(615) 443-4842
The weather is warm and wonderful this week, but next week a front is coming in that will change everything to make it seem more like fall. Businesses have had to deal with changes over the past couple of years too with Covid, supply chain issues, wars and now inflation.

The price of everything is increasing with inflation. Several of my clients have told me they are feeling the pinch from every direction. They don’t want to raise prices, but they are dealing with increased costs from their vendors. They want to keep long-term clients, but now they have no choice but to raise prices if they want to stay in business.

Every business owner knows the importance of keeping and nurturing long-term relationships with clients. Because of the long-term relationship we know the client’s habits, their needs and wants with the parts of their business we interact with. We’ve saved the client money and time repeatedly by providing excellent service and anticipating pitfalls.

In this time of finances being stretched thin, it can be tempting for companies to sacrifice quality service to save a few dollars. We see this by large companies outsourcing customer service to people we can’t understand or

who can’t understand our specific situation. They may save a few dollars in the short term, but in the long-term they will pay the price in lost customers.

I recently had an experience with Amazon where the customer service department could only follow pre-scripted prompts. I had ordered an item that never arrived. I contacted Amazon and they told me a replacement would be sent out. We were to return the item for a refund when the second came in.

The replacement never came and so was never returned. Due to Amazon’s policies we were billed for not returning the second item. I called to tell them we can’t return something that was never received and shouldn’t be billed.

I went through several chats and people who could not understand the situation. In order to resolve the issue, they faked a return of another item to give me credit.

While this solved my issue, it now presents a problem for Amazon and the vendors. The first vendor couldn’t resolve the shipping and payment issue. The second vendor gets hurt by not providing good customer service. The item was received but shown as not. Amazon’s reputation gets tarnished.

The time I spent on this issue turned out to be about 4 hours. The item was only $16. I guess most people would have complained and wrote it off.

For me it was the principle. A multi-billion dollar company appears to be starting to cut corners. In turn, the customer didn’t get good service, the vendors working through Amazon did not get good service and Amazon’s reputation gets tarnished. I have a feeling this type of behavior is only going to get worse.

Saving a few bucks by going with a cheaper, or big box vendor, may not get you the quality service or products you have come to expect. There is no continuity and no loyalty.

By supporting reputable local small-businesses you can be assured that your best long-term interests will be looked after. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to save a few pennies and costing yourself (and your business) dollars down the line.

It’s more important now than ever to support your local small business owners which in turn brings dollars back into your community.

One thing you can do for local businesses you utilize, is to take thirty seconds and write a review on BBB, Google, Facebook, Yelp or other review site. Writing a positive review helps boost the business’ website and contributes to getting them more business.

For instance, you could click here to write a review for Nay & Associates. We are also going to send a text out that will give you a link to this link and give you a way to quick contact me directly during business hours.

Give us a call at 615-443-4842 so we can do a free analysis of your systems to make sure everything is running smooth and secure.

All the best and stay well,
Jim Nay

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