Customer Service is the Name of the Game
When I founded AlphaOne Web Hosting & Web Design our only mission statement was to provide the best customer service humanly possible in the industry. Period. Over time we added a 2nd mission statement - that AlphaOne would consistently provide more Webmaster Resources than anyone else. We don't want to be the biggest in the industry, we simply want to be the best. The web hosting and design company where people refer their friends, NOT their enemies...chuckle.Sometimes, late at night, when one of us is hand-holding yet another person through why they really do NOT want to publish their website with Microsoft Word, and frustration levels are high, each of us has wondered at the value of going above and beyond to keep our customers satisfied. We have gone out of our way to make sure we control our growth so that each of our customers is a NAME, not a number or an account...just to keep the service personal. Many a night I would scratch my head and wonder why limit our profits just to fulfill our mission statement.
The other day, Gerry McGovern wrote an article entitled "SUPPORT IS WHERE BRANDS ARE WON OR LOST", and more eloquently put into words one of the big reasons AlphaOne has consistently remained focused on customer support - because customer support is what is most important to ALL of us. Being treated with respect. Having someone actually care when you have a problem and to go out of their way to assist you. Problems and mistakes happen in every industry in every business...its how they are resolved that makes me feel good about the business or angry/disappointed. And those "feel goods" can turn a painful experience into a pleasureable one for most of us.
Gerry's article was very timely for me, personally, because the last few weeks we have spent a lot of time hand-holding novices to web design, publishing and web hosting...his article helped me remember why I really LIKE being in this business - because *I* feel good every time someone who we have supported 'gets it' and feels what it is like to have personal care in a web hosting company....many for the first time!
Check out Gerry's article in our private Webmaster Resources Area it was posted there this evening so it should still be right on the front page!
Peace
Wolf