I feel sorry for people who really need government services like Social Security, disability payments, etc. I needed some information, so I filled out the form online and was told I’d hear back in two to four weeks. Seven weeks later I called, actually reached someone, she told me I should have been contacted, and will be contacted within two weeks. That was a month ago.
This has crept into the corporate world as I’ve had six calls with my phone provider because caller ID isn’t working. All reps say they’re fixing it, give it 48 hours, and nothing changes. A friend is battling a large financial services company that screwed up paperwork on his parents’ estates and they want him to fix it.
Contrast that with small businesses.
- A client states he has no supply chain issues because he pays his bills on time. Plenty of product equals happy customers.
- Another owner who added product lines the previous owner didn’t want to bother with. More customers and easier for the customers to get everything at one time.
- A client who insists on having a person answer the phone. No hitting five numbers to get routed back to the general voice mail box.
It doesn’t take much. Well, actually it does. It takes common sense.
“The only way to let your dreams come true is to wake up.” Paul Valery
“Sometimes when they say you’re ahead of your time, it’s just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.” George McGovern
