Are Your Customers Fans?

As many of you know I play in the New England based Jamband Jabooda.

While the atmosphere, culture and people surrounding the band is about as far from the corporate/business realm as one could possibly get, the parallels in customer service, marketing and sales is astoundingly similar as is the work ethic involved. The band truly is, a second job.

In the band we place heavy responsibilities on our shoulders in regards to treating our fans (customers) like gold. While we do sell products to our fans we also give many of our live recordings and merchandise away for free as a thank you for their dedication and support. We put hundreds of hours into rehearsals in hopes to make sure that our fans get their moneys worth and we treat each of our fans as both human beings and friends.

In my role as a sales and marketing professional at Expert Laser Services I try to manifest the same dedication in my customers by catalyzing a similar energy to that which I have on stage. The hope is that my customers will truly become fans.

While I don't give away free cds or t-shirts to prospects I have at times given them a toner cartridge for free because I believe in the products my company produces and sells and I know that in certain cases, giving something away will turn a profit and act as a conduit for a positive relationship with that person who in the end, will truly become a fan of our products and services.

In the same way that a soaring guitar solo is at times pushed to its peak even as the muscles in the guitarists hands seem that they will give out from pain, such a sacrifice will almost certainly draw an intense return on investment in the form of ecstatic emotion derived from the crowd. I truly believe that offering unconventional services such as help desk calls after hours, last minute emergency parts delivery or repair calls and so on and so forth (which can be an intense personal burden on myself or other employees at my company depending on the situation) this kind of self sacrifice provides a similar feeling of gratitude to that of the aforementioned guitarist. Sometimes truly great customer service requires that we take added stress and burdens upon ourselves in order to provide the absolute best for our customers.

I can honestly the say that the labor of love as mentioned above is the key to success for both my company and my band. Expert Laser Services emphasis on advanced and caring customer service is what separates us from our competitors both large and small.

In the end, it is not hype or a robust marketing scheme that makes you a literal and or metaphorical rock star. It is the lengths that you are willing to go for your people. It is the actions that you are willing to make in order for your customers to truly become a die hard, dedicated and loving fanbase.

Think about the people

As many of you know, I have a certain level of contempt for the bloating of the managed print services industry. Or rather the level of non-experts who insist upon hijacking the bandwagon and riding the coattails of folks like us, which from my point of view dilutes the professionalism and elegance of a once respectable niche market. Adding to the frustration of this situation is the fact that the "big boys" speak of expertise and flaunt global accounts with flashy marketing schemes which for all intent and purpose are grandiose collectives of smoke and mirrors. There is more (snake) oil in this industry than there is in the gulf of Mexico.

While organizations such as the MPSA and the Photizo group are reflections of the finer points and honorable aspects of the industry, neither of these groups speak of these hard truths. While this is to be expected for obvious reasons, one has to consider the dynamics within the realm of managed print services and report on both the light and the dark sides of this industry.

Managed Print Services is at once an honorable industry with virtually unlimited potential while also serving as a catalyst for the darkest depths of depravity in regards to the filth of commodity which for some, will serve as nothing more than a tool for self righteous financial indulgence.

We must ask ourselves

Is being a giant corporation with a "now offering MPS" marketing ploy enough to make you an expert?

Will the customers who get burned by the "used car salesmen" of the industry spew hate for MPS as a whole?

Will they give the real experts a chance after such an ordeal?

Will MPS carry the same debonair after the wheat is separated from the chaff?

Who knows. Maybe the bullsh*t wont hurt the industry all that much and after its shoveled and removed everyone will forget about it right?

Customers who signed multiple year contracts swayed by the promise of savings falling from the lips of well dressed men, only to find out that had they dug a little deeper and had they looked past the buzz words and green wash that they could have done business with a real expert apposed to a magician with well rehearsed lines of double talk...

The most import people in managed print services are the customers.

The customers.

These are the people who matter the most.

And these are the folks who are going to get burned by these "MPS experts".

Yeah sure you may end up feeling bad for the guy who spent a month in Vegas gearing up for a long succesful career in MPS only to crash and burn. But think about all the hard working people in the companies he was supposed to be helping. When a customer signs that contract they believe that you are going to save them money and on some levels provide them with a sense of security. They believe that their business is going to be better because they choose you to be their provider.

So before you hotshots latch on to the bandwagon, think about the customers. Think about the people.