Business
Why is Poor Customer Service So Common?
I’m often amazed at how so many businesses and their customer-facing employees provide such poor customer service. As a web developer/consultant, almost everything I do is about customer service. Deadlines are to be met, work provided should meet/exceed expectations and stated requirements, and basically client needs should be taken care of. I really don’t know why/how businesses out there perpetually provide poor customer service and don’t do anything about it - I just know it’s really frustrating. Here are just some recent examples:
I Wish Other Web Apps Were Built Like Wordpress
Wordpress really is a very well built piece of software. Wordpress is what I use for this blog. I’m working a new version of this site that will be completely managed using Wordpress as a CMS. Same thing for my business site. That’s how powerful Wordpress is. Development is very active and I love the theme system and the modular system of plugins. Everything just works and it works well. I often find myself wishing other open source projects were built the same way like ecommerce shopping carts or client billing software. Basically something that’s standards-based and is very extensible.
What Web 2.0 Means For Developers and Entrepreneurs
With all this Web 2.0 hoopla, developers like me are seeing increasing demand for new web design and development projects. Of course this is a good thing, any resurgence in the Internet sector means more sites need to be designed or redesigned. More projects, more revenue. But here’s the thing - many people aren’t even sure what Web 2.0 means. You ask different people and they’ll give you different answers or no answer at all. They hear this buzz word being floated around and they think it’s the next best thing, without really understanding what it means. Some critics say it’s a new mini-bubble. This becomes a big problem when a client or potential client tells me they want a “Web 2.0 design” or a “Web 2.0 site” instead of giving more detailed specs.
The Need to “Beat” Everything and Everyone
I don’t know what it is but I’m very competitive, even if I don’t directly show it. Although my web hosting service isn’t exactly live yet, I regularly keep tabs on every direct competitor. I conduct periodic competitive analysis so I can find every gap, every opportunity I can exploit to compete against these incumbent firms. It also helps me track competitive trends (like whether a competitor is stagnant, innovative, up to date, etc.)
Cancellations the Way It’s Supposed to Be Done
About a month ago, I signed for a trial membership over at Doba, a wholesale dropshipper directory. Basically it’s a list of different manufacturers and distributors that will dropship orders for you. For those unfamiliar with dropshipping, you take the order, forward it to the dropshipper, and they’ll ship the item to your customer. You charge the customer a retail price and the dropshipper charges you the wholesale price plus shipping fees. They will usually remain transparent in this process so the customer thinks you’ve sent them the product. So anyway, I called to cancel my trial membership yesterday and I only had to speak with the customer service rep for literally 2 minutes.
Phone Service is Cheap
In about 2 weeks I’m going to be cancelling both my DSL and normal phone service. I’m going to be switching to cable and VoIP service. VoIP phone service is significantly cheaper than regular landline phone service. For my business I’m currently using SunRocket and will probably continue to use that service for my home line as well. All in all this will actually end up saving us money. And then let’s not forget there’s free SkypeOut. I’ve been testing it and the quality is good and it doesn’t get any better than free, unlimited outgoing calls. And since everyone in my family also has a cell phone our home line isn’t really that important.
My Beautiful New Monitor and Web Design
Samsung 940Be
I recently purchased a Samsung 940Be which is a 19-inch LCD monitor. Thanks to the falling prices of LCD monitors and Newegg’s low prices, I got a really good deal. I was originally going to wait until the holiday season, but some time in the last couple of months, there was significant price drop. As with all my electronics/computer purchases, I did a lot of research online comparing features and reading reviews. Man, I LOVE this thing. The viewable space is HUGE and it is so BRIGHT. So much more working space, it makes my web development work much easier too.
My Spring Break 2006 Post
It’s a pretty quiet spring break this year. This time I just wanted to stay home, relax, and catch up on sleep. I also wanted to use the time to do some business related research. I don’t know why but at school there just seems to be so many distractions and interruptions. You try to set aside time for things but everything is so discontinuous.
Parallel Processing
I must say that the one thing Cornell has endowed me with is the ability to multitask. The ability to handle several different tasks and responsibilities at any given time. I’ve mentioned this before but my schedule this semester is pretty light. The one class, Electronic Commerce, that I thought would be interesting and informational turned out pretty disappointing. It’s a 600-level graduate course in the Cornell business school too. I’m not learning anything I didn’t already know and the course leans more towards the technical side and I was expecting a strategy related course.