A consultant’s job involves marketing. Over the years in sales, my skin has become pretty thick. If I’m hung up on I merely call back and say, “I’m sorry but I believe you’ve confused me with a telemarketer.” Inconsiderate gatekeepers don’t upset me like they used to because I know my value and see it reflected by my customers daily. View full article »
Category: Business Sales and Service
Several food chains offer “manager’s specials.” These offers, like day old bread, are available to all customers at any time and without a coupon. There are few savvy enough to know these offers exist, and most people feel uncomfortable asking for them for fear of appearing cheap. View full article »
Customers who commit to a fair rate and pay their phone bills on time should all be entitled to equally good service. But are they? It’s hard to forget the story of the AT&T employee who had their business line shut off for non-payment when it was AT&T’s responsibility to pay its own bill! Systems don’t care. People do. And the level of service that you get will only be equal to the amount of resources in which a company is willing to invest. What level of customer service should you expect from your local phone company now? View full article »
If you don’t think that “truth is stranger than fiction” in the business world, consider the actions of telecommunications giant AT&T. You’ll remember that in a previous article we discussed how AT&T is leading the death march for the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). They would justifiably prefer you to purchase cell phones and have you convert your land line service to VoIP (Voice Over IP). Their flagship business VoIP product (to which many of my clients subscribe to and are quite satisfied with) is called Flex Reach. This service is transported over an AT&T MIS (Managed Internet Service ranging from 1.5Mgb – 12Mgb) that is connected to a Cisco 2800 router and monitored via a POTS line.
Did you catch the contradiction? View full article »
The New York Times recently quoted Verizon’s CEO as saying that Verizon is giving up on its wire line (landline) business. This is a strong statement coming from Verizon, since it earned $11.48 billion from wire lines in its most recent quarter. If the phone company leaders are positioning themselves to exit the most reliable and traditional form of communication in the market, where does that leave the 17.2 million Verizon wire line subscribers? View full article »
There are several varieties of pricing a business can offer: list, perceived, and fair. A great example of a list price is the dollar amount plainly displayed on the windshield of an automobile. From the seller’s perspective, it is the highest amount that a company hopes a customer will pay. Perceived pricing is relative and based on an individual buyer’s perspective as to what the value of a product is to them at a particular time for their specific need. Fair pricing is what the seller and the customer conclude to agree upon. It is important to keep in mind that in every instance, the manufacturer is in control of the “price” (i.e. perception of value). View full article »