Ep. 34 The Stern Truth: Are You Making It Easy for Your Clients to Do Business With You?

I spent almost an hour and a half on hold with my cable company the other day. Marshall, what a waste of time, you might be thinking. But it was costing me and my family an extra $20 a month.

I was cancelling an extra channel. It just isn’t something we need anymore. I prepared myself, put the phone on speaker, and waited almost an hour and a half to talk to someone. 

They need to take a note out of Amazon’s customer service playbook. Whether you love them or not, Amazon has incredible customer service: they make it easy for you to return items, they have their online chat readily available, and they always as for feedback. 

Self-serve is a much easier way to do business, but we also need to think about how easy we make it for customers to cancel. Think about your business for a second. Is it as easy to buy as it is to return? If not, your systems and processes need to be revisited.

My point? Treat someone like a long-term client if you want them to be one. Let’s make it easier for people to do business with us.

It’s back to business in September. Join us for the Masterclass or the MOMENTUM Mentorship Accountability group. Check the links below to sign up.

Masterclass: From “Hard & Draining” to Renewed Passion & Higher Profits –  Sept. 17th
 https://marshallstern.net/page/from-stuck-to-renewed-profit

MOMENTUM Mentorship Accountability – Starts Sept. 15th https://marshallstern.net/page/momentum

Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/

Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup

Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session

I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

Get in touch in the comments or head to...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern
Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

Transcript

[00:02] All right, before we get into today's episode, just a quick reminder, we have two important dates coming up. Momentum mentorship is our accountability group. Starts September the 15th. We meet twice a month. 

[00:12] If you want to come out, just check out a session, send an email to marshall@marshallstern.net and we'll get you set up. Also, two days after that, on September the 17th, we have a very special free one-hour masterclass, “The Real Reason Your Business Growth Feels Stalled.” 

[00:28] And I'm going to teach the four shifts so you go from hard and drained to renewed passion and higher profits. All right. Again, the link will be in the show notes here. You can also send me an email and we can get you set up to that. 

[00:42] On with the show. Enjoy this episode. 

[00:49] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows.

[1:09] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place. 

[01:32] This is the Stern Truth. All right, welcome back, everyone. Another episode of The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And so this is sort of an impromptu recording. I wasn't planning this recording, wasn't planning this episode. 

[01:48] This is almost in real time because I want to go on a bit of a rant. And I think there's a business lesson in here. I'm not sure what I'm calling this episode yet. I'll figure that one out afterwards, but I hope you listen to it. 

[02:02] So I just spent 85 minutes, that's 85 minutes, which is one hour and 25 minutes on hold with my cable company. Why would I do this? Why you might ask. Well, you see, here's the thing. I decided there was a channel that we wanted to cancel in our package because it was costing us $20 or $25 a month.

[02:31] We didn't need it anymore. And this is the second time I went through this in the past year, just to cancel a channel. Not my package overall, not the entire services that I have with this cable company, which includes my internet, my landline. 

[02:50] Yes, don't judge. I still have a landline. Just to cancel one channel. Now, I give them credit because when they wanted my money, they made it very easy to take my money because all I had to do was go on to that channel. 

[03:07] And when I found out I was not a member or subscribed to that channel, all I had to do was click subscribe. Simple. Automatically, email goes out saying we've adjusted your account. You're now subscribed to this channel and you're charged. 

[03:22] No problem. No questions asked. Very easy to do business with because they wanted my money. When I wanted them to stop charging me that amount, which was a small amount of the overall package, different story. 

[03:38] What they should have done is have the same button unsubscribe, just like we have in emails, just like other streaming services have, where you can go into your account and you can actually unsubscribe. 

[03:51] At the end of that billing period, you no longer have that service. But no, not here. Here, I had to pick up the phone and I knew I was going to have to wait because last time it was one hour. I had to find a time where I had the time not to sit and just wait for them to answer, but to do other things, other work. 

[04:10] And I put the phone down, put the audio on, the speaker on, and I let it go. An hour and 25 minutes later for a one-minute phone call. That was it. So Amazon does it right. Whether you love Amazon or not, business-wise, Amazon does it right because they make it easy not only for you to give them their money and thus their vendors, so on and so forth, but they also make it easy for you to return those. 

[04:43] That's why Amazon is so successful. Now, yes, there's the other side of what they do to business, small business, and even large business as well. But the bottom line is their business model works. Now, at the time of this recording, at the time when this episode comes out, it is the year 2025, 2025. 

[05:03] So if you're listening to this episode in the future, future years, maybe things have changed and they've made it a little bit more difficult or a price to return or cost to return. But as of right now, only item I've ever had an issue with Amazon returning was a rug because it was oversized. 

[05:22] I would have had to pay the shipping to return it. That was it. Usually when you have an incident or something doesn't arrive, you can go into their online chat and it's taken care of. If you have to talk to someone, you can. 

[05:35] It does not take an hour or an hour and 25 minutes. Now, there's always the outlier. I get it. But overall, their service is impeccable and that's why they are doing so well. Because we do have options, my friends. 

[05:48 We can go to the store down the street and buy whatever we need to buy, or we can just go tap on our phone, go to Amazon and get what we want. Sometimes it's cheaper, but it's definitely convenience. 

[06:01] I'm not suggesting we do that. And if you're a retailer, I get it. It's not good for you. But the point I'm trying to make here, my friends, is this. We as business owners need to figure out how we can be there and serve our clients, our customers, like Amazon does. 

[06:20] We need to make it easy, not just for them to do business with us by giving us money, but that's important. Don't get me wrong. We need – some of you may actually not make it that easy – we need to make it easy for them to give us their money. 

[06:36] That's called systems and processes. But just as important is the client fulfillment and issues that come up along the way. The cable companies, I don't even think they care. Where I am, there's two options if you want cable. 

[06:52] Two. And they know because the other cable company, telecommunications company, cable company is constantly promoting and trying to get a competition client, which is who I'm with, to switch. But they know it's a hassle. 

[07:05] Your email is going to change, unless, of course, you're with Gmail or Hotmail or Microsoft, whatever. Things will change. You're going to have someone coming in. You're changing the whole platform for your television, for the cable. 

[07:17] It's a whole different platform. It's not so easy. We live in a complicated world, a lot of information. Everyone wants a bit of our time. We want things to be simpler. So why can't the cable companies and the phone companies, why can't they just make it easier for us? 

[07:36] Even if there's not a lot of competition for them, treat us like we're important. If we need, if we want to cancel one part of a service, one channel, change something, why do we have to be online for one hour and 25 minutes? 

[07:53] Why can they not add more people to their call center or switch it to an online system where you can just go online like everything else is and alter your package? Self-serve. Why? For our business, for your business and my business, that's my question today is why? 

[08:14] Why are we doing that? Do you make it easy for your customers not only to do business with you, but do you make it easy for your customers to cancel with you? Do you make it easy for your customers to want to add on services and to change some of the services or products they have with you? 

[08:30] Do you have those systems in place? Do you have those processes in place? And if you don't, I highly encourage you to look at what you need to do in order to implement them and to take action because your future clients and your existing clients will appreciate it. 

[08:46] Just like we appreciate the Amazons. And there's lots of companies out there who actually serve their clients like that and they care. So why do we have to wait an hour and 25 minutes on the phone just to cancel a channel? 

[09:01] And I would love to know the stats behind it of how many people actually give up and just keep paying for that channel because it's too much of a hassle. I had tried a few times before and the wait was so long and I just was not prepared for it. 

[09:14] I hung up the phone. I could have easily done it again this time, incurred another $20, $25 a month because my time is worth more than $25 an hour. So I multitasked. Put the phone aside and I just went about my daily business, working on my business, being the entrepreneur of my business while I had the cheesy on-hold music on the side. 

[09:39] Okay. But the point of this episode is to encourage you to look at your processes, to look at how you make it easy or not easy, maybe a little bit difficult for people to do business with you or to change the business they're doing with you. 

[09:56] I would love to hear your stories. I'd love to hear your comments, your feedback to this episode. And maybe one thing that you can do differently from this type of story, because we've all had our phone calls with the automated systems. 

[10:11] We've all had our phone calls with the cable companies and the phone companies. And it usually doesn't end well. It usually doesn't end well. And worse off, on the training side of this, before I let you go this week, one of the first things they always say to you, and you've been on hold for an hour and a half, one of the first things they say to you is, how are you doing today? 

[10:32] Loaded question. Quick story. I had internet issues, same company a week ago. Now I give them credit. They did answer the phone a lot faster. I didn't have to wait on the phone for an hour and 25 minutes to get technical support. 

[10:47] It was probably more like 20 minutes, which isn't so bad. But this was the third time the internet had gone down. And the first thing she said, just like today, when the call center technician or whatever they are came onto the phone was, how are you doing today? 

[11:01] And my answer was not good. In fact, quite frustrated. What are they going to do? It's not her. I wasn't attacking her, but I really was frustrated. So maybe if you run a call center, maybe you're working for one of these cable companies, maybe just think about some of the questions that you have your call center people asking clients. 

[11:22] Maybe apologize when they're on the phone for on hold. You know, people are in the queue for like a long period of time. Every time I call that number, that 188 number, there's a nice gentleman on the phone saying, our whole time is longer than normal. 

[11:38] It's the same one all the time. It's always longer than normal. So maybe rather than saying, how's your day today after someone's waiting on the phone for an hour or hour and 25 minutes, maybe apologize for the long wait. 

[11:49] That would start the conversation off a hell of a lot better than, how's your day today? Okay, my rant is over. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. It's a little bit of a different episode. I want to give it to you in real time because this just happened to me a short while ago today and I want to get it out there and I want to make a point. 

[12:07] And the point is simply, let's not make it difficult for people to do business with us because doing business with us doesn't just mean subscribing to us. It doesn't just mean giving you the business. 

[12:18] It means doing business, ongoing business. You want a long-term or lifetime client? Treat them like you want them to be a long-term client. Treat them with the respect and do not, do not make them wait an hour and 25 minutes. 

[12:38] Please, do not do that. Have a great week. I'm making this episode a lot less than an hour and 25 minutes so you can get back to your daily programming. We will see you next week on another episode of The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. 

[12:52] Bye for now. 

[12:56] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net

[13:16] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and meeting with confidence.