[CLUE-Talk] interesting home business article - from slashdot

[Evan Widger]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Gushee" <matt at gushee.net>
To: <clue-talk at clue.denver.co.us>
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:25 AM
Subject: Re: [CLUE-Talk] interesting home business article - from slashdot


> Maybe, maybe not. Certainly you have to watch out for people taking
> advantage of you. On the other hand, there is a crying need for good
> customer service. People don't just want problems solved, they
> want--they need--to be listened to, and to be treated with respect.  I
> think one reason, maybe the main reason, that corporate customer service
> is so bad is that they *assume* people are going to take advantage of
> them, and have strict procedures to prevent that from happening (e.g.
> most tech support operations have limits on the amount of time a rep can
> spend with any one customer). Your big advantage is that, as an
> individual dealing with individuals, you don't have to have those
> procedures. You can approach people on a basis of mutual respect and
> trust, and deal with the occasional jerks as needed.
>

well i would assume that's where in home nice person that will take the time
to understand you (i'm not going to type all those hypens) tech support will
definitely shine over corprate support, and i like to think i know when i'm
being taken advantage of (thoug i'm a bit naieve alot of the time, chalk it
up to too much time in the computer as opposed to face to face with people,
and poor social skills in general) such that giving grannie a break cause
her social security check hasn't come in wouldn't be a problem but the smart
business guy that tries to weasel his way down to $10 an hour would be
annoying but i have problems saying no to people. i'm sure it'd be something
i learn as i go, assuming i do this.

>
> > drivel). based on the article and what you all know about the climate in
> > denver (something i'm sorely unaware of having only been here 3 weeks)
> > would this be a good thing to look into?
>
> The climate in Denver sucks. But probably not much more so than the rest
> of the country. And it seems like, though a lot of people are
> unemployed, many of them have managed to hang onto a little bit of cash.
> Seems to me I've also read statistics to the effect that Metro Denver is
> well above the national average in computer ownership or internet usage,
> or something like that, which is probably good.
>

having moved from west Michigan i can say the technological climate in
denver has to be better. when i was in Grand Rapids, the major employer out
there was laying off like crazy, and out here i see companies like lockheed
martin hiring like crazy. it has to be better here. a simple search on
monster.com of just plain jobs posted in a given day would yield ~60 jobs in
GR but out here it's 200+ so i would hope more people have jobs and money to
pay for things like computers. not to mention michigan is very rural and
(from experience at gateway) i had people coming in to buy computers for the
first time, on a daily basis, one out of 10 people was probably a new
computer user. greasemonkeys, factory workers, farmers, all buying computers
for the first time. don't get me started on trying to convince them the $500
computer at walmart wasn't good and the $1500 one at gateway was, or trying
to convince them that if they were in an area to get broadband they were
privleged and should take advantage of the wonderful opportunity while i
lived in teh sticks and sucked down 48Kbps. i would hope, nay pray, that the
climate out here is better than that. but as i said in another response, i'm
in a minority-laden, lower income area of Aurora (or is that being
redundant, i really don't know) and my wife pointed out that people in this
particular neighborhood may not be as technically savvy (i.e. own a
computer) as i would need them to be to support myself (and her once she
goes to school full time) for the forseeable future.

sorry this (these) are so long, i'm just bouncing ideas off the keyboard and
seeing what sticks. or something.

> -- 
> Matt Gushee


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