Out of the boardroom

Customers have simple needs: honesty, choice, uninterrupted service and reasonable rates, but given the spate of disastrous incidents with people switching service providers, I question the listening skills of the providers.

Buzzwords abound, and two of the most popular are "data" and "competition." But what's behind the buzz? It seems a bit confusing. Competitive carriers are bulking up their service offerings, often banking on data. It's a noble - and expensive - move that could pay off in spades.

But some providers appear to be rushing the data bandwagon, without the proof of need, or pushing ahead as a competitive carrier, without understanding a fundamental issue. Listen to the people around you. People in the back rooms and boardrooms are leading with a distant eye on their greatest asset: customers.

Consider this: A field engineer for a competitive carrier serving a rural Midwestern region recently explained his company's plan to bolster its service offerings. After an extensive subscriber survey, the provider learned that a scant few of its customers wanted voice mail services and even fewer had the need for high-speed Internet access.

Despite that, this provider is rolling out both services, surely based on the premise that in the future, these numbers will increase. The engineer knows the company is ahead of its time and questions the need for such an extensive buildout today. His concerns have fallen on deaf ears.

Taking the long-term view, one could argue that building today will cost less than it will in a couple years, that when customers want the service, it will be too late to build and that planning ahead will give the provider a time-to-market advantage. But customers could argue that service rates will likely increase to support the build, technical improvements in the next year or two could decrease the cost of a buildout and paying for the enhancements are unnecessary for those who are uninterested in the services. The provider could lose customers in the meantime.

Wooing customers is a lot harder than losing customers. The best way to avoid that scenario is to listen to them. They have simple needs: honesty, choice, uninterrupted service and reasonable rates. It sounds so obvious, but given the spate of disastrous incidents with people switching service providers, I question the listening skills of the providers themselves.

Case in point: A friend recently called me to rant about her horrible experience of switching from the incumbent to competitive local service provider. In one week she switched to a provider that couldn't install a 10-line system for her business (not the 16-line he promised but couldn't deliver).

During the failed switchover, she lost service, including voice mail - and customers, because she also is in a service business. She finally called the incumbent to renew her service and asked the competitive carrier to rip out the system. Thanks to a kind-hearted employee of the competitive carrier - who was charged with clipping her existing wiring - she was spared the expense of rewiring her office.

The incumbent rode in on a white horse and restored her phone service in a day. That doesn't make the CLECs appear too competitive.

But before you jump to the conclusion that the incumbent impeded the competitive carrier's process, know that the latter refused to inform my friend of its progress and installation difficulties. The CLEC lied to her, misrepresented her service agreement, overcharged her, failed to deliver equipment, and then aimed to sabotage her wiring.

A bad egg, you say. Perhaps this is extreme, but customers want no more than you: fair, reliable business transactions.

We know that customers are willing to shell out extra cash for better service and customer care. Now service providers must live up to their end of the bargain.