dacs.doc electric

Remember the presentation by the Gartner Group last June? The subject material was over my head, but one point Mr. MacDonald oft repeated during his presentation was management’s tendency to overlook the human factor in designing and financing a project, be it migrating to W2K or otherwise.

Early in my business career, I learned--the hard way--that it is not a good idea to keep the Chairman of the Board uninformed, not even the Chairman of a small corporation. With advancing maturity, I also learned that the primary motivation of all corporate employees, from top to bottom, is to cover their own. The difference being, of course, that it is easier to do so at the top rather than at the bottom. I do not claim to have evolved the following procedure, I can only attest that it works.

In your dealings with customer help, service departments, billing departments, etc., have you ever been stonewalled? Employees in such departments are pretty nearly anonymous these days, don’t have any specific phone extensions and are almost universally powerless. You have the same chance of getting the same person on your second call as you have of winning the lottery. (Actually, I did once. It was hilarious.)

OK! The solution--and thanks to whoever first put me wise to it, but is now long forgotten.
It’s much easier than it used to be, thanks to the Internet. From the home page of any corporation, drill down, or up, to the corporate structure. You may be dealing with a wholly-owned subsidiary. If so, go to the parent corporation home page. You will usually find a list of all the officers. Look for the officer either specifically identified with the supervision of the department giving you the shakes or with the operation of any wholly-owned subsidiary (or a best guess).

Now--write a polite, civil letter setting forth the facts of your frustration to the corporate officer chosen per the foregoing paragraph, with a copy to the source of your frustration. BINGO! Remember, a vindictive or surly attitude in your letter puts any recipient, no matter how high on the ladder, in defensive mode. Remember also, the Chairman of the Board, and maybe even the President, doesn’t spend much time at the office.

If the Internet doesn’t provide you with the information you need, there’s always the nearest public library. There’s always been Moody’s and Dun & Bradstreet, but in a quick survey of my own public library just recently, I discovered some specialized references that could provide information. There’s the Encyclopedia of Bankers & Finance, the Registered Company Directory, Brands and Their Companies (I wish I’d seen that one before) and Plunkett’s—(by industry).

Personally, I believe the current tendency to make customer service as unavailable as possible will only stop when the big wheels start squeaking, and the big wheels will only start squeaking when they get overloaded. See the first paragraph.