I have been working on moving one of my Cyber Data Solutions clients to a new hosting service. We had run into a challenge or two. The biggest one was that the domain name, “cellochan.com“, was registered with Yahoo Small Business. Unfortunately, while the domain still existed, the account that I needed to make the necessary changes had been deleted years ago. In the process of working with Yahoo to deal with these issues, I ran into some examples of great customer service which work just as well in good networking.
When I first called up, I dealt with a young man who called himself Nathan. He spoke quite clearly and was more than willing to be helpful. Because of the unusual nature of the situation, he came up with a solution that fit the need — basically I just had to get a scanned image of my client’s drivers license and send it to him. At no time did he try to make this situation my fault or tell me that nothing could be done. He obtained all of the necessary clearances so when I did get the scan, whomever I dealt with would be able to proceed immediately.
As good networkers, we need to go out of the way to make the people we meet feel OK about themselves. If they have challenges, they need to know that we are there to help. Even more, in those areas where we can’t help personally, we take it upon ourselves to make the connections necessary.
When I called back the second time, I chatted with another gentleman named Robert. Using the case number I gave him, he was quickly able to jump right back into the situation and process the instructions that Nathan had recorded. At this point he had a few questions or me as to what our ultimate intentions would be. Based on the information I gave him, he suggested a course of action which achieved my ultimate goals, despite the fact that it steered me away from a solution that I would have had to pay Yahoo! for.
Good networkers look for the best solutions to the problems faced by the members of our network. Our goal is to, first and foremost, provide value to the other person with no expectation of return.
Of course, it seems like these situations always have one more thing that needs to be dealt with, as was true in this case. So, once again I called up Yahoo!. This time I got “Chris” on the end of the line. Using the case code again, he was quickly able to familiarize himself with the situation. After that, it was only the work of a few moments to complete the final adjustments.
Good networkers have systems to help them remember. What if every time you got in touch with someone they had to tell you their entire background all over again? They might think you weren’t paying attention or valuing what they had to say. Not a good way to maintain a relationship.
If good customer service is important to you and you are looking for hosting plan for your small business website, you may want to give Yahoo! Small Business a try. If Nathan, Robert, and Chris are any example of the kind of folks they have working for them, you can bet it will be a service worth every penny. If good networking is important to you, following their lead wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Photo credit: Giorgio Montersino
