Customer Service Speaker Confides Computers Suck
By: Dr Gary S Goodman
It?s a rare morning, to be sure.
My computer is working fast and flawlessly. The DSL speed is adequate to the task, and instead of facing one frustration after the next, I?m actually getting my work done.
And let me point out that my work is not computers in the same way that a cook?s work is not a stove. We use them to do our jobs, and the less time we have to attend to their mechanics, the more time and energy we have for getting done what we?re really paid for doing.
This is so peculiar, this near-effortlessness today that it?s making me wonder why can?t these infernal devices work nicely ALL THE TIME?
Why do we accept such hit and miss performance from them?
In a kindred article, I asked why computers, and by that I mean PCs, laptops, PDA?s and similar devices; why can?t they run as reliably as appliances, such as refrigerators?
When you open the fridge, you expect cold food.
When you open a device, you expect functionality, as well.
Anyway, I think I may have chosen the wrong item to which to compare the computer. Refrigerators are far too hardy. Arguably, they?re the most durable and reliable machines ever devised.
Actually, most new computers act like very old used cars. Just when you think they?re up and running, they break down again.
I know for a fact that this island of peace that I?m occupying right now will be eroded all too soon by those insidious invaders, viruses and spyware.
Before long, it will take eons to boot up, and I?ll be working, once more, at a glacial pace.
And then, only after going through tech support or wasting a day fixing it myself, will I have a restored tool.
That great question politicians ask comes to mind, and I?d like to paraphrase it for you:
Are you better off today, dependent on these computers, as I am, than you were in the early 1990?s, when they were less ?functional,? and the Internet was only a tool known to universities, to the government, and to a relative handful of geeks?
I don?t believe I am. In fact, looking back on the past decade, I know I?ve done screen time when I should have been doing face time or phone time.
Customers and prospects have left phone messages and I?ve responded with email, instead of truly engaging them in real time.
I?ve expected my internet presence, and especially my web site to do the heavy lifting of marketing, when deep down I knew that it was really no more than an elaborate brochure, and brochures are notoriously poor at closing deals.
As I write these words, I?m actually ashamed at myself for throwing so much time away and investing so much hope in, what for me, is a file cabinet, a library, and a fancy memory typewriter.
Sure, you can doll up these toys, cue up a thousand MP3s on your iPod, glue yourself in front of that cell phone and get blurry vision watching all of the ?I Love Lucy? reruns that you want.
But tell me, has your quality of life really improved because of these devices?
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
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