I’m about as busy as a human can legally be and I’m being bailed out by a guest blogger. My good friend Debbi Bressler of The Home Business Review has responded to my plea for help and has written a fantastic article for us today.
You can follow the link to Debbi’s blog and site and find her About Me page and see all that she can do for you.
Take it away Debbi and thanks for helping me out. You guys go check out Debbi’s site/blog and leave her some comments here and there. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough, if you’re nice to her, to get her to come back on a regular basis.
I continue to preach about how easy it could be for companies to differentiate themselves from the competition with one simple technique. This tactic will not only create referrals and increase retention, but it is absolutely FREE to implement !
It’s called Customer Service.
Yes.
I know you’ve heard it from me before.
But here it is again.
Here’s the deal: As a small business person, you cannot compete with huge corporations with multi-million dollar advertising budgets. At least you can’t compete on their turf. But you can bury these faceless bureaucracies with the proper care and feeding of your customer.
Today’s case in point are wireless carriers.
My mom called me yesterday to tell me that she had just discovered her Sprint bill was wrong. Now, mom only has a cell phone for emergencies and when she and dad travel. She’s had a Sprint cell phone for SIX years. Now, she’s probably not their biggest customer by a long shot, but she’ll probably stay with them forever.
Unless they blow it. Which they did.
Should I point out my mom’s a redhead ? And you KNOW what they say about redheads and their tempers !
Anyway, my mom calls Sprint customer service (or as Clark Howard likes to say, “Customer No Service”) to find out about this new charge. (She’s had the same plan for the past six years so the price doesn’t fluctuate much.)
” It’s because you added international calling. “, the operator says.
Well, I’ve known my mom a pretty long time. And she has NEVER even placed an international phone call ……much less added interntional calling to her cell or landline phone. EVER. They’ve never travelled internationally and don’t have friends or relatives who live abroad.
” Well, this charge has been on here for months. Why don’t you look and see how many international calls I’ve placed in the six years I’ve had this account ? “, she said.
Sprint replies, ” Never. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t order it. ”
Well, this goes on and on. They couldn’t tell her WHO had taken this international order. Only that THEY don’t make mistakes and she did it. Later in the conversation, the lady intimated that because she’s up in years that she may have forgotten that she called to order this.
The Customer Service Rep and the supervisor told her there was nothing they could do. And it was obvious this was a mistake on their part. Someone just keyed in something wrong. (My daughter works for Cingular and she said that is quite common and Cingular CORRECTS the error for their customers.) But they told her that SHE had the problem….not them.
Here are the facts:
- The total cost for this “service” over the months she had it was around $32.
- This was a six year customer.
- The average cost to acquire a new cell phone customer is $300-400. It takes approximately 6-12 months to break even on new customer acquisitions.
Can you say STUPID ?!
Many years ago I had a cell phone with Houston Cellular. Similar circumstance.
One month I found my bill was $37 higher and found that they had instituted a policy that, if you did not specifically sign up for a new plan after one year, your plan would divert to their highest rates. With most companies, you continue on the original plan until and unless you change plans.
When I called to say I was never notified, the CSR told me ” too bad “. The supervisor told me they would not reverse the charges and there wasn’t a darn thing I could do.
So I wrote the Better Business Bureau.
And the Public Utilities Commission.
And the Attorney General’s Office.
Not only did I get my $37 back, but they had to tie up time in their legal department to answer to all three of these cases. Hmmm…..think that might have cost them more than $37 ?
Oh…and….I’m not the quiet type. So you can be assured that I warned everyone about doing business with them. For years.
If you will make exceptional Customer Service your mantra, you can find and keep customers that those big budgeted corporations can never touch.
‘Cause to those big corporations, you are Account #109073403. But to a small business person, you are ” Mr. Jones ” or ” Mary “.
‘Cause loyalty and respect are reciprocated.
And you can’t put a price on that.
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