Archive for the 'Customer Service' Category

05/10 Why site owners need a dependable web developer

everyone needs a dependable web designerOr another title for this post is: Scary Stuff on your website

Yesterday we received an email from a client who had discovered an extremely creepy image down on the sidebar of their blog that we built for them. When I went to check it out, I had quite a shock, and honestly am amazed that I did not have nightmares last night as a result of seeing the scary image.

The image was displaying where an icon for del.icio.us should have been. That icon was an image that did not live on the client’s website but was being called in from another site. Obviously, this other site had gotten hacked, and the hackers had replaced an image they knew was being used by sites all over the internet with one designed to startle unsuspecting web surfers.

I immediately change the link and fixed the problem, and then went about checking each blog site we’ve developed to make sure no others were effected. Only one was, and I promptly fixed it too. This second client never even knew there was a problem. :-)

So, crap happens. There are bad people on the internet, looking to create havoc. Sometimes servers that host websites have problems. The internet’s not a perfect place and it never will be. Sometimes, crap happens.

This makes it even more critical for website owners to have a dependable and responsive web design company that they can count on. I hear far too many horror stories about folks who call themselves web developers but do not have an actual, viable business. Some are just trying to earn an extra buck by building websites on the side, the way a high school kid cuts grass on Saturdays. Others are making a go of having their own business, but don’t make it. (And let’s face it, most businesses that are started don’t last.)

But the people that are hurt by these folks are the people who buy websites from them. Later, when they need help, their “developer” is out of business, or has disappeared completely.

We’re proud to be an eight year old healthy and growing company, that’s very good for us.

BUT, it’s also very good for our clients.

We’ll be around in the years to come, to fix any problems that do come up, and hey - we”ll even fix problems our clients don’t even know about.

Now that’s not too scary.

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01/02 Marketing Lessons At The Nail Shop

OK, before I start… I’m not “girly” girl, and I don’t even like malls. However, I do have pretty hands (thanks to my Mom) and pretty fingernails (thanks to a local business that does great nails). So, for all the guys out there, “the Nail Shop” is that place that we women go to get our fingernails done. [although I’ve been seeing more and more men going in lately too!] That being said…

So I was getting my nails done. And I had my mp3 player on, as usual, listening to actual music for a change (Dave Matthews rocks!) instead of the usual Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins, or Rich Schefren. When a very atypical and very loud customer came into the shop. This woman was, well, robust. And, well, loud. She had a chip on her shoulder and she was letting us all know about it.

Normally I’d turn up the mp3 player to hear about “all the little ants are marching,” but this time I had to listen. Because underneath despite her bousterous nature, this woman was teaching a serious lesson in marketing 101. Here’s her story:

She had moved from New Jersey to the Atlanta area, to Gwinnett County, a few months ago. She was in need of a place to get her nails done, and she was a very regular customer, coming in every week for some sort of service. Since there are like a million nail places on every corner in surburban Atlanta, she had no trouble finding a place convenient to her.

–KEY POINT: Great positioning by the nail salon brought her in as a customer. They placed themselves in the position to be noticed by people with a need that they could fill.

She began to patronize this business, and enjoyed their level of service. They really gave her the royal treatment and made her feel special. She referred friends, and started buying more services, since they made her feel good.

–KEY POINT: They took a walk in customer and began to cultivate loyalty through excellent service and over delivery, resulting in repeat business, additional business, and referred business.

Suddenly, the “honeymoon” was over. To this business, she was a “gimme.” A reliable staple. They stopped doing the “extras” she had gotten accustomed to. And worse, they started acting like she wasn’t even a customer anymore, and they started *letting loose* in front of her, complaining about their long hours and b*#chy customers. The result, she got LESS service for her increased patronage. She got less pampering (what she was there for in the first place) for her loyalty.

Was this their attempt at letting her into “inner circle?”

WHO CARES!!!!

She was NOT there to enter their world, she was there to TAKE A BREAK from hers!!

–KEY POINT: This business, built around pampering, around taking a break from your world, made a CRITICAL mistake. They may have felt that they were reaching out to this woman, including her. But that was THEIR PERSPECTIVE. They failed to look through HER eyes, and deliver on their promise to her.

–THE RESULT: She felt devalued, defrauded, and disgruntled. And took her business elsewhere. And she was extremely verbal in her indictment, and no doubt bad mouthed them far and wide.

Her bottom line, she said it best. “When they had a great customer that gave them a lot of business, they just stopped caring and they treated me like they had me and I didn’t matter anymore. Well, now they don’t.”

Wow. Any business can learn A TON from this customer.

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