And you may be horrified with what they are saying...

We have been using join.me as our web conference tool for the last few years. After having a technical difficulty last week, I reached out to them for support. You won’t believe what I was told.

At the time of the call, I had no intention of changing. Sure, I knew there were other (and probably better) solutions in the market. But, with the potential cost of change and possible disruption amidst much higher priority projects, it hadn’t made sense to make a change.

After sharing a single experience with my colleagues at Butler Street, Mike’s response was, “REPLACE THEM!!!! There is no excuse for that level of customer service!”

What would you have done?

Here’s what happened:

I had called join.me to find out why a recording from a meeting that morning did not have audio. The support rep said, “Well you didn’t use it the right way. Nothing I can do for you. There is no way to retrieve it if it wasn’t recorded”.

The rest of the playback was there, just without sound. If I had done something incorrectly (which is possible, but I have been doing exactly the same steps with success previously), that I just wanted to know why so I could prevent it from happening in the future.

After providing him the recording link, he said there was definitely no audio connected and I must not have been dialed into the right meeting. He was incredibly insulting. He then asked if people could hear me in the conference and said, “well if you recorded it correctly it would be there”.

After asking multiple times, he said there was no one else I could speak to… that no one else would be able to retrieve something that doesn’t exist. I was getting more and more frustrated by the second. He was so unhelpful and I told him so. Finally, I threatened to cancel all of our accounts. He said, ‘I don’t know what to tell you, you didn’t do it right”.

Whether there was an issue, either with the technology, my machine, or if I had done something incorrectly to cause it, the service I received was unacceptable.

So, guess what? I kicked them to the curb! Immediately after I hung up, I started researching other solutions. In the process of looking for a replacement, I experienced another alarming situation.

I had narrowed it down to two potential solutions: AnyMeeting and Zoom. With our growing number of live webinars, webinar functionality was important so that we could consolidate our conferencing solutions. With the various packages and pricing options, I thought it would be best to contact Sales.

On the AnyMeeting website, a message “connect to our sales team” with a phone number was present. Great! I called and the rep that answered the phone was actually very nice. However, she said that there was no one I could speak to and that if I had a question for Sales, that I would need to look it up on the website. And if I couldn’t find the answer, that I could fill out the form on the website with my question.

Now what would you have done in that situation?

I said thank you, and hung up. Then crossed them off of my list.

Both situations reminded me of the following:

“Not many people can sell a customer, but anyone can lose one!”

It is that simple. Two short phone calls and a lifetime of damage to their brands. Are you sure that every person in your organization is contributing positively to your brand in every Moment of Truth?

Moment of Truth: a situation in which your client or prospect comes into contact with any aspect of the company or organization, however remote or brief, and thereby has an opportunity to form an opinion

You’re probably curious as to how Zoom earned our business. First, they have a great product. But that is just what we call “table stakes”. I needed x and they provide x. Or, really, x + y because they offer more. The real reason I chose them is that the rep took the time to understand my needs and wants. He started to build trust with me. Here is the truth about trust:

• Trust is created by consistently demonstrating your core values

• Trust takes a long time to build, but a split second to lose

• Respect is gained when you take a stand on the things people know are right

Now I am the Walking, Talking Billboard for all three of these companies. One, I was a client. The second, I never became a client. And the third, I am now a client. Who do you think I will recommend to all of my friends and colleagues?

Moment of Truth and the Truth about Trust are two concepts covered in the Butler Street Sales Effectiveness and Key Account Management training programs – because we know that not many people can sell a customer, but anyone can lose one. You cannot grow unless you can keep the clients you currently have while acquiring new ones. Contact us (in any method you choose, including a phone call!) and we can help!

Note: All examples are factual and true. I intentionally left the names of these organizations in this article. I had contemplated taking them out, but the fact is that leaving them in, attests to the impact and exposure that a single experience can have.

#momentoftruth #trust