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  1. #26
    First of all, the information regarding what you offer should be readily available to customers. If it isn't, then add it to your site now.


    If this happens once, twice, then maybe just answer the question for the client. If it happens three times or more, figure out why so many people are asking about this feature. Perhaps:

    1) There is information somewhere misleading them to believe you offer it.

    2) Certain functionality you do offer is dependent on this. For example, Ruby On Rails depends on SSH to be usable, but cPanel/WHM doesn't necessarily make that 100% clear to web hosting providers.

    3) It's a standard feature, that most of your competitors offer, and you should consider offering it.


    Make the decision. Do you really want the person's business? That's about your own values. If support is not a priority for your company, then I would ditch them. They'll eventually leave unhappily anyways, and in the meantime have more information to use against you to their friends. Give me the client. I'll make them happier than you ever could.

    If, on the other hand, you are one of the companies that actually enjoys helping customers, or puts it as a priority anyways, then it's well worth your time to look after their needs. The more outgoing a customer is to contact you regarding issues, the more outgoing they likely are in the real world. What this means for you is, they're a lot more likely to advertise your hosting to their friends, assuming they had a good experience.

    That may not matter. AdWords can bring in all your customers for you, or giant banners all over the place. Or you can actually provide good support to your customers. Your choice.


    Hosting is a lot more fun when you have friends instead of enemies for customers.

  2. #27
    If the client is expects far more than they paid for, it may be because they don't understand what the standards are for this sector.

    I had a client who dragged his feet sending the contract and deposit for a complicated paid membership site, and then was furious when it wasn't 100% done in 10 days. His expectations were very unrealistic.

    I encouraged him to find someone else who could provide better service at a better price but remained committed to supporting his site to make sure he would succeed.

    He looked around, saw the other prices were far higher, and take longer, and now he's a quiet happy customer.

    Try to make sure your contract and website set the client's expectations as realistically as possible. This will help reduce the number of cranky high maintenance customers you get.

  3. #28
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Above The Clouds
    Posts
    7,223
    The type of client described in the OP is not really demanding. Pretty much par for the course in the hosting industry. If you have staff to handle queries why would you care if a client puts in 10 tickets a day? I certainly don't and would rather a client ask us something than get frustrated and leave.

    The only client that I would consider "firing" is one that is repeatedly abusive but that is so rare. Some clients can have heated outburts when they feel frustrated and this is perfectly normal. When you're the owner of a host and have to deal with angry clients it's easy to get wound up and over the years I've learned that keeping a cool head is the best way to keep your sanity. Just lately I had to deal with a billing issue where the client just didn't seem to understand the issue although I explained it many times and she got very angry. There was a time that I might have whipped off a snappy reply but I just sought to inject some harmony into the situation and it turned out very well with the client writing me a very nice email a few days later apologising for her remarks.

    That demanding client in that 5% bracket might be the client that becomes your biggest fan and biggest client or refers you 100 people or leaves feedback somewhere that gets you 500 clients. I've seen it happen. Every client is gold.
    Laurence Flynn @ HostNEXUS.com
    Managed WordPress Hosting Solutions
    Focused on speed. Obsessed with security.

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    103
    At times I find business who find clients too demanding are ones who have alot of excuses for poor customer service. If I'am the server I would do my best to make a good impression the first time not the second time. The client is paying for a service and I do my best to serve.

  5. #30

    The difficult customer

    As with any business model, you have some lesser knowledgeable customers that demand many more resources than others. However, we also have those customers that are "touch-free" who know exactly what they're buying and don't need you for anything. Do these two ends of the customer spectrum offset one another? I suppose that depends on how much support time you've allocated to each customer within your business model. We try to go the extra mile in educating/helping the difficult customers to manage their own accounts and have built our customer interface with the tools that allow them to do so.

  6. #31
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    103
    I agree with you, having a good business model like the Mcdonalds Corporation, is a good start. Poor guidance by shift supervisors who should be deligating the work instead of getting involved with the labour, I think would help in McDonald case. It might be the solution with Web Host Companies customer service tickets issue too. making sure workers are doing what there suppose to be doing should be a higher priority with any Corporation, special when workers appear to be lacking in skills.

  7. #32
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
    Posts
    353
    Quote Originally Posted by csrush View Post
    At times I find business who find clients too demanding are ones who have alot of excuses for poor customer service.
    Businesses who have the courage to cut customers are those that aren't trying to be everything to everybody and tend to have a clearer picture of who their target customer is.

    I've seen plenty of cases where the majority of support comes from those paying the least. Making careful decisions on who the cut makes support more efficient. You don't just cut them on a whim, but instead make it decisive. Look at what type of issues they are having, if they're improving, if the problems are your fault (you should be doing a better job) or their fault.

    If your employees are having sour experiences dealing with those demanding customers, how will your employee respond to the next support request? If they're consistently having a bad day supporting those customers, it bleeds over into the rest of what they do. Then that one customer may cause another customer to get a less than stellar experience. On the flip side, cutting problem customers means fewer bad experiences for your employees, higher morale, and then they respond to your other customers better.

    Sure, companies with bad customer service like to blame the customer, but passing judgement based on who they cut isn't accurate, you need to look at overall satisfaction of those who are still with them as well.
    Ken Robertson | Linked Labs | linkedlabs.com

  8. #33
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    103
    Actually at the time there had been 2 situation that occurred and in both cases these employee's were in violation of Corp policy. The supervisior was quite embarrassed that I knew more about there policy than there workers. Also I was ready to prove to head office that I spend alot of money at these places and other places across the country then the average customer.

  9. #34
    one of the example that you could do, is that :
    - refer to FAQs section that you have
    - google any reference for their questions, and replied their tickets with that link...

    hope that can help..

  10. #35
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    South Florida
    Posts
    108
    Quote Originally Posted by NexDog View Post
    The type of client described in the OP is not really demanding. Pretty much par for the course in the hosting industry. If you have staff to handle queries why would you care if a client puts in 10 tickets a day? I certainly don't and would rather a client ask us something than get frustrated and leave.

    The only client that I would consider "firing" is one that is repeatedly abusive but that is so rare. Some clients can have heated outburts when they feel frustrated and this is perfectly normal. When you're the owner of a host and have to deal with angry clients it's easy to get wound up and over the years I've learned that keeping a cool head is the best way to keep your sanity. Just lately I had to deal with a billing issue where the client just didn't seem to understand the issue although I explained it many times and she got very angry. There was a time that I might have whipped off a snappy reply but I just sought to inject some harmony into the situation and it turned out very well with the client writing me a very nice email a few days later apologising for her remarks.

    That demanding client in that 5% bracket might be the client that becomes your biggest fan and biggest client or refers you 100 people or leaves feedback somewhere that gets you 500 clients. I've seen it happen. Every client is gold.
    Very well said. I have been in business for about 12 years and find it is often those clients that seem the most demanding in the beginning that turn out to be the best ones in the long run. Its as if they need to have all of their questions answered and their skepticism put to rest and then they become the best customers you could ask for. All customers are gold...after all they pay our bills.

    Cheers,
    Michael Caputa – President – Web Results Inc
    REAL RESULTS FOR REAL REWARDS
    www.webresultsinc.com | follow us @webresultsinc
    design | hosting | e-commerce & shopping carts | app development | fax-to-email | announcer pro

  11. #36
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    103
    Mike Web Host,


    From a business perpective Mike your looking toward the long term and that pays off in the long run. Thats what keeps businesses in business during tough times.

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    St. John's, NL
    Posts
    2,201
    Quote Originally Posted by csrush View Post
    Mike Web Host,


    From a business perpective Mike your looking toward the long term and that pays off in the long run. Thats what keeps businesses in business during tough times.
    Exactly. Most of the hosts who dump clients are thinking short-term and sabotaging their futures.

    A few quality support instances can turn a demanding client into your best PR rep
    Cpanel/WHM • PHP • Perl • Ruby • Full Time Support
    LCWSoft - Canada web hosting (based in Newfoundland) since 2007
    Servers based in the US and Canada (Uptime Report)

  13. #38
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    49
    You can give them an answer to there question the best you can, try to upgrade them to a plan which has what they want if you can provide the service or if they are still not happy with your answer suggest they move to another hosting provider who may be able to help them with what they need.

    either way you have been helpful to them so they can't say a bad word about you or your company.
    PATASH Internet
    * Affordable Web Hosting
    * Patash Launches a New Affiliate Program
    * Kerio Cloud now available from Patash Internet

  14. #39
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    103
    Hello people,

    Does anyone here know what RACKSPACES business model is?

  15. #40
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    79
    I've learned a few things.
    1. "Support intensive" customers tend to refer more pain in the butt customers.

    2. Once you start helping them with something that is really out of scope of your services, you will be the first call reglardless of what the problem is.

    3. I've also told a few people, "You know, I'm really sorry, but this business relationship isn't working; I think you need to find a company that can provide support that more closly matches your needs. I'll host you free for the next 30 days while you find a different host and have attached is a zip file of your site that you can bring to the other provider."

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