I love what I do, and I love to help those that want help, and I love to be part of BuildIT customers' success stories.
Fortunately, the good far outweighs the bad.
But the "bad" deserves some mention.
They do say that tragedy + time = humor, and some peeves are actually quite humorous, so hopefully this will conjure up a few laughs.
First, one of my major peeves - totally useless voicemail messages. I make a lot of calls, chasing some folks down who have expressed interest in BuildIT. Some just go AWOL, and some, I believe, just never answer their phone ("the voicemail box belonging to John "to busy to check and delete his voicemails" Doe is full).
Here's one: "Hi, you've reached my voicemail. Either I'm on the phone, or out of the office..." - well, no kidding Buckwheat. Why not just say "Please leave a message and I'll get back with you shortly." That would be easy, to the point, and true.
Or how about this one: "Hi, we're currently assisting other customers, but your call is very important to us..." - call these same people at 11 PM at night, and the voicemail message is the same... so they are NOT assisting other customers, they just want you to think they're busy doing something important, have a bunch of other customers, and well, if you get through to them, you should be thankful. I'm not buying, sorry. As for the part about the call being very important to them... c'mon. That's a bit patronizing. You don't even know who I am (but I will say, when I do call someone on BuildIT business, I fully agree that the call is important :-)
Then there's the receptionist at the roofing company the other day who had the most bizarre greeting (my old chiropractor had a similar one; I subsequently switched chiropractors): "It's a great day at ABC Company, how can I make you smile!?"
Wow, how do you respond? "Uh, I want to speak with Charlie !?" - not that that would make me smile... actually, what WOULD make me smile is if you just offered up a credit card and bought BuildIT for a 2 year deal and became a raving, fanatical client, but... that is wishful thinking (and she probably would say "no" anyways - so much for smiling).
I can't recall the last time I made a "cold call" to the marketplace on behalf of BuildIT. Most folks come to us, doing a search online, or are referred, so my calls tend to be with folks that have raised their hand, and by their actions, have indicated they may be interested in BuildIT. Having said that, I occasionally talk to someone who forgot that they were talking to me just days before, and somehow, their Jekyll side turns to Hyde... and I am left being asked to go forth and multiply, literally. The silver lining on that cloud is that they have disqualified themselves from being my customer and benefitting from our services. Next!
I regret that I've made a few blunders in the past, but I've learned to smile, and let go. Early on, I recall one guy sending me an email telling me that our website looked a bit "Mickey Mouse" (that last time I checked Disney.com, they were doing alright!). So I did some investigative reporting, and went to his website. Seems an explosion took place in a font factory. So I thought it my duty to inform him his website looked like a ransom note, and that he may want to ease up on the color palette a bit.
Some folks just can't take constructive criticism !!
Despite the hiccups, and the odd phone call that can literally suck the life out of a human being, it's a fun deal. And when the right customer comes along, it makes you almost forget the few mines you've stepped on.
Cheers !!
Scott Hutchinson
scott@builditsystems.com
1 866 585 5050 ext 1