Business Is All About Service And Support
| Category: Customer Service | Date: 2002-05-14 |
About five years back, MBE (Mail Boxes Etc.) had some 3000 stores about the country. Their goal was to have 5000 by the year 2000. They managed to get to 4700, which is very close, and solid growth by any measure.
There was a catch, however, in this otherwise positive happening. The owner of the MBE shop in my community reported several problems emerged over this period. Most of them boiled down to a decline in service and support, as if the company was trying to carry additional stores with existing resources.
When you leave a package with MBE, information about it is entered directly into a computer linked to a central processing site. This is the first step in their tracking system, and the data is immediately available and remains so, even after being archived.
Thus a computer malfunction is a disaster, as all the information needed must be tracked by hand. And malfunctions began to increase. Twice, the local store went for two days without computer access to the central site. Information had to be laboriously reported over the phone and costs soared accordingly.
About four months back, UPS (United Parcel Service) bought MBE. Within two weeks, service and support were superior on all counts. They remain high, and are even improving.
If any business recognizes the importance of service, it is UPS. When they bought MBE, the company may not have been on the verge of bankruptcy, but many shop owners were. By all reports, contentment reigns once more, and shops are reporting good growth.
While this is strictly a business to business tale, surely the same holds true for business to consumer relationships.
About the Author
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Web marketing and consulting since 1993
Site: sitetipsandtricks.com
Phone: 209-742-6349
:To contact see details below.
mc@sierratel.com
http://www.sitetipsandtricks.com/
There was a catch, however, in this otherwise positive happening. The owner of the MBE shop in my community reported several problems emerged over this period. Most of them boiled down to a decline in service and support, as if the company was trying to carry additional stores with existing resources.
When you leave a package with MBE, information about it is entered directly into a computer linked to a central processing site. This is the first step in their tracking system, and the data is immediately available and remains so, even after being archived.
Thus a computer malfunction is a disaster, as all the information needed must be tracked by hand. And malfunctions began to increase. Twice, the local store went for two days without computer access to the central site. Information had to be laboriously reported over the phone and costs soared accordingly.
About four months back, UPS (United Parcel Service) bought MBE. Within two weeks, service and support were superior on all counts. They remain high, and are even improving.
If any business recognizes the importance of service, it is UPS. When they bought MBE, the company may not have been on the verge of bankruptcy, but many shop owners were. By all reports, contentment reigns once more, and shops are reporting good growth.
While this is strictly a business to business tale, surely the same holds true for business to consumer relationships.
About the Author
Want to build a winning site? Improve one you already have? Fix one thats busted? Get ANSWERS. Subscribe to "STAT News" now! join-stat@lyris.dundee.net
Web marketing and consulting since 1993
Site: sitetipsandtricks.com
Phone: 209-742-6349
:To contact see details below.
mc@sierratel.com
http://www.sitetipsandtricks.com/
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