When bigger is not better
he Comcast cable guy
just stood me up again… for the third time! It’s
not the end of the world, though. I suppose staying with my
mostly reliable and pretty quick DSL service is still an
option, but I’m a complete and utter speed freak.
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You don’t want the details and
that’s not the purpose of this article. It’s
sufficient to say that with each missed appointment it was up
to me to call Comcast and get things back on course. Each
broken promise landed the ball squarely in my court.
Have you tried contacting a large company
lately? You have no clue where you’re calling when you
press the buttons on your phone? It could be Tangiers or
Timbuktu or any place in between. Technicians in Quezon City in
the Philippines, for example, answer my calls to Linksys, and
issues on my graphics card are routed to a suburb of Bombay,
India. Gone are the days when you could make a call for service
and get a local representative. Now I’m always wondering,
“Where will this 800 number take me today?”
As it turns out, calls to Comcast are
handled in a suburb of Calgary, Alberta. Now, see if this
sounds familiar. After navigating through a series of options,
I’m finally greeted by a computer voice that says,
“Due to higher than expected call volumes, your present
wait is… less than 10 minutes.”
Or, “We’re sorry but all of
our associates are busy right now. Your call is very important
to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be handled in
the order it was received.”
We’ve entered a new age. I realize
that. And I’m fully aware of the challenges facing big
companies today. After all, they have to handle hundreds of
customers every minute. But the very same phone techniques are
now finding their way into small businesses, including many
drycleaners, nationwide. Would it surprise you to know that the
way in which a telephone is answered can make or break more
deals than any other form of advertising? Why spend good money
on advertising and marketing and then blow it all when the
customers call?
Recently, my call to a drycleaner friend
landed me in a voicemail jungle of options identical to those I
get when calling a big company. The difference is I happen to
know this guy. In fact, he runs a five-man operation and
that’s if we include his dog. So why make me jump through
the hoops?
When I finally got him on the line I asked
what the answering system was all about and he said it gives
his customers the impression that they’re dealing with a
larger company.
I thought, “This is nuts!”
After my experience with big companies like Microsoft, IBM and
Comcast, why would a small drycleaner want to appear like a big
company? On top of that, he claims the answering system allows
him to be more productive. In other words, he doesn’t
have to be interrupted by customers wanting to conduct
business.
When your phone can't be answered
personally, customers and potential customers should always be
left with a professional impression.
The best message system is a phone
receptionist. Second is a good answering service. Next is voice
mail, and last is an answering machine. And unless you’re
a huge cleaner don’t take today’s technology to an
extreme by asking your customers to “Touch 1 if you want
hours; touch 2 if you want information; touch 3 to leave a
message.” And then after they touch 3 to leave a message,
more choices start.
This is always a painful exercise for me.
I will reluctantly put up with it to do business with a huge,
lumbering behemoth such as Comcast, but if I get the same kind
of treatment from a small company, I’m easily tempted to
take my business elsewhere.
Three of the best selling points for you,
as a small business, over a big one are that you’re
easily accessible, you can respond fast to almost any request
and you can offer genuine personal service.
Let’s forget about Comcast cable
Internet for a moment. Our service provider at work is
WebSolutions. It’s a small company with only seven full
time employees.
The office and all of the equipment is
only 50 feet away from my desk. If there’s ever a
problem, the staff is easily accessible. In fact, instead of
calling, I’ll often walk to their office just because I
haven’t seen them in a while. And it doesn’t matter
what they’re doing, they’ll always take a few
minutes to listen to my problem. Usually, they can resolve it
on the spot… while I watch!
As to personality, the technicians, Jon
and Jennifer, are polite, knowledgeable and on a first name
basis with us. They take a genuine interest in our company and
cheer for our success because they know that if they can
continue to make us happy, we’ll be with them for along
time.
Being small gives you the distinct
advantage of getting to know your clients personally and this
is a point you should drive home with every means of
communication you have every time you make contact with your
prospects or customers.
It means so much to a person to know they
are appreciated as an individual. This won’t happen with
a big company. With each of my calls to Comcast, for example, I
had to repeat my name, address and telephone number…
beginning with the area code. And each time a conversation
ended I was given a case number for future calls. Why? Because
you’ll never get the same technician or customer service
representative if you have to call back.
Big companies can’t offer these
advantages and yet, strangely enough, some small cleaners try
to emulate them with such impersonal telephone etiquette.
It’s often said that you only get one chance to make a
good first impression, and for many cleaners, that impression
is made over the phone. Why not make it professional and warm.
You’ll sell a lot more prospects and keep far more
customers.
Bill Bishop has been a consultant with the
Golomb Group for the past 12 years, designing marketing and
promotional programs for drycleaners. He can be reached at the Golomb
Group at (800) 679-5856 or by
e-mail at wab@golombgroup.com.
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