Posts Tagged ‘Small business’

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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Observations From A Town Hall Roundtable

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Last night I attended a government round table with several leaders of the Clifton Park and Saratoga area, including community and government representatives.  At the beginning people were asked to state who they were, who they represented, and a little about their organization.

Two of the gentlemen were from regional business associations, and I found their take very interesting.  The first person said they represented a certain geographic area, how big they were and what services they provided to their members.  The second gentleman also spoke about their size and coverage, but then made a change.  He talked about a situation where one of his members had some goods held up a a port of entry (which is nowhere near our area).  He then went on to say that within a day, the goods were release.  My take-a-way from this is one person told what they can do, while the other told what they did.  Bottom line, actions speak louder than words.

I am pretty annoyed that the new health care legislation includes the requirement that all business transactions exceeding $600.0o in a year require the business receive a 1099.  This is a burdensome and very costly undertaking for small businesses.  When I brought this to the attention of our representative, he said he was aware it was in the bill, didn’t know how it got there and was working on getting it repealed, but was not sure if he would be successful.  My comment was it is easier to get poor legislation removed before signing than after.  I guess not so common sense.

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Changing Times

Friday, May 28th, 2010

This morning I had the opportunity to visit with another long term client.   We have been providing IT and computer support to this Upstate New York company for well over ten years and it has been very interesting to be a part of the business as they transformed.

Many changes have taken place from when the business was locally owned to now being part of a large national firm.  General managers have come and gone, some business functions have been moved to corporate headquarters.  Business focus has been massaged and tweaked.

What hasn’t changed is the loyalty and dedication of the staff.  It was wonderful to see that despite the turbulent times we live in, the attitude of many of the people I have known for so many years remains positive and upbeat.

It was a nice start to the day.

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