Rembrandt’s Blog

It’s 9:00 a.m., and I just finished dropping off my television equipment at the local cable company. What a relief!

You see, a few days ago, I received an urgent notice in the mail to call a specific number. My television cable company wanted me to switch my converter box in time for the national change to digital.

No problem. I call the number… busy signal. Then, I call back a little later… busy signal. I call again… busy signal. I wait until the next day… busy signal. You get the idea.

Well, this went on for three days… so I called the main cable number. After being on hold five minutes, the nice phone operator told me that was the number I needed to call, and she couldn’t help me… Fabulous.

Now seriously, didn’t the cable company know I needed to change their converter box months ago? Why did I get the “nice letter” a few days before the national conversion?

And I don’t know about you, but I just don’t have time to deal with this… especially when there are plenty of other companies vying for my business.

Well, to make a long story short, I cancelled my service immediately… (Well, I mean after waiting on hold another 10 minutes just to get through to a “customer service” representative.)

And can you believe it? When I told the representative I was canceling my service because I spent three days trying to get through to the “special” converter box number to no avail, he gives me a lame excuse.

“Well, we can’t help it if our phones get so busy we can’t answer them, he says.” I said, “That’s no excuse. There are plenty of businesses larger than yours that have no problem answering their phones.” He didn’t know what to say.

Anyway, after many wasted hours of my time and unnecessary stress, I now have television service with a new company. But this whole process made me think…

Why aren’t companies like these focusing on their customer service efforts?

It’s a huge part of good publicity. After all, if you treat your customers well, they will tell others. And this is valuable word-of-mouth you can’t purchase. (My old cable company would have received some great press from me online if they would have acted differently.)

Sure… it may be more expensive to put the time, effort and money into training customer service representatives, but it’s well worth it. Just look at http://www.gotobilling.com/Corporate/index.php/Press-Room.html, http://www.printingforless.com/tsrteams.html, http://www.1800gotjunk.com/ and others. They know how to treat customers and reap the benefits of their efforts.

With this in mind, how do you treat customers?

Are they still #1 even though times are tough? After all, with today’s fierce competition for sales, the one who services customer needs the best wins!

Do you have questions about your PR and SEO copywriting activities to help boost sales, awareness and credibility? If so, please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Have you ever called a potential vendor to ask a question only to have your ear talked off and never really get an answer?

Or have you ever left a voice message for someone with a great opportunity, and that person never calls you back?

This is customer service 101, and it amazes me how many people lose out on a sale or a great opportunity just by their follow-up skills.

Stop Talking and Listen!

For example, I recently contacted a big communications service to open an account for a new client. And instead of contacting me directly as I requested, they went straight to my client.

Now, my client didn’t expect the call and had to waste time talking to the “customer service” rep. He was not impressed and decided not to use the service.

Then, when I called the representative to clarify the situation, she didn’t apologize. She just went into her sales pitch and talked and talked. Too bad. She lost a huge account.

Follow-Up.

On another note, I interviewed a well-known expert for a big feature story that will be seen by thousands of small business owners. And I’ve been trying to get in touch with the expert’s publicist for several weeks now in order to get some more information for the story.

Without the information, my editor can’t run the story. Well, my deadline is approaching and still no word from the publicist. Big, huge missed opportunity for some free publicity!

Do You Need a Customer Service Check-Up?

This is not the time to let your communication and customer service skills slide. After all, other businesses  are pushing their service levels to the max to win new customers and stay afloat during this tough economy.

Now, if you are one of the great business owners out there who puts customers first, please ignore this blog entry. But if you haven’t listened to your customers lately, or returned important phone calls, it’s time for a wake up call. With just a few changes, you just may see your sales and positive word-of-mouth grow fast!

Do you need help with your SEO copywriting and publicity to help boost sales, awareness and credibility? Please send me a note below or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help!