As business people, we’re always looking for ways to do our jobs better – find the best products, efficiently manage inventory, streamline shipping, improve our website, etc.
The one thing we’ve never changed is how we deal with customers. If someone reaches out to us – we respond. Promptly and politely.
If there’s a problem – we solve it. There’s nothing “behind the curtain.” There is no curtain. If someone wants to talk to us, our phone number is all over the place. So is our email address.
Does that make it easy for spammers to find us? Sure. But we’d rather hit the “delete” button a few times, listen to the start of a few more robo-calls, than cause difficulty for a single customer.
Our inbox is usually pretty packed with companies offering to find us multitudes of new contacts, leads, customers, etc. Apparently there’s a thing called “CRM” – which stands for Customer Relationship Management. And this CRM can be automatic, so human hands don’t have to pick up a phone and human ears don’t have to listen to people. It relieves us of the messiness of dealing with people. And we’re promised our business will grow by leaps and bounds if we purchase some CRM automation.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Old-fashioned talking to people is the best “customer relationship management.”
We think the way to build a business is to apply the fundamental rule of humanity: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Offer a variety of products that are useful, helpful, well-made, safe, entertaining.
Offer these products at a reasonable price.
Stand behind the products you offer.
Be fair.
Listen.
Try to avoid problems, but if they occur, fix them quickly.
Respect everyone.
We think it’s the right way to do business. We like talking to people and hearing about their dogs. We love getting emails that include pictures of their dogs. We think it’s fun to make connections all over the country, and the world.
So, to all the software companies out there offering to take the messy part of our business off our hands, we cordially decline. We’ll stay here in the mess. It’s where all our friends hang out.
