Being the company sales guy, my first question to prospective clients is about their current IT support experience. Oh, the stories I have heard. Just a couple of weeks ago I had an executive say his current IT support situation sucks and ask if we suck as well. OK, he didn’t quite use the word “suck,” but it was pretty close. I responded that we suck less. What did my honesty get me? It got me a new client.
I jokingly proposed to my management team that we use “We Suck Less” as a company tagline. I got a few laughs, but was quickly shot down amid claims that we needed to be more positive. Go figure. But on a serious note, there is an epidemic of unreliable IT support for companies of all sizes, and business leaders are tired of being held hostage by poor support.
So why do I think we were better? Here are some very common complaints about IT support vendors, and how we do things differently:
- Responsiveness – How come the helpdesk can’t respond to your request without waiting hours or days? We do whatever it takes to respond in real time or within 15 minutes.
- Communication – Most IT people don’t communicate very well. We strive to over communicate, and we close the loop on a completed project to make sure the problem is actually solved.
- User First – Most IT firms seem to care more about the computer than they do about the actual user. We put users’ needs first, providing support in a way that is most convenient for them.
- Business Focus – Like I said before, just caring about the computer is only part of the picture. We try to get to know the company – their industry, their unique culture, their future plans – and make proactive technology recommendations. Our aim is to help them get the best technology for their needs at the best cost.
- Trustworthy – The truth is, even with the best IT support in the world, technical problems will occur. I recently wrote a blog entitled “Sh*t Happens,” which got huge response from my blog readers. While they may have just been responding to the scatological reference, I like to think they found the honesty refreshing. We aim to earn the ongoing trust of our clients by responding to issues quickly and transparently, and then using the hard-won knowledge to prevent future issues.
As great as technology is, sometimes it can suck. We work really hard to make it suck a whole lot less. But don’t believe me — read what our clients have to say.
