Got a killer business?

Get a gumption transplant.

Why do some businesses make it so hard for customers to purchase their products and services? Who knows? Do you know? I don’t know. It’s beyond my ability to even imagine, yet companies that trumpet how “easy” they are –like “NOOK,”  Sirius Radio, Best Buy, cable TV companies– are convolutedly complicated, and user UNfriendly.

• Barnes & Noble makes a big deal of underscoring how “easy” it is to own and operate a NOOK electronic reader, and to be able to order books that are transmitted directly to the device, “easily.” It is not easy. Owning a NOOK requires you to read and agree to more ridiculous overkill statements than it takes to locate a Presidential birth certificate.
• Ordering books (yes, that you are paying for) is like arguing with an umpire. First off, books you do not want and would not order are planted on your new nook whether you want them or not. Secondly, one can only order NOOK books online. And that is a terrorizing experience. After being dragged through waves of selections you don’t want, what you click is what you’ve bought; no shopping cart; just pay! 
• Go into a Barnes & Noble retail store –even with your NOOK and all the legal ownership papers and try to order a NOOK book, you’ll likely get looked at as if you were from Jupiter. Third, I defy you to try spending your money without having to call the 800 number for the privilege of speaking with Customer Service (clueless about serving customers): these are people who can only follow scripts and put you in touch with a supervisor who can only follow scripts.
• And all of this is only IF you’re lucky enough to reach someone who speaks English, who then asks for your zip code, email address, tax records, where you lived when you were six-years-old, and next of kin. Do I sound annoyed? I threatened to throw my NOOK in the brook, so yeah, I guess “annoyed” works. And, yeah, I know I choose to feel annoyed!

Bottom Line: Buy a Kindle.

(And I get no special treatment from Amazon.)

Sirius Radio is equally annoying. Besides aggressive direct mail tactics, Sirius charges obscene rates for a lousy lineup of channels that they keep moving around. A great challenge while driving, trying to find a recently relocated channel.

You might as well be text messaging on the NJ Turnpike in between four 18-wheelers all going 75. Don’t be drinking coffee too!

Best Buy? <~~~ Go here for that story.

Cable TV companies win the “most obnoxious” award. Besides that you can’t even get any kind of supervisor on the phone, don’t try to explain your purchase desire without having to first answer a bombardment of questions about your personal life, your finances, your dog . . .

What’s missing here? Gumption.

Companies are giving up on their customers. They seem to have concluded that it’s more important to nail every customer for database exploitation and to make them jump through hoops to qualify to purchase, and then give them crummy quality for exorbitant prices.

The alternative of course is to simply be a stand-up, straight-ahead business.

What’s the rest of the story? Besides insensitive and unrealistic Customer Service and approaches to CRM, failing and status quo businesses are blaming the economy. If you are among these, here’s a message just for you:

“It’s not the economy , Stupid!”

It’s YOU. Change your attitude. Get a  gumption transplant. It’ll help you to get your glove and get back in the game. Sure, the economy sucks, but getting pulled down and under is your choice!

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!