A couple of weeks ago, I decided to switch providers for my home phone/internet/cable from Time Warner Cable to AT&T. AT&T was scheduled to be here Monday morning but didn't show (or didn't try very hard to make their presence known if, say, they rang the doorbell while I was in the shower or something -- no note, no phone call, no voice mail, etc. Plus, my pack of pugs would have been barking their heads off).
I had incredibly busy days Monday and Tuesday, so I just let it slide, figuring I'd take care of it on Wednesday. Only one problem...
Tuesday afternoon, my telephone quit working.
It seems that somehow Time Warner had executed a work order from AT&T (not from me directly) to transfer the phone number. So now, not only do I not have phone service at my house, anyone calling my number gets a disconnect notice, making it look like I didn't pay my phone bill or something.
So what does this have to do with small business? I'm getting there...
See, I spent a good three hours on the phone Tuesday back-and-forth between the two companies, having to repeatedly tell the story to each new contact person. Neither company seemed to control the phone number -- it's lost in telephone limbo. Not only that, AT&T insisted that they came out on Monday but no one was home (I was), so they wanted to just work my installation in at the next available spot on their schedule, this Friday (meanwhile, I have no phone).
Well, I finally got the installation bumped up to this morning (next business day -- probably the best I could expect at 5:00pm). They showed up, but then had snags with the installation which required them to call somebody else out, and we were told that there were 43 service calls in front of us and it probably wouldn't be today.
Unacceptable.
My wife finally looked up the phone number for the president of the company and called them. Their assistant took the information and assured us they would escalate it to the appropriate people to get it taken care of immediately.
Sure enough, someone came out this afternoon to fix the problem the first person couldn't fix. They then told me that it would get put in the queue for someone to come finish the installation. Guess what -- it didn't. And then they wanted to schedule us for the "next available" date again. Another two hours on the phone with them today. Remember -- these are cell phone minutes!
Oh, by the way, neither company seems to know who has control of the phone number at the moment.
And all I ever wanted was ONE THING: someone to take ownership of the issue and see it through to resolution so I don't have to spend five hours on the phone trying to get their people to fix their own mistakes and do their jobs.
This is par for the course when dealing with large companies. This is the third time I've had an experience like this dealing with telecommunications companies, and I've had similar experiences with banks and insurance companies. Everyone wants to pass the buck.
But as an entrepreneur, "The buck stops here." If you are competing with large businesses, this is one place you can beat big business, every time -- customer service. Yes, customers want to get their problems resolved. Yes, customers appreciate apologies. But the #1 thing customers want is for someone else to take ownership of the problem and assure them that they will see it through to resolution and contact the customer with status updates, so that the customer doesn't have to keep wasting their time just to make sure it gets done in a timely manner (or at all, for that matter).
As a small business owner, you know that this is big business' Achilles heel. Take advantage of it. Include it in your marketing copy and your sales pitch. Anyone who's ever gotten the runaround from a large company will understand and appreciate it.
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Very valid point… I’ve had some bad experiences with customer care of some companies…
The other point where small and medium business can have impact is by providing superior product quality at affordable prices… though big enterprises also provide good quality products, such is not true for all big players. Even if the big players provide good quality stuff they have exorbitant charges.
Awakening Entrepreneur
You have a very valid point that all of us have experienced personally. Long story short.
Being a small business owner … I truely agree. It’s easier to keep existing customers, than it is to gain new ones.
One question ,how can a small shot compete a bigger one that has direct access to a manufacturer- in terms of pricing- when the smaller one buys from a distributor and they have to beat the same market.
i agree customer service is vital for both big and small businesses. Think about how much effort went into gaining a good client that does repeat business with you. Also seeing as it’s your business you care just that little bit more than some tired account rep who has 50 other clients to think about.