Big Business Continues to sh*t on their Consumers

This past Tuesday morning, I flipped on VH1 for a little Morning Buzz (I only read it for the articles).
But instead of enjoying my daily fix – I’m treated to an annoying promo from the President of DirecTV disparaging Viacom for trying to jack-up their rates (supposedly by 30%) across the board.
So, apparently instead of signing a new deal, DirecTV simply let all Viacom channels – MTV and VH1 (in all their iterations), Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, etc… basically all the channels I watch – go dark. Each company playing a game of corporate brinksmanship, with the consumer (the group funding this little party) left hanging in the middle.
That’s just great…I mean what the F@#k!
Do either of these companies have any idea of what’s been happening over the last five years!?!

• FACT: Television viewership is driving off a cliff and plummeting to its doom.
• FACT: Ad revenue that funds television programming is drying up faster than a blighted desert oasis.
• FACT: The internet, Web 2.0, Social Media and YouTube are kicking TV’s bootay up and down the block.
• AND LET’S NOT FORGET ABOUT THE ECONOMY – which is still in the toilet – with inflation and the rising cost of living vacuum suctioning cash out of everybody’s wallet.

Yeah – seems like a really stellar time to launch a pricing war in which the consumer ultimately bares the brunt (read as: you and me getting F’ed in A with even higher fees).
I (and the rest of Direct TV’s customer’s) don’t care about the politics, in-fighting, shareholders, or the profit margins (I highly doubt the stock price of either Direct TV or Viacom shares are in danger of taking a nose-diving, and neither are on the verge of declaring Chapter 11). We (my Direct TV subscriber brethren and I) care about receiving decent service and reasonable value for our money. I pay Direct TV $1,200+ per year and I expect better than this – I expect at least $1,200+ a year type treatment.
But that’s just wishful thinking in the faceless, uncaring and unconscious corporate world of big business.

In The Big Business World – It’s All a Numbers Game

Direct TV and Viacom don’t care about individual subscribers or consumers. These faceless giants care about overall subscribership – line items in a spreadsheet adding up to as big a number as possible in order to appease stock holders.
You and I (Direct TV’s customer) can go F’ed!

Small Businesses Care About People

Obviously as small business person you care about the “number” in so much as you want to make sales, turn a profit and build a successful business. But a successful small business cares about people – you care about your customers. A successful small business is built on relationships. Your competitors can deliver a similar product or service, but your customers do business with you because they (a) know you, (b) have trust in your product or service and believe that you’ll correct your mistakes or errors (on your dime), and (c) like you, as likeanomics are huge factor in small business success.
And if you don’t take care of customers your business will whither and die, because no matter what business you’re in, you’re not the only game in town. Your disgruntled customers will seeking the services of your competitors and they’ll tell anyone who’ll listen how you did them wrong. In the big business world, however, my alternative choices are bad and worse. For example, if I leave DirecTV, my options are Time Warner Cable or AT&T U-vers – and I’ve had terrible customer service experiences with both companies. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
Big business, however, doesn’t care about loyalty, likeonomics or personalized care. But the game is changing – now more than ever – because in the “social” world reputations counts.
What are your nightmare corporate customer service experiences? How do you strive to provide your small business customers with stellar customer service?
p.s.
As of Thursday, July 19. 2012, Direct TV and Viacom reach a deal in which Direct TV will pay Viacom an additional $100 million to $600 million, on top of a $500 million base (established in the previous contact), all in an effort to reach Viacom’s $1 billion goal.
Thank you Viacom! As Direct TV subscribers, we salute you. And we now wait with baited breath for the manner in which Direct TV stick your $500 million increase to us.