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December 09, 2005
Stick with what you're good at
| Increasing, more and more of the work of running a business is being shifted onto customers - support, help desk, data, ordering and check out, the hunting down of manuals or even the retrieval of basic information. It's all available online or via kiosk or self-checkout or the worsening hell of automated phone systems. |
That's what Patricia Keefe wrote today on the Information Week Blog, and it's something I see and hear again and again.
In fact, it's my unsupported hypothesis that one reason why microbusinesses have been able to successfully compete online is because they tend toward real-live-human customer service in an environment in which consumers are getting tired of automated customer service hell.
Even if they do occasionally use an autoresponder for this and that, micros believe in the personal touch. To the typical microbusiness owner, every customer is important and we generally are not shy about letting them know that. (I'm resisting the temptation to throw in a line from a certain Barbara Streisand '60s Easy Listening classic.)
One of the things that lets micros grow without growing is that they outsource various back office functions. But I hope that they won't elect to outsource their customer service to the point that they become indistinguishable from the Amazon.com's and the PayPal's of the world, where you can't get a human being on the phone to save your reason when you have a problem.
Recognize your competitive advantage and stick to it.
Posted by The Journal Blogger at December 9, 2005 11:43 AM
