As a subscriber, you're guaranteed to hear from me when I encounter a less than satisfactory sales experience.
This one happened yesterday and again, a telesales person. Before I recount this tale, let me set the scene for you. (This is quite long so you may want to print it instead of reading it online.)
I have a home office; we have phone lines for the business and a separate line for the home. Between us we have two Internet connections and five mobile phones (cell phones for those on the Eastern side of the Pacific). Our monthly spend on communications is at an acceptable level with most of it on long-term capped plans that we exploit to the maximum value. We use three different carriers for the different services and that's by choice.
OK, here's a summary of the call. A salesperson from my mobile phone carrier calls and starts with "Mr Yuille, It's X from Y carrier. Because you've been such a local customer I'm going to give you $5 per month in call credits" (My thought pattern: Hmmm, I just upgraded my phone and I'm on a fixed plan giving me $500 in calls; fat lot of good $5 will do)
Without a pause, he went on... "Now Mr Yuille, I want to save you money on your landline. I guarantee I can save you money here." (Oh, really, that's what they all say...) "I can give you $x rental (saves me $.50 per month) and calls at $.29 (saves me $.02 per call) with long distance at (I forget the rate but I use my mobile and a calling card for long distance and International)"
Me: "Thanks but I don't want to change my landline supplier"
Him: "Why? I've just proved that I can save you money"
Me: "My landline and cable Internet are bundled together and besides, the carrier sponsors two of the sports events I like to watch - football and motor racing. Your mob doesn't do that. I'm happy where I am, thank you."
Him: (This is where I got angry...) "I've been doing this for three years and I know I can save you money. Because we don't sponsor *^@# football and car racing means we're cheaper and you should change. I know my rates are better; everyone I talk to changes because I save them heaps of money and you're just being ridiculous. Goodbye." He hung up.
Words of advise my friend: I've been with this mobile phone carrier for over 12 years. With a monthly spend of averaging $90, which means I've spent around $13,000 on airtime with them. Over the next 10 years, that will increase to $20,000-plus. And they're letting a guy like you jeopardise that business.
He's no doubt being paid a commission for "churning" clients from another carrier to theirs. He probably gets a trailing commission on call spend, too, so there's an incentive for him to sell. But at what risk to the carrier? $10,000-plus in guaranteed future revenue (not to mention astute Australian readers carefully identifying who I’m talking about in this article.)
He put his short-term gain in front of his employer's long-term interest; strangely like the salesperson I spoke about earlier this week.
Compare this call with one I received on Monday from the carrier who does my landline and Internet.
A pleasant female voice calls and introduces herself, saying "Hello Mr Yuille it's G from Z carrier. Do you have a minute just now?" (Yes) "That's terrific. Just so I don't breech the Privacy laws, can I just ask you a couple of questions to make sure I'm talking with the person who has the authority over these accounts?" (Questions politely asked and answered)
"Now Mr Yuille, according to our records, your calling history is (explains) - I'd like to ask you if this is likely to change over the next six months because there may be a better package I can supply for you. Currently you get (certain features) because you have several lines and an Internet connection - did you know that with those features you can also get a free cable TV connection?" (Yes and I don't want it)
The caller went on to discuss my calling trends and I explained that I use calling cards, caped mobile plans and Skype (although I dislike it). Politely she commented that it looked as though I had thought things out and was well served. Did I have any questions about them or their service? (No, I didn't.) Would it be OK for me to call again in six months to review things again? Yes, please do so. End of call.
Here's the bottom line: The first caller risked ongoing business in his haste to make a sale for his own financial benefit. The second caller protected a client for her employer's long-term benefit.
As a business owner, which you you want - to risk or protect existing business?
When will they ever learn?
When Will They Ever Learn - To learn more about this author, visit James Yuille's Website.
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