No new post lately as I retool my approach to this biz. I would like to think that I do this for something other than money, but the fun moments only come when I am not answering stupid questions, like, "How much to print shirts?", without any reference to the type of shirts, the color of shirts, the number of colors in the design etc... The reality is that most companies hire friendly staff to answer the phone and field calls, you know, like the good ole days, when companies used to make a profit.
Nowadays the margins don't allow for secretarial staff and by allowing calls to come into my cell phone I have become my own telephonic nightmare. The web allows people to find my number whether they are selling something or trying to find a fool who will ship shirts to Nigeria, so over the years I have become hostile when using the phone as it requires a direct agressive response to avoid spending the whole day answering stupid questions. This is bad for our legitimate customers who are now forced to use voicemail and must leave us a message. Email is another story altogether, but my current approach is that if it can't be answered through my website then most likely we can't do it.
Or, I could charge more and hire one person to answer the phone and another to answer stupid questions all day, hmmmmm. I think I'll stick to low prices for now.
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