life of a gizmo

Again, if you’re not familiar with the crocs, have a look here.

The Struggle

I’ve been struggling to come up with a theme for this blog; to write something that people will want to read. That is one of the reasons why I started using “Software and business” as a slogan. What I was trying to do is copy the success of Joel Spolsky; he talks about software and business, so I should do the same, I thought.

Well, I’m going to digress, just a tad.

The Epiphany

Just now, that’s right, at 4 a.m. in the morning, I had this stroke of insight. As a customer, I feel that I get mistreated by companies, sometimes and this is natural. Depending on the offense, I’ll stop doing business with that particular company. Now, as a self proclaimed, “future entrepreneur”, it’s only wise that I learn from the mistakes of the others and treat my customers right. With that in mind, I’m going to write posts that speak to the future me, so I will not forget these lessons, God Willing. They shall be tagged #notetoself.

Note to Self: Appreciate Your Customers

In every relationship, it’s a natural tendency to want to be appreciated. After all, who wants to be useless? That is especially important in a loyal relationship (including business-to-customer).
First, I think, we should answer the question as to what it means to appreciate your customers. While I might not know what appreciation exactly entails, I do know that it entails more than just claiming to appreciate. Although I’m often told that my business is appreciated, I certainly don’t feel appreciated when I have to wait for extended periods for a business to serve me, be it on the phone or person. As a recent example, I was trying to phone a certain floral company (PinkLotus) to ensure the online order I had placed had gone through and to give some specific delivery instructions. I called at least three times. The first two times the phone must have rung for a good twenty times; no one answered. I seriously wondered if the site was just a scam with no real presence! The third time, after it rang for a good while, someone picked up, finally.

Another bad example of customer appreciation is my experience with Telus. A few years back, I called Telus to cancel my internet connection as I was switching to the competition. I got transferred to the retention centre, and after telling the agent that I was about to go with the competition because it’s cheaper, he offered a discount! Excuse me?! When I was a loyal customer, you never cared, but now that I’m leaving, you care enough to offer me a discount?! It never occurred to you to say, “hey, Gezim has been such an awesome customer, let’s show him we appreciate his business!” Last minute retention doesn’t show customer appreciation.

That was years ago. What reminded me of all this was a similar incident that happened yesterday. I had been a customer of DiscoverULife for almost a year. The price I was paying for the coaching service was not cheap. Yesterday, I told my coach that I want to cancel my subscription with them because 1) I couldn’t afford it, 2) I didn’t find it effective*. Like in the Telus example, he offered a special discount because he appreciated our relationship, in addition, he said he’d offer the same discount to two addition people which I could refer! ARE YOU KIDDING?! Up to now, you milked me for all I was worth, and now you offer a special discount for me and two friends?!

Anyway,

Dear future entrepreneur, show your loyal customers that you appreciate their business. If you know how to show them that you appreciate them, do it. If you don’t, something like this might work:

• Offer a special discount,
• Send a gift, or
• Buy them dinner.

If you don’t think that either of those options are appropriate, simply tell them, “Hey Bob, I appreciate your business, what can we do to make you feel appreciated?” Careful though, you don’t want to ask that question unless you can act upon the answer.

* I certainly benefitted from the coaching, but not as much as I would have liked. This is my own fault.