Management Musing v1.8

Have you noticed how the increase in productivity has caused many of us to have fewer man hours of support per dollar sold? This is a phenomenon of business that has really grown in the past thirty years. The US GDP is seriously dependent on personal spending which has grown as a result of productivity increases providing higher incomes, until, that is 2008 and the financial meltdown. We need to get back there don’t we?

The trouble in the customer service world which most businesses in the capital goods world are seeing is that their markets are fragmenting. The various modes of customer contact used to be mail order, phone order, fax order or walk in order business. To that we now have the internet or self-service business. But this is a very different business model. Many of you are still waiting for this to happen, you are in denial. Don’t wait too long as time is now your enemy not your friend.

Sometimes you can wait comfortably and let others pave the way and you can avoid the costly mistakes of being “first in the dirt.” But time has come.

You all need to provide a portal for your customers to find you on line and be able to “shop” your site for your wares. They need to be able to easily find you, find what they want, price it and even order it. Your competitors are doing it. Are you? The time is now.