I write these kind of posts every now and again...
When I was building online businesses, I loved looking at offline businesses and see how they operated in the real world. So I could take some of those ideas and see if they would work in an online environment.
I was reminded today that it's a very good idea for entrepreneurs to pay close attention on what brick and mortar businesses continue to do! It's amazingly simple strategies that anyone can adopt.
So here's what happened today....
I have been trying to lower my monthly bills across the board. It's fairly easy to get lower internet and cell phone bills each month, just tell the billion dollar telecommunication company that you are leaving for a competitor and presto....Cheaper bill!
But when it comes to insurance, price shopping can be tricky. Now the entire job description of an insurance broker is to find their clients the best price out there but what happens when the broker forgets that...
Case in point, I was with a company for years that had a great 'small town' feel to it. You could reach a broker within minutes, sometimes you even knew them on a name to name basis, and it was personalized service.
News came out that the small company was being bought out by a larger one and this was their pitch to their customers...
"Nothing changes, you still get the great service you expect, and we will be able to lower our prices to you because of this move..."
So last week I got a note that my house insurance was rising dramatically. Obviously, I wasn't happy so I decided to call the company this morning to get a better price.
I was on hold for 2 hours.
Reading their Google reviews, I was not alone. Review after review, customers that had been with this company for decades, were having major issues with the service they had come to expect.
Service lowered. Prices raised. Nothing that they promised happened.
So I went shopping for a new insurance company.....
I found a small office close to my home. I went into the front door, was welcomed by an actual human being (not being on hold for two hours) and got a massive discount on my home insurance.
Like I mean, painless transaction.
Shook a hand, signed the deal, saved big and got brand new policy in about....30 minutes.
Why does this matter in today's day and age?
Stop automating everything.
The personal touch goes so far in business.
And it's something I can attest to from my experience online. I used to take those brick and mortar, real world business practices and brought them online.
I didn't just send a thank you email to customers?
I mailed them a physical thank you card.
Our customer support wasn't just done through support tickets and endless email responses.
We hired real people to actually answer our 1-800 number, and respond to tickets within minutes.
Did it cost more? Absolutely!
Was it worth it?
Oh without a question it was!
This is what I see so much online these days, people are treated as commodities, and aren't valued at all. Companies seem to make this harder for customers for the sake of 'automation' and trying to hire less actual people.
Want evidence of this? We now go to Wal Mart and scan our own products, essentially we are doing the job that they used to pay people for...
It's insane.
I think the personal human touch is so important. And I truly believe businesses that will continue to grow in the future, will put their customers first. Not just say it, but actually live it!
