This Company Run By Real Humans
Most companies have people working at them, but how many companies have people that are truly engaged?
At my company, Brinkster - a web hosting co, we talk to hundreds of people a day through our live chat support system. Live chat is the single best thing to come to customer support since the dawn of the Internet. It allows almost instant answers to customers problems.
At the end of each live chat session our customers are asked to answer a quick survey about there experience. A few days ago a customer had this to say...
"Louise is a one woman customer service wrecking machine. She is taking travesties and turning them into sunshine... all with the click of a mouse and a wonderful spirit of care and compassion. Much thanks and appreciation!
"
In today's world where everything has a shortcut and a way around it, it can sometimes feel that robots are running the companies that we do business with instead of real people. By providing real service, from real people, solving real problems without cookie cutter solutions customers will feel that they are truly valued. And when customers feel truly valued they will become a live advertisement by simply sharing their experience.
I believe that in today's world we are seeing a shifting of the pendulum in many different areas. Customer service is one of them. As people have less money to spend and are a lot more picky about where they spend it, they are starting to choose companies that are run by real humans.
- Jared (Follow me on Twitter - @JaredStauffer)
Healthcare Reform and How it Impacts Small Business
Yesterday I talked with two small business owners, a small retail shop and a landscaper, about healthcare reform.
With the economy still experiencing recession like conditions most small business owners are just trying to survive, the two owners I talked with were no different. The retail shop owner is in a good position because she resells mostly used items, which attracts people in the current economy. The landscaper is in a tougher position as he has had to bid on work out of state to find jobs.
They both expressed concern about the same thing. How are small businesses going to afford to pay for health insurance for low level / entry level employees? They also both came to the same conclusion: they would have to lay off staff.
Everyone knows that we need health care reform, but shifting costs to small businesses that are barely surviving is not the answer. A better solution would be to address fraud, reform laws allowing complete and open cross state competition, and tort reform. Then as health insurance costs are brought down more people could afford to purchase it in the first place, and larger "pools" of people across state lines would equal lower premiums.
Why don't we do healthcare reform a little at a time? We did not get in this position overnight, it is unlikely to be fixed correctly overnight.