I have always felt a personal connection to my customers. They put a great trust in me by allowing me to watch over their company's website and email... their face on the Internet. Even moreso, many of my clients depend on their website and email for their livelihood! I do not take this trust lightly.
Still... this is no different than any other web host. EVERY web hosting company has to establish this trust relationship. Yet, nearly every customer of mine has left another web host to move to me. The reasons for this are varied... website went down, email was offline, too expensive... but ultimately, the biggest reason someone chooses to switch to Site Street is the customer service.
This is a common thread from web designers, web developers, and the hosting companies themselves. I like to think that I provide a level of service that my competition does not. The fact that I own the data center in addition to developing the site goes a long way to achieving that goal. But it still requires a focused effort.
The last few months have been very rough... the death of my father really derailed me but it would be too easy to blame that alone. I lost my focus on the customer. Hiring my first employee changed me... I suddenly became more focused on generating new business than providing stellar customer service. Accordingly, deadlines were missed, phone calls and emails unanswered, promises underdelivered. It's not a positive environment to conduct business.
However, last week I had an epiphany... my #1 concern should be my customers. It came to me while going to yet another networking event trying to drum up business. I was supposed to go with one of my designers but he canceled at the last minute because he had a last-minute project for a customer. As I walked around the happy hour event, it hit me that this was where I had been wrong... and it's not the way I want to run my business.
My customers place their trust in me and it's my responsibility to live up to that. My business will grow based on the value of my reputation, not by being another face in the crowd. I would rather have a core group of fanatically devoted customers than an army of unhappy ones.