Customer Service, Website Design & How to Stand Out

No matter what your business, customer service is a big part of it. And there are times when we can all probably do a better job – me included.

(For the very best way to learn how to improve the way you communicate with people and learn the unique way all of us naturally interact, take a free mini personality assessment.)

Lately, I’ve read about website management companies that, in this tough economy ,are closing shop, disappearing with clients’ files and leaving businesses with no way to manage their websites. That wasn’t my story but the lessons are the same. Hopefully, these tips will help you avoid the same problems.

Nightmare in VirtualLand

This summer I decided to have my website redesigned to showcase some marketing ideas I’ve been working on. This is a totally techie experience, way outside my realm of understanding, but I’m not an idiot. I did my homework and hired a company. I’ve actually had experience with another division of this company and everything was fantastic, so I trusted what they were telling me. The custom website design division made it sound so simple… It turned out to be like the ‘Burbs meets VirtualLand…

(remember that movie – this couple moves from the city to the suburbs, buys their dream house and starts making renovations only to have one obstacle after another (contractors, not to mention the bath tub falling through rotten flooring, the grand entrance staircase falling apart…) that practically halted the progress. The house was ripped up for months and they’re trying to live in the mess.)

Back to VirtualLand…

THEY don’t understand the concept of people – that there’s a person behind the website they were hired to design. It all started out fine, but they had these questionnaires I had to fill out before they would get started, and I had to go track down all the information for them. Techie stuff – not my forte. It took me a while to get it all together and back to them. Nothing happened for two months.

About that time I figured out they have this ‘closed’ system of communication – I had to log into their system to check progress. I wasn’t getting notification that there were messages to address. They also gave me less than 24 hours to approve my website before it was published (which I missed). Once published it was considered a closed account, and any design changes would cost extra. Some pages were complete; some had Latin ‘space holder’ text in them.

I finally talked to a supervisor and got everything straightened out, they promised to make the changes I requested for no additional charge, I started receiving emails and things seemed better. I made some edits to the site, got pages up and running and then one time my login didn’t work. There was a link for help, but it didn’t work. All their messages were ‘blind sent’ for lack of a better term, so I didn’t have an email to send it to. Without an address I couldn’t get help.

There I was - completely locked out of the system - with a partially finished website. And for another month they refused to return my calls and emails.

Zenith found me

It was a total cold call. I’m being held hostage by a web designer who won’t return my calls. Websites are marketing tools and you don’t want to send someone to a half done website (like you wouldn’t want to give your new neighbors a half baked dessert – that’s a great impression:)).

I’m NOT happy, to say the least....

James, my sales rep gave me support to help resolve my problems with the 'Other Guy', educating me on what I should tell them I wanted (I’ll explain this shortly –hang with me) and consistently following up with me to check my progress. During all this I got to know him, check out Zenith’s (Zenith Managed IT Services) philosophy and learn their integrity.

Once I hired them, we worked out a design plan and contract in 2 days, and they delivered it in my hands with basic training in 3 weeks – on schedule and in budget. I was impressed!

I had a design site to check anytime to see the progress Jeremy (the web designer) was making. James was almost in daily contact with me, giving me progress updates and discussing design features and options. Zenith GETS customer service. It was truly an enjoyable experience.

How to Stand Out - Part 1

Finally, the nitty gritty! What are you looking for in an IT manager? There are actually 2 parts to this: the IT manager and the client. First, let’s talk about when looking for an IT management company:

I asked John Comeau, VP of Operations first, to ascertain that the company is American-based. The majority of major IT companies have outsourced off shore...to Europe, the Philippians, or India. Besides verbal communication problems, these countries have a different cultural influences and work ethics that we may not realize or understand. For example, during European holidays, all work shuts down (they may not tell you they have a holiday for a week or longer that will delay your project). In outsourcing web design, the company thinks they are passing on the responsibility of completion of the web design and ultimate customer service to the outsourcing company. Unfortunately, the reputation at stake is theirs. (While I’ve experienced some outsourcing that was very good, you can see how different standards lead to frustration and conflict.)

• Check the experience/education level of the personnel. Look for qualified technical personnel (this means personnel with degrees and industry experience). Ask a real embarrassing question, "what is your employee turnover rate?", and is there a "We are hiring" sign in front of the building? There is an extremely high turnover rate in the IT world – with large companies presently in the 300% range. With that kind of turnover there is a high level of inexperienced, non-dedicated personnel filling the void. (John would know; that’s why he started Zenith, to answer the problems he saw in the industry. James had actually worked for my ‘Other Guy’ company, so had firsthand knowledge of my problems.)

• Check the Better Business Bureau for shared hosting complaints. (Shared hosting isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most websites don’t drive enough traffic to warrant dedicated servers. But you want to check the guaranteed network uptime, security features if you have an online store or collect other sensitive data, etc.)

• The get client referrals and talk to them. Also, look at testimonials...and see if they are credible. Many of the ranking sites a person goes to are "ghost sites" put up by the company seeking high rankings. Ask yourself how a company with over 250 complaints in the Better Business Bureau could be ranked in the top 3 or top 5?

• And as for the design itself, make sure you are getting a site that is designed around SEO principals...ie, is designed using CSS, and is Internet Explorer 7 and current FireFox rev compatible. Ask how flexible the process is as far as introducing changes. No one ever gets into a design without thinking of something to add. Some design houses only allow one or two "design updates” before charging for changes.

For more detailed information, or topics we didn’t get to, call Zenith at 602-290-6513 or email them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Here are some other tips for getting control of your website:

• Get the login information for your FTP site, your Blog, your hosting company control panel, and for each email account you have (they may all be different)

• Other login information to auxiliary software, like membership software, forum software, content management systems, etc. Remember logins for Google Analytics and Google Adwords, if you use either of these services.

• Get a copy of all your website coding, graphic, audio, video and animation files, including the original source files for all your graphics and Flash files (typically Photoshop for graphics and Flash for animation), on CD or DVD.

• Get written confirmation that YOU own the content of the website and have the right to transfer it, edit it, submit it to Federal Copyright Office, sell it, etc.

• For security purposes: if your web designer disappears, change ALL login IDs and passwords on your accounts. In addition, if you have given your web designer your credit card information, you should think about canceling the card and have a new number re-issued.

(From Karyn Greenstreet – Passion For Business)

How to Stand Out - Part 2

The second part of the equation is what YOU can do. Think about who you will be working with, just like you would when making a presentation one of your clients. What do they need from you? IT people tend to be more detail oriented, exacting (doing what you say, not what you meant to say), think more in terms of black-and-white, and have more precise-driven mindsets that some of us. Good communication goes both ways.

For the best introduction to learning the natural way people act, react and interact based on their personality style, and to get a feel for how you communicate with people you meet every day, take a free mini personality assessment.

Here are some ways you can stand out to your IT manager:

• Know what you want upfront. Do your homework. What they do is tedious work, even if they do enjoy it. If you want your project on time and in budget, don’t waste their time with unnecessary changes because you didn’t think it through. Changes are inevitable, but do your best to keep them to a minimum. A website will grow with your business if you plan it right. Think about what you want it to do now and in 2 years from now (I know it’s hard to think that far – believe me!)

• Lay out the organization of your website on paper. You will be conveying your thoughts and ideas by phone and email. Email it to them. It’s really difficult to draw ‘verbal pictures’ that the receiver can understand and interpret.

• Explain why you want it to do those specific things. For one, it helps the designer understand the end goal, and they may offer you options that better suit your outcome.

• Give them example websites to look at to explain your ideas. I don’t know their terminology to talk their language, but I can show them other examples to make my point.

I know this is a lot of information, but if it can save someone aggravation, money and downtime, it’s worth the space.

Wishing you many blessings and much happiness in your relationships!

Pam

Testimonial for Zenith Managed IT

My name is Bernie Culliton. I am the proud owner of a website called www.UltimateManRoom.com . It’s kind of like being a proud father. You work so hard on the concept and content of the site. When it launches, it’s like having a kid with all the responsibilities, love and caring that goes along with it.

Before I had met up with John Comeau and the crew a Zenith Managed IT, I had hired another company to set up my site. We won’t mention any names but, let me give you a suggestion; Do not sign up with any company where you can’t speak directly to the people who are accountable for the services. Another words, you should be able to email your designer and actually receive a call back responding to your questions. Or you’ll find out the hard way, as I did, that your designer resides in some 3^rd world country in Eastern Europe. Not kidding.

I’m not racist or prejudice in any way and to clarify that point; I’m married to a lovely Chinese woman who barely spoke English when I met her. The important thing are when you ask a question or make a request for edits to your site, is the information you are trying to send completely understood? I’m talking about nuance and detail that in translation to another language gets lost. You know it was very curious, often I would wait for more than a week to get a response and when I did, the substance of the inquiry or request would be gone I couldn’t find anyone that would give me a straight answer. This went on for 4 months so in the 11^th hour I had to make a decision. Do I want to continue down this path? What is going to happen when I get customers? If something goes wrong, will I get a timely response then? Probably not.

That was the nightmare before I met up with Zenith Managed IT. It was tough. My nerves were shot. This is my 1^st website and I already threw away a lot of cash. John calmed me down and explained to me why I was having some much trouble and also pointed out that my concepts for www.UltimateManRoom.com were strong but the site that the other company was building was antiquated and virtually invisible to current SEO spider programs. He also found a way to work within my now depleted budget. So, I decide to make the move but, I already had scheduled marketing for a specific launch date so time was tight.

Within two weeks of making an agreement with John Comeau and Zenith, my site was launched. Amazing, the baby was born. Like any new father, there is a lot to learn about the Software, Marketing & SEO, etc… John and his team have been and continue to be there through every step of the way. The Zenith team typically responds the same day if not within an hour or two. As my aptitude for the technology increases, they respond appropriately to meet my expectations. Even when my lack of knowledge causes mishaps or “can you explain that again” moments, Zenith & Company are responsive and respectful.

When you speak to John or anyone at Zenith, you’ll not just find them professional but friendly as well. They are genuinely concerned and engaged in your success. I look forward to continuing www.UltimateManRoom.com and Zenith Managed IT’s partnership in business. Thanks guys!

Here’s to 2009, Cheers!!

Sincerely,

Bernie Culliton, Owner
Ultimate Man Room, LLC
H-7 Black Oak Drive, Nashua, NH 03060
Phone 603-966-4487,   Fax: 603-880-8334