It's The Service, Stupid!
Posted on July 4, 2017
Man, I'm steamed. OK, maybe it's a small thing... but I'm still steamed.
I get two copies of a well-known business magazine and I only need ONE! This has been happening for a few months and I've called and written them to PLEASE fix it. Does it ever get fixed? What do you think?
I guess I get peeved about stuff like this because I'm self-employed. I mean to say, that if you are your own business and you are going to do a service or something, then I expect you to KNOW what you do. It's part of the 'skill set' of being a small business. Most of us don't know how a web server works, or the fine points of email... but we know something about them... and we know whom to ask and what to ask.
So when the magazine has a problem they can't or won't solve, then it's time to change. That's how we in small business would deal with vendor.... that's how my customers would deal with us and our web design service What if NewMedia Create had terrible service or made lots of mistakes... yet I tell everyone that I'm an expert in web design? What are you going to think of me?
The magazine is an EXPERT in business topics. Thus, when I get 2 (sometimes 3) copies of the rag each week for months and months.... and I've POLITELY written to them about the problem and NEVER get any response.... well it makes me wonder.
To me a player is only as good as his or her last game. Why is Apple and Tesla and Dell held in high regard as vendors? Because they don't drop the ball too often and when they do, they acknowledge it and work their butts off to make sure they don't screw up again.
I'm just on a tear about bad service from people that I expect really good service from. I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of the "We got your money now so who cares about you" attitude. And I'm sick of calling customer service to someone I pay good money to each month and getting a "script reader" in Bombay who doesn't know his or her ass from a kumquat (or whatever the hell they eat in India!)
So is this a bad thing? Yes it is. But it's also a good thing!
I'm more convinced than ever that we are heading into what will be a golden age for small business. I think people are tired of the "Wall-Martization" of everything. It's not just price. People are starved for good service.
Case in point. At 4 PM yesterday (Friday) I was about ready to wrap up my day in the office. Phone rang and it was Mary P. She is a biz consultant... we did her website and has sent us a lot of her clients They have 3 logins on their website for 2 employees and a fulfillment center in Kansas.
Mary says that there is a problem with the logins. So instead of going to the fitness center to work out, I got into the back-end of her site to see if I could replicate the problem.
And yes, there WAS a problem. It took me about 20 minutes to find and fix it and put it out on her server. I emailed Mary. She calls back and she is just stunned that anyone would fix or could fix or even be willing to fix a problem that was important to her at that moment.
She was incredulous. It just blew her away that I dropped everything and DID what she's PAYING me for.... to maintain her server! Yeah. She expected "Bombay service."
Mary is going to tell ALL of her biz friends about NewMedia Create and the good service I gave her, yada, yada.
My point is that we CAN compete with the big guys.
Hey, I go head-to-head and toe-to-toe with some huge design outfits. Do you think for one minute that anyone at one of these large houses would fix your problem, or add a new feature, within hours... much less days or weeks? Damn right they won't!
But I'll bust my butt for you... and THAT dear friends is what will be the key to survival for small businesses.
"It's the service, stupid." They don't teach that at Wharton. I don't think there is a single MBA that knows this. You know where I learned it? From my days in sales at EDS working for Ross Perot.
He taught me that people don't buy products or even services. They buy EXPECTATIONS. I'll let you ponder that. Either you will get it or you won't.
About the Author
Alan Canton has been a writer and a publisher in addition to his lifetime work as high-tech consultant. He is the author of several books (long out of print) as well as the author of the long-running Saturday Rant blog (also now dormant.)
Alan Canton has spent just over 40 years as a high-tech consultant... have ticked all the buzz-word checkboxes... programmer, analyst, system engineer, systems architect and the latest... full-stack engineer. If it has to do with computer code, he has done it... or at least most of it.
He is the managing partner of NewMedia Create which designs websites for authors, publishers, and small businesses... most often for small biz people who have "no money" but who want a simple but nice site at an reasonable price.
Ham radio is his main hobby. His callsign is K6AAI. You can see his station at his QRZ webpage.
He also runs a QSL card company and has hams from all over the country as customers. See RadioQSL.com. His favorite ham radio quote is:
"I am often asked how radio works. Well, you see, wire telegraphy is like a very long cat. You yank his tail in New York and he meows in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? Now, radio is exactly the same, except that there is no cat."
- Attributed to Albert Einstein