Cameron Davidson

For the past week I have been trying to set-up appointments with three different companies to install a solar hot water system for my house in Alexandria. One company responded with a low-level flack after my name was given to the President of the company by a neighbor who asked him to call me directly. This was two days after not responding to my emails requests. That took $15,000.00 off of his plate.

One other company called me and the guy left a rambling message about some guy who wants a system after my friend mentioned my name to him. He even bumbled my friends name who has given him substantial business. Again, 15K off of his plate.

The third guy has made an effort, but only after being prodded by a friend to respond to my emails and phone calls. He said he was so busy that he could not keep up with all the emails. However, he has followed through and may end up winning the job.

When I get a call or an email from a client or potential client, I jump on it. I respond. Even if I am not available, I still respond and try to help the client.

This morning I had a problem with a modification to my aerialstock.com site which is hosted by the good people at PhotoShelter. (I was profiled by Photoshelter a couple of years ago but pay for my service like everyone else.) The first person I spoke with was less-than-enthusiastic about helping me solve my problem. Which is quite unusual. My experience with PhotoShelter has been exceptional. I hung up the phone and looked through my emails for the name of the person at PhotoShelter who helped me make a change this spring. Rachel Reiss is a godsend to PhotoShelter. She made the changes to the colors and fonts I needed to keep my site and archive in sync with each other. It was done quickly and without any problems. Thank you Rachel.

The key is, in a slower economy it is really important to take care of your clients and potential clients. A colleague suggested pulling my PhotoShelter account after the initial phone call this morning. I won’t do that, I am loyal to them and they are good guys. One hiccup is not a big deal in a long-term business relationship. Plus they do a very good job at providing a much needed service. I like Grover and Alan: they are stand-up guys.

Customer service counts. Attitude on the phone counts. Attention to detail is critical. My clients expect nothing less from me and I expect the same from vendors. There is a certain large car rental company that recently merged with another company lower on the food chain. They outsourced their reservations to Southeast Asia. When I had to make a change to the reservation and was greeted by a person following a script of replies to every question, I gave up. I cancelled my reservations and now deal exclusively with Avis. Avis has always been good to me so Avis is getting all of my rental car business now.

Customer service counts. When it is great, it seals the deal and creates loyalty. When it is bad, I’m gone. My first impressions of the three solar company guys is very negative. I won’t deal with two of them at all nor would I suggest them to others even though they are close to my home.