Yesterday we had our first customer complaint. Not an unreasonable complaint, but somebody with a genuine gripe. We always strive for complete customer satisfaction, but we’re human after all and sometimes we make mistakes. In this case, a mix up with opening times over Christmas meant the customer did not receive his UPS in good time. Our fault. Our customer was disappointed that he felt he was being taken for granted and that in the current business climate it would only be those who treated their customers with respect who would tough this out and come through.
I do in fact agree with him and it got me thinking. Here at Power Inspired we know quite intimately many of the UPS manufacturers, and many – not all – have one thing in common. They are public companies. This means that they have only one sole purpose – to maximise share price for their investors. Actually it’s more than this, they have a legal obligation to maximise the share price for their investors. Did you know that Henry Ford was once sued by his fellow investors for selling cars too cheaply? They successfully argued in court that Henry Ford’s vision of affordable motoring for all was not conducive with maximising their profits and that Henry Ford himself was not fulfilling his legal obligations to them.
I’ve worked for corporations with share prices, and the next worse thing – companies owned by private equity firms. They are only interested in one thing – the share price (or in the case of Private Equity – the perceived value of the company). As an aside, I saw exactly how private equity firms work and it shocked me at the simplicity of it all. Basically, they get somebody else’s money (their investors), use it to buy a company that is a going concern and making reasonable money, tie in the management team by paying for their stock holding in instalments, get some money back by insisting the management team buy stock in the new company, charge their newly acquired company for their time at extortionate rates, bill the new company for the legal fees in the purchase, reduce costs here and there ruthlessly if necessary, cream off all the profits for the next few years, make the company look more valuable than it is with creative accounting, in a few years sell on to the next Private Equity Firm at several times the price paid for it. It’s simple and it doesn’t cost the people running these firms anything!
Anyway, back to my main point. In such companies the focus is always on more, more, more. So month ends become important, quarterly figures become vital, and annual figures are critical. The pressure is on for everybody to sell, sell, sell. So what happens? The customer is not always given the best solution for his problem, but rather what suits the salesperson selling it to them, and what he can ship that month/quarter/year. The customer is not given the best price, but the price that still generates masses of profits to the shareholders. The customer is not told the whole truth about his purchase, for example, installation charges or he may need to take out an entirely pointless and expensive maintenance contract to have his UPS system warranted.
So here’s a vote for the independents out there. People like us who don’t try to rip people off, or sell them something they don’t need. Who will go the extra mile to find the right solution for their customer. Who will solve any issues immediately. Who respect their customers and truly value their business. Who know the need to make profit (all businesses do after all) and that that profit should be reasonable so each and every business transaction is a win-win for both us and you.
Here’s to the independents flourishing in 2009!
