Archive for the ‘customer service’ Category
What’s in a name?
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Last week I learned about business intelligence systems for the first time. For those of you that are in the dark like I was, the idea behind business intelligence is to gather as much internal information as possible to support decision makers. This allows businesses to make the best possible decisions regarding their internal processes and procedures. The concept was very familiar to me but it was the first time that I had heard it called that.
As I started researching the meaning of business intelligence systems I started thinking about my own company, Mayfair Leasing. Business intelligence uses data mining, reporting, performance management, benchmarking and predictive analytics to support decision makers. We use much of the same information to support our clients. We are continuously monitoring their vehicle fleets to allow them to make the best possible decisions.
So perhaps the name “leasing” has been holding us back this whole time. We already have to fight off the misunderstandings about commercial leasing because of our name; perhaps we have been too narrow. We’ve toyed around with the concept of Ewald Business Services to describe the complete line of offerings we provide but we have yet to commit to the name. Maybe it would be best to consider a name that includes our business intelligence capabilities. Would Mayfair Fleet Intelligence Systems peak more interest?
I would like to turn the idea over to you. Yes, we are a leasing company but we really have so much more to offer our clients beyond a great vehicle. Do you think a different name would spark interest in our prospects? Would they understand what the name meant? I would love your feedback on the topic. If you would like, you can respond privately at: dewald@ewaldauto.com
Tags: automotive leasing, business leasing, commercial fleet, fleet management, mayfair leasing
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Do you prefer national or local service providers?
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Earlier this week I told the story of my father-in-law that missed the Daytona 500 because the cable company could not properly service their client (http://www.mayfairleasing.com/blog/?p=49). I guess this is an issue in our industry as well. Just this week we met with a potential client that has tried two national leasing firms. They fired the first one after they mismanaged the account and are in the process of firing the second for the same reason. As it turns out, they are sick of 1-800 customer service and constantly changing sales representatives. When this came to my attention I began to wonder if this is something that a lot of people are looking for. What has been your experience with national versus local service providers? Which do you prefer? I greatly appreciate your input!
Tags: business leasing, customer service, mayfair leasing, milwaukee
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Customer service failure
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
My family recently made the difficult decision to place my father-in-law into a senior care facility, which can be tough enough when things go as planned. My father-in-law was placed in a room that he wasn’t well suited for, which in of itself would not have been that big of a deal, but getting the cable switched to a new room would turn out to be a major pain in the butt.
As soon as a new room was selected, we called the national cable company to get the service installed in the new room. This is where the real difficulties started.
After talking with a handful of associates, probably all outside of the US, it was deemed “easiest” to cancel the current cable service and reorder it for the new room. This led to the cable immediately being turned off in the old room but no service in the new room. This was about mid-week and my father-in-law was beginning to worry that he would miss the Daytona 500 on Sunday. He is a huge NASCAR fan!
Well, after several more hours on the phone, we were able to get the cable company to promise installation on Saturday sometime between 1:00 and 3:00. Sure enough, Saturday at 2:45 rolls around and there is no sign of anyone to install the cable. The phone game starts again with several new associates, each having no clue about what the problem was. Finally, we gave up and decided to address it on Monday. My father-in-law would have to miss the Daytona 500 because a company was not able to properly serve their customers.
It made me appreciate a great deal more the fact that our company has real people that care about our clients. They’re available to speak with clients personally and empowered to immediately solve any problems that arise. It doesn’t give my father-in-law back the Daytona 500 but at least I know we are doing things the right way.
Tags: automotive leasing, customer service, mayfair leasing, milwaukee
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