any additional technical time per month.

At first she didn’t want to increase her monthly costs and was reluctant to make the move.  When she realized it amounted to only a few dollars per day, she decided to go ahead.

I spoke with her recently and she is very happy with her decision.  While it hasn’t eliminated all her frustrations, it has dramatically reduced them.

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