Ever heard of Elance.com? It’s a website where freelancers all over the world can compete for jobs involving everything from design work to admin support to ghostwriting. Those doing the hiring can readily view the track records of those providing services – previous project titles, customer comments, and cumulative Elance earnings, which makes it easy to narrow your search to serious, competent, and reliable providers. When project opportunities are posted, freelancers respond with proposals. May the best proposal win! Prepared with a relatively small project, I decided to give Elance a try. I posted my project providing quite a bit of detail as to what was required, my concerns, and my desired outcomes. I gave it a one week response window since I was in a hurry to get some action before leaving on vacation.
I am trying to place an order online for duplicating a video of a speech I did. I am on a roll – great speech, happy audience, excellent videography, nice DVD, great label design, simple order process – and ready to press the “Submit Order” button when a little red note pops up admonishing me to submit a single layer DVD only because they can’t duplicate multi-layer DVDs. I have no idea how to tell if my disc is single layer! Screeching to a halt, I wonder how to get an answer to my question. I click on the Help button. It reveals chat, email, and phone options. Good! I like options. The chat option promises service beginning at 8:00 am EST. I’m in luck; it’s 7:55 am. But instead of waiting, I send an email.
If you are a small business owner, you learn early that regardless of your business, marketing is your business. Not only must the quality of your products and services drive referrals, repeat business, and word of mouth advertising, every word and every action becomes a part of your marketing package. While marketing is the most important thing you do, you must not confuse marketing with sales. If you do, every word and every action becomes all about selling rather than marketing. There is no better way to hurt sales than to let selling become the only dance there is. When selling is the focus, people dance. They dance around answers. They dance around questions. They dance around objectives. And they dance while potential business dances away.
I called Apple to resolve a technical difficulty. I knew exactly what I had done, was pretty sure that restoring some files would undo the damage but didn’t know which files I needed to restore. The (second) technician I spoke with directed me to the correct folder and I was up and running quickly. Well, almost. When I logged in to my Apple Care package to figure out how to contact them, I was informed that I was entitled to some 500 days of support. If only I could figure out how to get that support! A wonderful little online utility asked me repeatedly to identify the source of my problem and provide an explanation. After several iterations of reading irrelevant solutions, I started searching elsewhere for a phone number. When I finally found a number I hoped would work, the recording told me it would be 15 minutes and that I should try finding my answer online. No way! Been there! Failed at that! Please let me talk to a competent, knowledgeable resource who speaks English!
Buying a Kindle book on Amazon as a gift is a wonder and a joy. The recipient receives an email and clicks to accept the gift. Before they know it, the book is downloading to their Kindle. If they don’t want to accept the book, perhaps because they already have it, they can easily choose something else instead of choosing “accept.” The entire process is fast, easy, and magnificent. After sending a Kindle book as a gift to one daughter, I wanted to do the same for the other daughter who has a Nook. I searched Barnes and Noble’s website for that option and instructions, but found nothing. Not to be deterred, I called technical help first and then sales help. In both cases, I was told I should just send an electronic gift certificate. I pointed out that a gift certificate is not the same thing and explained the beauty of Amazon’s approach and then encouraged them to pass the word on to the powers that be so Amazon doesn’t eat their lunch, and their Nooks. What would a smart response sound like? What would prevent me from walking away and telling everyone to buy a Kindle instead of a Nook?
I visited a jewelry store this week in search of a replacement chain for a necklace. The owner was wonderful. She quickly put my pendant on a series of chains and put them on me so I could see how each looked. She offered a range of options in both style and price, and was incredibly effective in reacting to my cues but also using her aesthetic sense. Before I knew it, I was wearing the perfect combination. That is great customer service and great service creates loyalty. But wait! There’s more! When I asked the price of the winning chain, she read the tiny tag at the back of my neck. I said yes and told her I would wear the necklace home. She clipped off the tag and then realized she had read it wrong. The correct price was higher. She insisted on honoring her original reading despite my protests. The difference meant more to her than to me. Yet, she did a smart thing. Because now I owe her. My entire experience was quick and pleasant. My purchase was perfect. And on top of that, I owe her in a little way that I will not forget. I have every reason to return.
I recently booked a hotel through hotels.com. A special offer said I would receive a gift card for booking. While the card is not a big deal to me, once I’m promised something, I expect to receive it. Don’t you? But here is what has happened: The phone reservationist promised to send a link to request the card. She didn’t. Two customer service contact forms submitted online have been ignored. After explaining the situation, my first phone call seems to have suddenly brought down their computers. My second phone call was mysteriously interrupted, following my explanation, with a recorded message I have never heard before: “I’m sorry. This phone call could not be continued.” The last left me feeling like I’d stumbled into something illegal. Another phone call will probably be answered by a knock on my door.
I was startled by the high gas prices in Connecticut this morning. I drive a hybrid and so don’t fill often and pay little attention. When I returned to Massachusetts and saw this gas for considerably less, I pulled in to fill up.I was surprised and not happy when I got out of my car. Notice the price on the tank below.
I said goodbye to my website and email host recently, who was also my original website designer. During those 5 years, I paid each invoice promptly and made a few frantic phone calls when my email failed. Otherwise, there was no interaction. No questions about my satisfaction. No offers to upgrade. Simply no contact. Likewise, when I sent them an email to tell them that I had moved on, there was no response. Now perhaps they have also moved on. Perhaps their target market no longer includes my business. Perhaps they never intend to serve businesses like mine ever again. Perhaps they expect a vast gulf to open up between here and there so that our paths will never again cross. Perhaps they have reason to believe I will never meet any of their prospective customers.
The phone rang as I was trying to finish up a little project before a 1:30 appointment. It was the salesman scheduled by the regional office to visit my home the next day. He needed to reschedule. Unfortunately, that is not what he told me. Instead, he told me about his son’s flight time and how he couldn’t get to the airport from here fast enough. He listed every town he was scheduled to visit all over New England on Wednesday and then did the same for Thursday. There were no openings on Wednesday or Thursday anyway. He never let my response regarding best times dampen his enthusiastic narrative, nor influence his suggested times. I was watching the clock tick down to 1:30 as I heard about surgery appointments, more towns, and his frustrations with the regional office. Maybe I would like to just place an order over the phone now if I knew what I wanted? I repeated for the fourth time that a late afternoon or evening was needed. I was about to suggest he call me back when he finally found one in the evening that was just fine, thank you.