I've got many clients who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
At first I thought it was solely due to my crackerjack customer service, but then I realized that the other common thread was that they were mad at a computer security vendor whom they previously loved or passionately wanted to buy from. It was only because of boneheaded, strategic decisions made by the company that their customers were looking to competitors.
There's a common theme involved. Each of the vendors started with a good product that solidly filled a particular niche, gained market share and industry accolades, and then made inopportune decisions that riled their existing, or new, customers to a point that the customer gave up trying to give them their business. I'm convinced that the vendor's CEOs are oblivious to how much discontent their company is causing with the very people they should be striving to satisfy. Instead of letting the vendors suffer lower market share without understanding why, I've decided to share some representative stories in this blog column.
For example, one of my customers recently tried to update their expiring enterprise anti-virus solution. This particular product is made by the market leader, and the customer in general is happy with the product. A year had gone by since the last annual upgrade and the virus definition subscriptions were about to expire, so the customer followed the product's "helpful" support links (displayed because of the pending expiration). It told the customer to call a particular 1-800 number. Then the customer was confronted with an unfriendly phone tree, which did not offer a choice related to subscription renewal, and of course, there was no option to drop to a human operator. Instead, after 20 minutes of fighting the phone tree, the client got to a human, which directed them to the "right department." When the customer service rep got on the phone, they requested the client's customer number. The client didn't have that, but did have their product's serial number, their license number, their past purchase order, their vendor number, every other number offered up by the product, and last year's sales certificate.
No good. The customer was funneled to multiple other phone trees, which they spent over an hour fighting, only to be eventually told to contact a local software resale vendor. OK, done. Product upgrade purchased. An e-mail with software certificate was sent to the client, containing a bunch of other numbers, Web links, and some poorly worded implemented instructions. Since the client has always needed a license number in the past to activate the software, the client went to the Web site to get the license number. No good, just an error. The error said to call a particular number. More wrestling with phone trees, more waiting on the phone, only to be told that they didn't need a license number for this particular product. OK, download the product, which was over 500MB. Product download stopped working multiple times, using the "newly managed download" process. Finally, downloaded the product using the old HTTP method, which worked flawlessly, and then burned the resulting files to CD-ROM. Then carried those over to the server and installed the upgrade product.
Only three days of constant waiting and frustration, not to mention false starts. And for this the loyal customer is paying the vendor?
How about something simple, like a Renew Subscription button within the product's interface, which takes the customer to a Web site to complete the transaction in one step -- no phone trees, no multiple "secret" numbers, no multiple calls, no wasted time, and more importantly, a satisfied customer?
What is amazing about this particular case is that I coincidentally happened to be in the same room with this product's CEO before a presentation. The CEO didn't know who I was, and I'm sure he couldn't even recall meeting me. But the CEO was bragging to others about how streamlined and wonderful his company's customer service is, and how many ways customers could buy their product. Talk about being detached. Hey, CEO, go to any current customer site, pick up the phone, and call your own company just like a regular customer would. I think you'll be singing a different tune after you discover how unfriendly your company is to existing customers.
Here's another story: In this case, the customer was tired of their increasingly less reliable enterprise anti-spam software solution. I recommended a particular anti-spam appliance and also suggested a popular Internet-based anti-spam e-mail servicing company. A call to the appliance vendor resulted in their taking my customer's contact information with a promise that a local rep would call back. Even after several repeated calls to the main vendor, no local sales rep ever called. My client got tired of trying and gave up. The vendor never called back to confirm that my client got help -- a "lost" lost sale.
The customer decided to get pricing from the Internet e-mail servicing vendor, who took my client's company information and e-mailed over a service agreement. I have recommended and used this particular vendor for nearly a decade. I love this vendor. But now the vendor's servicing agreement had very aggressive legalese. First, every clause was very hostile to the customer, taking away nearly every legal right it could. Second, it required a two-year subscription purchase, auto-renewal, and 90-day out clauses. What a pain. We called the nearest competitor. We got lower pricing and none of the hostile legalese. How refreshing. The client is very happy with its new anti-spam service, and we wouldn't have even looked them up had the initial vendor been a little more customer-focused instead of vendor-focused. We didn't call the original vendor back, and they didn't call back. They probably think it was a pricing issue or yet another customer that simply didn't choose them.
And another of my favorite anti-spam appliance vendors, like the world's biggest router vendor, is starting to limit hardware reselling for no other reason than to increase their profit. Most security products are overhyped and underdeliver. Functionality is unclear, end-user interfaces cluttered and incomprehensible, with poorly written help files and noncommunicative support staff. And security vendors wonder why sales are slumping?
CEOs, I hope you are listening, because your competitors certainly are.
Posted by Roger Grimes on June 13, 2008 03:00 AM
