Providing PBX, VOIP and Unified Communications solutions to businesses in California since 1979.
Service In The Time Of Recession
January 19, 2009
Yesterday a business associate and I were lamenting the state of customer service in our industry. The discussion got around to AT&T and their perpetual poor service, now compounded by their recent layoffs. We agreed that many of our customers don’t mind getting poor service from “the phone company”. However, they have a much higher expectation when it comes to Teledynamic and other telecom providers.
Instead of whining about the unfairness of it all, maybe we should use this double standard to motivate us to improve our own service. So Mr. Customer, you’ll punish me for service levels that would be fine if it was AT&T? Fine, I accept the challenge and we’ll strive to provide an even-higher level of service.
Customer service in the time of recession is doubly challenging. Revenues and profits are dropping but the cost of providing good service stays the same. Some organizations will cut service levels to save money, hoping that customers will understand and remain loyal. Other companies such as ours just bite the financial bullet, keep service levels high and hope that the investment pays off in the long term. Frankly, I don’t know which strategy is more financially sound. And certainly both cause management to lose sleep.
After our economy turns around, check back with me and I’ll let you know whether I made a sound investment!
Randy Kremlacek
Teledynamic Communications provides free educational materials about telecommunications on an ongoing basis to our subscribers and customers. We are a provider of a complete range of VOIP, telecom and data solutions for business.