01-26-2011, 03:34 PM
Like it or not, the companies need customers; therefore, the customers' money talks and the rest is bovine by-product, as the saying goes.
As the economy deteriorates, customer service is the key to survival. Clearly, there are many companies who fail to realize that new reality. Why should we help a company like that survive?
The comment about helping a company develop a new product line is interesting, because it supposes that a customer has some sort of obligation to assist someone else in making a profit without sharing in that largess in any way. That is a false business model from the get-go. My time is as valuable to me as the manufacturer's time is to them. If I want a better automobile, I don't do a ton of R&D work for the auto manufacturer for nothing; I tell them what I expect and if they don't come up to scratch I take my money elsewhere. If they do, then I remain a loyal customer, but I don't work for free.
There is a lot wrong with the MRR world, not the least of which is the dictation by the companies of what models will be made available. Entire segments of history are ignored because they must not seem either popular and/or profitable. That is incredibly short-sighted, even for the Chinese who now dominate the market.
Do not tell the customers what they can have; find out what they want is the operating rule in the world of today, because if they don't, someone else will take over who will.
And crap will always be unacceptable.
As the economy deteriorates, customer service is the key to survival. Clearly, there are many companies who fail to realize that new reality. Why should we help a company like that survive?
The comment about helping a company develop a new product line is interesting, because it supposes that a customer has some sort of obligation to assist someone else in making a profit without sharing in that largess in any way. That is a false business model from the get-go. My time is as valuable to me as the manufacturer's time is to them. If I want a better automobile, I don't do a ton of R&D work for the auto manufacturer for nothing; I tell them what I expect and if they don't come up to scratch I take my money elsewhere. If they do, then I remain a loyal customer, but I don't work for free.
There is a lot wrong with the MRR world, not the least of which is the dictation by the companies of what models will be made available. Entire segments of history are ignored because they must not seem either popular and/or profitable. That is incredibly short-sighted, even for the Chinese who now dominate the market.
Do not tell the customers what they can have; find out what they want is the operating rule in the world of today, because if they don't, someone else will take over who will.
And crap will always be unacceptable.