I presented at a conference recently where I experienced all manner of technical difficulties. About two-thirds of the way through my presentation, the projector stopped working.
Perhaps the duct tape attaching the cable to the conference’s laptop should have warned me.
So there I was at the front of a room, trying to present without the audience seeing my presentation.
Eventually one of the attendees went out and got someone to help.
Problems are always a possibility in your business. Your customers will have trouble.
When customers run into trouble, do you know?
Are you monitoring the situation for signs of distress or trouble?
Or do you customers have to tell you there is a problem?
At this particular conference, there was no audio-visual (AV) person in the room. Nor were there any representatives from the conference.
When I had trouble, only the people in the room knew about it.
I was alone.
Do you leave your customers alone to struggle through the problems they encounter? Or are you alerted to any issues automatically so that you can rush to the rescue?
How can you be alerted to trouble your customers are having? That, of course, depends on your business and products.
Internet companies can monitor the uptime of their websites and even how customers are interacting with their online products. When a glitch happens, you should know.
The same is true of any type of utility where you, as the provider, can monitor usage. Don’t just see how much your customers use of your product so you can charge them. Monitor for irregularities in usage so you can idenitfy trouble and fix it.
For businesses where you serve the customer face to face, simply keep your eyes open. Observe the customer’s reaction and mood. Looks for signs of trouble and address it right away.
When you sell products that the customer buys and you never see again, you’ll need to proactively follow up that everything is working as expected. Try email, phone, or the postal service.
Don’t leave your customers alone when they are in trouble. Monitor the situation to proactively detect trouble and then fix it!