T-Mobile's Ad Cost Them Money and Saved a Customer

Like many of you, I've been through my fair share of cell phone carriers.  T-Mobile has managed to keep my business for the past several years due in large part to their outstanding customer service. They don't have the latest technology, coolest phones, or even the fastest network, but everything they do seems geared towards making it easy for me to be a customer.

Their latest television commercial is a gutsy move that prompts viewers to go to an independent website which recommends the least expensive cell phone plan that fits your needs. I checked it out and immediately found a way to save $10 by switching to another T-Mobile plan. Yes, other carriers were represented, but the first three recommendations were T-Mobile plans.  Nice!

What can we learn?

Helping the customer succeed sells. And, a customer who succeeds because of your company is much more likely to remain loyal.

Some math geniuses might point out that T-Mobile just lost $120 in revenue per year by prompting me to reconsider my cell phone plan. Ah, but this is where a finance-only approach can be short-sighted. Just last week, I was on the Verizon website scouting out the latest BlackBerrys and imagining how much more productive I could be on a faster network. T-Mobile's ad didn't lose them $120 per year. It saved them nearly $1,200 per year by ensuring I stayed on-board as a customer.

Check out the commercial here:

Cox vs. Brinks: I lose, nobody wins

There was a power outage at my home on Tuesday that knocked out my internet and cable-based phone service. I was able to restore my internet connection, but the phones remained dead. This little incident has led to a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred war between Cox Communications and Brinks Home Security to avoid responsibility. So far, nobody's won.

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Who is talking about customer service?

I try to stay current by reading a number of leading business publications such as Inc., BusinessWeek, and FastCompany. Many of the magazines and newspapers I read maintain websites that are full of helpful information, often organized by topic such as "sales", "finance", "leadership", and so on. It seems a bit odd that "customer service" is typically absent from these lists.

So, who is talking about customer service? And, why don't these leading publications have a customer service column?

I have many theories (and I would love to hear yours!), but here is my best guess. Customer service is simply taken for granted all too often. Customer service seems so, well, common sense. Is it?

Booking meeting space: site visits

Last week, I conducted site visits as part of my search for meeting space for my Getting Started as a Supervisor public workshop. Here's a quick re-cap if you haven't read my previous posts on the subject. I contacted 12 hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County to get a quote on meeting space. Two major hotel chains (previously referred to as Hotel A and Hotel B) were involved.

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Booking meeting space: trying to save your reputation

A good thing happened this Monday. Cyrena from one of Hotel A's properties called to apologize for poor service and see if there was anything she could do to make it right. (See my previous posting on Cyrena and others for the full back story.)

I was impressed that she made the effort to call, wanted to hear me out, and was attempting to make things better. It didn't put her hotel back into the running for my event, but it may have been just enough for me to consider her property in the future.

Look for tomorrow's installment where I'll update you on my site visits and hotels that apparently think "1 business day" means 10 calendar days.