MJ DeMarco
I followed the science; all I found was money.
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In business, there are two types of organizations:
Customer-Centered
This first business organization provides REAL customer service -- they genuinely care about their customer and prioritize them as their #1 stakeholder. Calls are answered. Problems are solved. India call centers do not exist. When you visit their website, their support infrastructure is clearly identified with a telephone number.
Customer-Centered businesses rely on PULL SALES: Word-of-Mouth from happy clients...
Their business REVOLVES around the customer because they understand that happy customers generate sales and additional customers via word-of-mouth.
Profit-Centered
The second business organization provides FAKE customer service -- they don't care about their customer to the extent that their customer strategy centers around managing dissatisfaction.
Calls are routed to multiple voice mails. Problems are not solved and usually "forwarded" to another responsible entity often classified as "That's not our policy." When you visit their website, it takes pages-and-pages to find a telephone number. Emails are answered in days, perhaps weeks, if at all.
Profit-Centered businesses rely on PUSH SALES: Paid advertising, marketing, and over-hyped product launches that oversell an overpriced product.
Their business REVOLVES around PROFITS - cutting costs and improvement of margins, usually to affect the owner's wallet, shareholder value, or investor appeasement.
So why do I bring this up? Well, I just had a real life experience today that showcases the two divergent organizational types.
-----------------------
This week, my publishing website went into the crapper for an unknown "Shopping Cart" issue.
My cart software is hosted through LiquidWeb.com and uses the Interspire ECommerce engine. (Now Big Commerce.)
I've used Interspire for several years and twice have had to submit support tickets for software issues.
Do you think my issue was solved? And promptly?
No. And No.
They aren't interested in supporting customers other than trying to look like they support customers.
This is FAKE customer service -- a PROFIT-CENTERED business. Their customer service is a Wizard-Of-Oz orchestration erected to fool new customers into thinking that when you need service, you will be well served. All of this is nothing but smoke and mirrors -- it's FAKE. Yes, directing customers to a FAQ page does not constitute "service."
So...
Back to my problem with my cart software...
When my cart failed this week, I had TWO options:
1) Contact Interspire support.
or
2) Submit a ticket into my hosting service. (Liquid Web)
Based on my prior experience with Interspire, I concluded this wasn't an option. Why submit a ticket to them when I knew it wouldn't be answered in days, if at all? I'm not about to go w/o my shopping cart for weeks.
Instead, I submitted a ticket into Liquid Web and described the problem to them.
Within an hour, my "cart" problem was solved by LiquidWeb because they are 100% customer-centered. They isolated a script that was causing the problem and resolved it.
If this company was profit-centered, they would have simply responded with "Sorry, we don't support 3rd party software" which in reality, is true.
But instead of relying on "that's not our policy" or "we don't support that" -- they actively and willingly solved my problem, and fast. This problem was truly not within the realm of their service!!
So here is where the TWO opposing business philosophies shine:
Years later, I still continue to recommend LiquidWeb and surely, they have made $1000's from my recommendation. On the eCommerce side, I hate Interspire and I'm actively seeking another software platform. One company generates sales via satisfaction while the other loses sales from dissatisfaction.
The point here is this: Which type of organization are you trying to build?
One that will grow virally, and exponentially based on satisfied customers creating a self-perpetuating expansion loop?
Or one that will grow slowly, if at all, and 100% reliant on paid marketing, advertising and customer service holograms?
~ MJ
Customer-Centered
This first business organization provides REAL customer service -- they genuinely care about their customer and prioritize them as their #1 stakeholder. Calls are answered. Problems are solved. India call centers do not exist. When you visit their website, their support infrastructure is clearly identified with a telephone number.
Customer-Centered businesses rely on PULL SALES: Word-of-Mouth from happy clients...
Their business REVOLVES around the customer because they understand that happy customers generate sales and additional customers via word-of-mouth.
Profit-Centered
The second business organization provides FAKE customer service -- they don't care about their customer to the extent that their customer strategy centers around managing dissatisfaction.
Calls are routed to multiple voice mails. Problems are not solved and usually "forwarded" to another responsible entity often classified as "That's not our policy." When you visit their website, it takes pages-and-pages to find a telephone number. Emails are answered in days, perhaps weeks, if at all.
Profit-Centered businesses rely on PUSH SALES: Paid advertising, marketing, and over-hyped product launches that oversell an overpriced product.
Their business REVOLVES around PROFITS - cutting costs and improvement of margins, usually to affect the owner's wallet, shareholder value, or investor appeasement.
So why do I bring this up? Well, I just had a real life experience today that showcases the two divergent organizational types.
-----------------------
This week, my publishing website went into the crapper for an unknown "Shopping Cart" issue.
My cart software is hosted through LiquidWeb.com and uses the Interspire ECommerce engine. (Now Big Commerce.)
I've used Interspire for several years and twice have had to submit support tickets for software issues.
Do you think my issue was solved? And promptly?
No. And No.
They aren't interested in supporting customers other than trying to look like they support customers.
This is FAKE customer service -- a PROFIT-CENTERED business. Their customer service is a Wizard-Of-Oz orchestration erected to fool new customers into thinking that when you need service, you will be well served. All of this is nothing but smoke and mirrors -- it's FAKE. Yes, directing customers to a FAQ page does not constitute "service."
So...
Back to my problem with my cart software...
When my cart failed this week, I had TWO options:
1) Contact Interspire support.
or
2) Submit a ticket into my hosting service. (Liquid Web)
Based on my prior experience with Interspire, I concluded this wasn't an option. Why submit a ticket to them when I knew it wouldn't be answered in days, if at all? I'm not about to go w/o my shopping cart for weeks.
Instead, I submitted a ticket into Liquid Web and described the problem to them.
Within an hour, my "cart" problem was solved by LiquidWeb because they are 100% customer-centered. They isolated a script that was causing the problem and resolved it.
If this company was profit-centered, they would have simply responded with "Sorry, we don't support 3rd party software" which in reality, is true.
But instead of relying on "that's not our policy" or "we don't support that" -- they actively and willingly solved my problem, and fast. This problem was truly not within the realm of their service!!
So here is where the TWO opposing business philosophies shine:
Years later, I still continue to recommend LiquidWeb and surely, they have made $1000's from my recommendation. On the eCommerce side, I hate Interspire and I'm actively seeking another software platform. One company generates sales via satisfaction while the other loses sales from dissatisfaction.
The point here is this: Which type of organization are you trying to build?
One that will grow virally, and exponentially based on satisfied customers creating a self-perpetuating expansion loop?
Or one that will grow slowly, if at all, and 100% reliant on paid marketing, advertising and customer service holograms?
~ MJ
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