Carolina Digital Phone has been in business for more than 20 years. For very select companies in some industries, this is not an exceptionally long period. For example, founded in 1806, Colgate is still going strong and the legendary Pabst Brewing Company has been around since 1844.
However, in the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) marketplace, 20+ years is an ETERNITY. You can probably measure the average lifespan of a VoIP company in months rather than years. We have seen so many companies come and go — a few because they were unlucky, but the vast majority because they did the wrong things, the wrong way, and for the wrong reasons. Instead of cultivating happy customers, they created angry customers.
In this blog post, we’re going to have a little fun by sharing the top 5 ways that for more than two decades our competitors have lost — and continue to lose — customers to us (by the way, if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur we encourage you to use the following as a checklist for what NOT TO DO if you wish to succeed for the long-term):
1. Being Dishonest
Guess what? If you have to lie to be in business, then you aren’t a business owner. You’re a hustler. And hustlers ALWAYS have a limited shelf life. Sooner or later (and it’s usually sooner) the truth comes out. Prospective customers steer clear, and current customers head for the exit.
When we say they are being dishonest, we are talking about VoIP providers that either don’t tell you about hidden costs or end up nickel-and-diming for every additional feature outside the basics. In a worst-case scenario, you end up with a provider that has little to no VoIP experience and ends up promising features they cannot deliver.
Always do your homework and find a trusted VoIP company with experience and not a one-man operation trying to provide phone service on the side. Carolina Digital Phone has been a leader in the VoIP business for over 23 years.
2. Over-Promising and Under-Delivering
This is tied to dishonesty but should be discussed separately. Some companies think that they aren’t really lying if they “bend the truth” a little — or maybe a lot. Often, this applies to service and support. They are guilty of promising one thing to make the sale, but providing something very different after the deal is done. Customer loyalty is the least of their concerns.
3. Being Unreliable
We have lost track of the number of customers — we’re talking hundreds, not dozens — who have switched to us because their former VoIP company was unreliable. Of course, those same companies were very responsive and attentive BEFORE the sale. But afterward, they become unresponsive, inattentive, and unprofessional.
4. Not Giving Excellent Customer Service
Here’s a newsflash that nobody needs: Experts are expensive! And VoIP experts certainly aren’t the exception. Many VoIP companies don’t want to pay the price, so they hire unqualified, untrained, and in many cases incompetent staff. Giving out lofty job titles like “Telecommunications Engineers,” doesn’t make them experts.
Naturally, these customer service reps (whatever they are called) are ill-equipped to solve many problems. On the contrary, they often make them worse because they don’t know what they’re doing, and attempt to deal with issues in a “trial and error” manner (with a lot of error!). Of course, this leads to poor customer service, unhappy customers, and awful customer experience.
Before deciding on a provider, do your research and check customer feedback and reviews. If you come across multiple reviews citing poor customer service, keep looking. Sending customers with urgent issues will not result in them having a good customer service experience. Ninety percent of customers consider a “prompt” response to be crucial or highly significant when they have a customer service inquiry. 60% of those customers define “prompt” as a timeframe of 10 minutes or less.
5. Not Delivering Value
An all-in-one VoIP phone system is impressive, and has lots (and we are talking LOTS) of advanced features that staff love using — especially things like voicemail-to-email with transcription, call recording, mobile apps, and the list goes on.
However, the factor that matters MOST is not rooted in features: it is based on ROI. At Carolina Digital Phone, we have always made this a priority by keeping our pricing very competitive. Additionally, we provide resources and training to ensure that our customers take the shortest path to value.
Some Final Advice
Naturally, all VoIP companies will claim to be “the best of the best.” And so, how can you separate the contenders from the pretenders? It’s simple: look past their marketing and advertising, and discover what their customers want you to know about their specific customer service experiences.
At Carolina Digital Phone, we are proud to be one of the most trusted and acclaimed VoIP companies — not just in North Carolina, but in the entire country. And the secret of our 20+ year success is not a secret at all:
We are completely honest with our customers.
We will not “make the sale” and then disappear. We are only interested in building strong, long-term customer relationships, and maximizing customer lifetime success and satisfaction.
We never over-promise and under-deliver.
We never over-promise and under-deliver. If there are limitations in our VoIP phone system that may not work for your application, we will let you know. Moreover, we explain this up front, not after. Providing excellent customer service is not optional, it is part of our DNA.
We are extremely reliable.
If we say that we will be on-site to look at an issue at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, we will be there. We know from experience that being proactive, prepared, and punctual are all important factors in creating positive customer experiences.
We provide LOCAL support.
Our customer service teams are composed of LOCAL experts who have forgotten more about VoIP than many of our competitors will ever know. If we don’t know the answer or resolution to something (which is VERY rare), then we rapidly get the information we need. We are the experts that the experts trust!
We want you to save money.
We are obsessed with ensuring that our customers (both potential customers and current customers) take the shortest path to value. After more than two decades in business, we can say without hesitation that the biggest regret our customers have is not finding us sooner. Had they done so, they would have saved SO MUCH MONEY and avoided SO MUCH BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Let’s talk!
Ready to learn more about what makes us different? Contact us at (336) 544-4000 for your free, no-obligation consultation and demo.