If you are competing on price alone you will always be chasing the
customer. The telco has deep pockets. Providing DSL to the customer is
secondary to them. They are more interested in the subsidy they get from
that line, and adding a number for the next lobby opportunity.
There are several things that can help retain and attract new customers.
1.Customer Service. Do a better job than the competition.
2.Keep the customer a part of the ³family². This means newsletters and
other ways of personalizing your business. Customers are more likely to
switch away if you become just another company to them. Personalizing your
company, your staff, and what you do connects with the customer. Take time
to update the company blog, send out press releases, or whatever. Keep
your company in front of the customer.
3.Make your product something unique and something they feel they can¹t
get anywhere else. Things like a member¹s only section of the web-site,
maybe a slick looking webmail interface, or tutorials on how to use their
mobile phone to get their e-mail with you.
4. Be as professional as you can. Folks notice things like how the
installer is dressed, if they have the right tools, and generally know what
they are doing. Things like company shirts and booties when you walk into a
customer¹s house after being in their crawl space make an impression.
5.Give them relevant service. If you have several levels of service
have one for the average Joe. Not everyone needs 5 meg down. Many people
want to go to a few web-sites, download some pictures, and piddle around a
little. These customers aren¹t chasing the latest greatest. They are
looking for something that is reliable and comfortable for them. If you do
1-4 above they will be happy.
You will always have the people who chase the best deal. These are
normally the people who are slow payers, cost you the most in support, and
are generally a PITA. These are the same people who will say ³I feel bad
for switching, but <insert lame excuse here>². As a business owner
customers should want and need your service over the DSL competitor.
Unfortunately that sometimes means sending a tech out on a Sunday night to
fix a radio.
Contracts are a good idea in another subtle way. It gives you a chance
to call that customer before the contract expires and see how the service is
and get feedback. Also gives you a chance to either retain them if they are
thinking of switching, or upselling them on another product. When I was at
a dial-up ISP years ago we started the policy of calling every new customer
back after a week. Just seeing how they liked the service, and any issues.
It was an amazing success. Took some time, but we worked it in on slow
days. If the week was not slow we pulled a tech off for a few hours to get
caught up on the callbacks.
Justin
--
Justin Wilson <[email protected]>
CCNA CCNT Mikrotik Advanced
http://j2sw.mtin.net/blog
From: Kurt Fankhauser <[email protected]>
Reply-To: WISPA General List <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:05:28 -0400
To: 'WISPA General List' <[email protected]>
Subject: [WISPA] how to compete with $15 DSL
Local phone company here just expanded their DSL coverage area and mailed
out fliers to everyone for $15 DSL. I see no mention of it being a
promotional price. One person said as long as you have it they will not
raise the rate from $15. Think its for 768k service. Anyways we are getting
about 1 person a day switching from our $35/month/768k wireless service to
this DSL. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to retain these
customers???? They are not even giving us a chance to offer them a lower
price as they all already have the DSL turned on and been using it for a
month before they cancel ours.
Kurt Fankhauser
WAVELINC
P.O. Box 126
Bucyrus, OH 44820
419-562-6405
www.wavelinc.com
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