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Dude, I’m Getting a Dell
By Peter DeHaan
November, 2003
From a business standpoint, I
have long been impressed by Michael Dell who started assembling PCs in his
college dorm room and parlayed his talent into the multi-billion dollar Dell
Computer. Dell is legendary for
their low-cost computers, resulting from efficient and innovative manufacturing
processes. Plus, the idea of custom
ordering your exact computer over the Internet and receiving it a few days later
is both compelling and inviting. Yet
none of this admiration and knowledge prompted me to actually buy a Dell
computer. At least not until the
recent advertising campaign with the tagline, “Dude, you’re getting a
Dell.”
Encouraged by the “Dell
Dude,” as he was affectionately called by his admirers, I soon found myself at
the Dell Website ordering my first Dell computer.
Although it took some patience to tweak my new system into the proper
balance of features and price, I soon placed my order and the computer arrived
shortly thereafter. Since then I
have ordered two more Dell computers and am sold on both the value of the
product and the convenience of ordering it online.
The Dell Dude promotion motivated
many others to act as well. The
promotion was credited with a surge in Dell computer sales and a recapturing of
the top stop as industry leader. Suddenly,
the Dell Dude was everywhere and there was even talk of a Dell Dude clothing
line. It seems, however, that not
everyone was as enthralled with the Dell Dude as I was.
In fact, some found him to be irritating and annoying.
Eventually he was retired in favor of the more low key but less
captivating “Interns” ad campaign. Although
I miss the Dell Dude and his endearing and enthusiastic hawking of Dell
computers, I plan to remain a Dell customer.
When Dell recently announced
their intent to do for printers what they had accomplished with computers, I was
a bit skeptical. Would their
“reach exceed their grasp?” Could
they really manufacture a quality printer at a low price and take market share
from the well-established and entrenched printer vendors?
I was determined to take a wait
and see approach and resolutely decided to continue to buy from my favorite
printer vendor. After all, I had
been buying their printers exclusively for 15 years, racking up several dozen
purchases for my company, others, and myself.
Throughout that time, my experience was overwhelmingly positive.
Repairs had been minimal and reliability had been high.
A few years ago, one of the
oldest printers, still chugging away after 12 years, had a paper jam.
After clearing the jam, however, paper would no longer feed into the
unit. I discovered that a small
broken roller to be the source of the problem.
I tore the machine apart and set out to find a replacement part.
The local dealers were no help, but the Internet was.
In about a half an hour, I had drilled down into my printer vendor's
Website and found a detailed parts diagram for my model.
From there I determined the part number and called to order it.
The order department agent informed me that the part was only 26 cents,
but embarrassingly added that shipping would be $12.
“That’s fine,” I replied. “Please
send it.” (I was actually
expecting to pay more.)
The part arrived a few days
later. I installed it and
reassembled the unit. It even worked
when I was done!
Last month, one of my newer
printers broke. It was barely a year
old. I tore it apart, too, and found
that a small plastic arm had broken. Slightly
irritated that it was not constructed better, I confidently returned to the
Website. Again, I drilled down to
the section with the parts diagram, but one was “not available” for my
model. Try as I might, I could not
locate any part numbers for that printer except for a few housing components and
the ink cartridges. Gamely, I called
the order department and explained my dilemma.
Confidently, the agent replied, “That’s not a problem; I’ll look it
up for you.” Relieved, I described
the part to him.
After several minutes, the agent
reluctantly informed me that the part was not available for purchase.
However, I could send in the unit for repair.
“That could cost more than to buy a new printer,” I whined.
The agent acknowledged that could be the case, but thought it was not
likely. As I thanked him for this
time, albeit not as nicely as I should have, I realized that this was just the
push I needed to switch printer vendors. “Dude,”
I said to myself, “You’re getting a Dell.”
I was shocked at my fickleness.
I consider myself to be a loyal to a company that serves me well, looking
for a long-term relationship. (Astute
readers may recall an earlier column, “Customer Since 1978”, where I
admitted using the same brand of gas for over 20 years.)
Yet here I was, ready to abandon ship at the first little trouble.
There are three insights that I
gained from this experience. The
first is that if a loyal, long-term, satisfied customer is willing to change
brands at the first disappointment, so too, will a long-term, satisfied call
center client be willing to change providers when a single phone call goes awry.
With call forwarding commonplace and long distance inexpensive, it is a
simple matter for a client to switch call centers.
Even if they happen to be under contract, all that is accomplished is
that you have a few more months of their business, while they stew and fret
about that one errant call and look for other things to complain about.
The second lesson is to not lose
sight of the big picture. Whether
the printer vendor simply overlooked the parts diagram or if it was a strategic
decision, I do not know. They may
have been hoping that I would merely buy a new printer.
What they overlooked is the fact that a printer’s lifetime cost of ink
cartridges far exceeds the one-time cost of the printer and if they push me to
another vendor, they have lost out on both.
So make sure that your call center does not push clients away with
policies that are “penny wise and dollar foolish,” such as charging for
things that cost you nothing or piling on numerous trivial and questionable
charges (such as what most phone companies do).
The third item is consistency.
The printer vendor was inconsistent with their Website, hence affecting
my view of their company. The first
time I searched for a part, I found it and my expectations were exceeded.
The second time I searched for a part, the results did not match my
previous experience and my heightened expectations were not met. I
judged the company unfavorably as a result.
I often tell my call center clients, that it is better to provide
consistently poor service than inconsistent service.
After all, if you provide consistently poor service, your clients know
exactly what to expect and you meet their expectations every time.
However, if you provide inconsistent service, the poor call one day will
be judged critically compared to the excellent call the day before and your
standing with your client will suffer. Inconsistent
service will drive them away quicker than consistently poor service.
Indeed, had I not found the first part, I never would have looked for the
second one, completely avoiding the disappointing episode.
So don’t give your clients even
one reason to leave you, avoid self-defeating actions, and above all, be
consistent. You clients will thank
you.
(For the record, I replaced the
broken plastic arm with a wood screw and the printer works fine.)
To read other articles written by Peter DeHaan,
go to From
The Publisher or check out his blog at
http://blog.peterdehaan.com. In addition to publishing Connections Magazine
and AnswerStat magazine (for hospital and medical related call centers), Peter
also publishes several related websites, including
MyArticleArchive.com.
He may
be reached at 866-668-6695, dehaan@connectionsmagazine.com
or www.PeterDeHaan.com.
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