Posted on 10/24/2012 7:58:50 PM PDT by youngidiot
Twice in as many weeks I've had talks with people who want me to do business with them. Both were way more expensive than their competitors and both offered the same justification: "Yes, but they won't provide you with the same service that I will."
You hear this a lot these days.
One of the men I met with was giving me an estimate to remove a tree from my yard. His quote was triple that of his nearest competitor. I asked him why and he said, "Well, sure, they may be cheaper. But they won't give you the service that I will."
I explained to him that whoever took down my tree would also be expected to haul it off and remove the stump. "When you say you provide better service, what do you mean? I want the tree and stump removed. What other service are you talking about?" He just replied with the same thing he said earlier. "I'll provide you with better service." For the love of God, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
The second guy I met with was an insurance salesman. He even brought along a video of a commercial that I've seen a few times. It showed a man bragging that they give out teddy bears to little kids after a tornado has swept their house away. I didn't see that being worth a couple of hundred dollars extra a month. So I passed.
Next time just ask what the job costs without the service.
The guy that takes down your tree on the cheap may not have insurance in case the tree accidentally falls on your house or somebody’s car. Or he might not have workman’s comp. when his helper gets injured on the job at your property.
I could plant 45,000lbs. of steel in your yard within 12-24 hours, at a cost. Not cheaply, though. If you wanted to go cheap, I’d give you the phone numbers of my competitors that couldn’t.
Three times I have had to call Orbitz to make changes to flight arrangements. I couldn’t make the changes online because, although I bought and paid for the flights, my daughter was the passenger and the online changes required her log-on ID and password, which actually don’t exist.
I never spent less that 25 minutes waiting for a human being to answer and one time waited over an hour. I got to speak to nice folks from India.
Yes the tickets are cheaper but there is absolutely no investment in adequate customer service.
In that case, I believe that you are dealing with someone who responds like Pavlov’s dog. You are correct in questioning him further.
It means nothing. There can be high quality but there can also be low quality- and even that means nothing when it is not compared to something real and verifiable. The one thing about the term "quality" is that it is not quantifiable.
Claiming to offer "better service," means nothing unless it is specified "better than what," and "in what way?"
Now, in my shop can I say my service is better than someone else's? I try to make sure it is, but unless I've actually use someone else's services, or can use as reference someone who has used my competitor's services, how would I really know how mine compares? I just do my best and let people find that out on their own, letting THEM tell their friends my service is better.
In my business, a special customer may from time to time get a special deal for being a no-hassle customer. They might need some minor repair done or a solution to a problem and come in fully expecting me to charge for it, and be pleasantly surprised when they aren't charged at all or are charged only at cost. I know they will come back for a big job sooner or later, or send someone else they know to my shop, so doing something for them once in a while when we're not busy pays off for both of us.
Some of it depends on what type of relationship it is, auto mechanics, plumbers, doctors, lawyer, baby sitters, and many others can compete on more than mere price, high quality service and dependability, and long term value over short term prices, can earn your lifelong loyalty.
For some skilled help, The Memory of Bad Quality, Lasts Longer than the Shock of High Prices.
Last year, we got estimates on getting our AC replaced. They all mentioned better service. The one that we went with was able to articulate what that service was in concrete terms.
Some of the features were:
1. a real person who answered the phone.
2. reassurance that we could speak with the owners of the company if we ever had a problem. Their ph numbers were given to us.
3. a reduced rate on the weekend for service.
4. phone call from the service person when he was on the way to our home within 20 min. An estimate of his arrival was given when the appt was initially made.
There were others that I’ve forgotten. In terms of how those reassurances worked to our satisfaction was that when our AC didn’t work as expected last Spring, we got a follow up visit within a day from one of the owners. He determined that the technician did misdiagnose our problem initially. He determined that it was a malfunctioning thermostat which was still under warranty. Not only did he replace the thermostat free of charge (b/c of the warranty), he also completely refunded us the service call fee that we had paid the day before. Now that was excellent customer service, and we will likely be loyal customers because of it!
If your professional can’t enumerate some of the benefits of their supposedly better customer service, then keep looking, or you could as them about some things that would mean better customer service to you.
I approach this the opposite way. I have a list of demands for good service. If they can’t meet my demands, I keep looking. You should try that.
And then, there’s Rappahannock Electric “Cooperative”. The “non-profit” organization that took over our electrical utilities at Casa Salgak, several years ago. They ALSO promised “Better Service”. Not that I had a choice. But power outages are longer now, and unlike Allegheny Power (the previous utility), their service lines are Business Hours Only, Monday-Friday. But we DO get an unwanted, 60+ page glossy “Cooperative Living” magazine every month.
And all at about twice the old price for power. . . . it makes you want to cry . . . and did I mention the MANDATORY “Smart Meters” that register ~50% higher use than the old meters ?? . . . .
Service in only important in pizza deliveries and prostitution.
I have a car that sits very low to the ground. When I was trying to avoid a truck which was backing into me, I ran over a car stop and “realigned” one end of my front bumper. Took it to Service King for a repair estimate which I was going to turn into my insurance and have to pay my deductible. Salesman took my car and told me to wait a minute and he would be right back. Five minutes later he returned with my bumper back where it belonged. At no charge. He did ask that I tell my friends about them and come back if I ever needed repairs in the future.
One week later a gal rear ended my car. Pretty major damage. Insurance company gave me choice of three places. Took it back to Service King and asked for same salesman. Again really great service and even got it back to me two days earlier than promised.
Sometimes when you cast your bread onto the waters you just get back soggy bread, other times you get another job. Just never know. In this case, it turned into another job for them.
Look up "neruolinguistic programming," or "NLP."
It's based on the idea that the meaning of the words don't count - the effect of the words count. so you just use the right words to get the effect you want, and the meaning is irrelevent.
Lawyers, shrinks and psychopaths used to be the only ones using it.
Now, kids have learned that it's the only way to survive in the lockdown concentration camps known as public schools.
So don't be surprised when the 13 year old knocks on your door to ask if he can mow your lawn, and casually tells you he can "optimize the growth ratio of the overall visual effect of of the real estate salability factor within current meme acceptability standards."
My rule of thumb is if it’s unionized or brags about being Christian—get lost!
We’re on the other side of this. We sell hay from our farm and one of the ways we keep customers is through good service.
We will sell one bale or a hundred; exchange the occasional poor quality ones for good ones (some horses cannot handle dusty or moldy hay); offer free delivery; and my husband and sons will stack the hay in the buyer’s barn if necessary. We also make an attempt to speak Spanish with Latino customers. (We try. Not always successful. Hilarity ensues.)
Anyway, that’s how we roll.
It also helps that my husband is up-front about the size and quality of the bales and is almost always on time when he makes delivery appointments.
I should say, that’s what we DO. We don’t really SAY much about it.
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